OUR EVENTS
Click an event to jump to details below:
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> Keynote Address: Fireside Chat with Chancellor Nobles
STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
Date: Monday, April 11
Time: 12:00p to 1:30p
Location: W20-307 (Mezzanine)
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DESCRIPTION: How do you talk in a way that makes people want to listen? Good storytelling is a skill you can learn, and in this workshop you'll learn the fundamentals of spoken word storytelling, including how to develop a story arc, structure your ideas and frame your experiences. These skills are transferable, so we'll also talk about how to use these techniques to talk about your work and research in an engaging way.
Kirsty Bennet
SPEAKER BIO: Kirsty Bennett is the founder of MITell, a storytelling program for MIT and the Manager of the MIT Women’s League. Previously, she spent seven years as a Producer and Director for the Peabody Award-winning The Moth, designing and running The Moth College Program and teaching storytelling workshops for literary festivals, corporations, schools and colleges. She leads storytelling workshops for multiple departments at MIT, taught at the 2019 NAFA Conference, and is the regular host for MIT’s FAIL!, a twice-yearly storytelling event. In 2018, she curated and directed Synaptic Stories at the MIT Museum, as part of the Beautiful Brain exhibit. She thinks you have a story to tell.
(waitlist)
gwaMIT Alumni Panel
Date: Wednesday, April 13
Time: 5:30p to 6:30p
Location: Zoom, https://mit.zoom.us/j/98731006220
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DESCRIPTION: Meet and chat with MIT alumni to learn more about their career paths and professional development tips.
Carrie Huguenin was raised in Woods Hole MA, the third child of a Marine Engineering Professor. She started her career with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from M.I.T.'s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Over a quarter century ago, she began her journey in the microelectronics industry, initially working as a process engineer at National Semiconductor and Intel, before switching to quality engineering at Skyworks Solutions; she is currently Associate Director of Quality Engineering at Raytheon's RF Components fab in Andover, MA. In addition to being an engineer, Carrie is the mother of two adult children, a daughter, a wife, an aunt, and a mentor with Raytheon, GWAMIT and BBBS of Boston.
SPEAKERS:
S. Carolene "Carrie" Huguenin
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Associate Director of Quality Engineering at Raytheon Missiles and Defense
Natalia Olive
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Director, Environmental, Health and Safety
Engineer three times over (Chemical, Occupational Health and Safety, and Environmental) with over 20 years of experience mostly in the life sciences industry. Lifelong learner.
Laura Seaman
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Principle Machine Intelligence Scientist and Group Leader
Dr Laura Seaman is a Principle Machine Intelligence Scientist and Group Leader at Draper where she applies machine learning, data science, and bioinformatics algorithms to a variety of applications. Dr Seaman has lead ML projects in fields including computer vision for underwater vehicles, predicting human stress levels, finance and identifying genetically engineered organisms. Dr Seaman has a B.S. in Biological Engineering from MIT, an M.A. in Statistics from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Michigan.
Maureen Reitman
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Principal Engineer and Group Vice President
Dr. Reitman is a DMSE and PPST graduate of MIT from the 90's. She worked for the 3M company and now leads the Polymers, Materials Chemistry and Biomedical Group at Exponent, a multidisciplinary consulting firm.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: FIRESIDE CHAT WITH CHANCELLOR NOBLES
Date: Thursday, April 14
Time: 12:00p to 1:00p
Location: W20-307 (Mezzanine)
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DESCRIPTION: Join us for a conversational interview with Chancellor Nobles on her career journey and experience. Feel free to submit audience questions via the RSVP link for a chance to win a gwaMIT t-shirt.
SPEAKER BIO: Melissa Nobles is MIT’s chancellor and a professor of political science who has been an MIT faculty member since 1995. From 2015-2021, she served as the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and, from 2013-2015, as head of MIT’s Department of Political Science. Chancellor Nobles oversees “all things students”, and is responsible for undergraduate and graduate education and residential life and plays a leading role in strategic planning, faculty appointments, resource development, and campus planning activities. Her international, comparative research focuses on restorative justice in light of ethnic and racial conflicts.
Chancellor Nobles
HACKING THE ARCHIVE: FEMINISM, INDIGEOUS HISTORYS, AND THE FUTURE OF AI
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(EVENT PREVIOUSLY TITLED "GENDER BIAS IN AI")
Date: Thursday, April 14
Time: 6:00p to 7:00p
Location: W20-307 (Mezzanine)
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DESCRIPTION: Coming soon!
SPEAKER BIO: Erin Genia, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and community organizer specializing in Indigenous arts and culture. Genia’s work in these areas is focused on amplifying the powerful presence of Indigenous peoples on the occupied lands of America in the arts, sciences and public realm to invoke an evolution of thought and practice that is aligned with the cycles of the natural world and the potential of humanity.
Erin Genia
FUNDAMENTALS OF COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP
Date: Friday, April 15
Time: 12:00p to 1:30p
Location: W20-307 (Mezzanine)
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DESCRIPTION: This interactive workshop, using curriculum developed by RELATE (learntorelate.org), will cover fundamental communication skills for talking to any audience about technical topics. We will discuss how to develop an understanding of your audience, choose appropriate language, and craft a central message. As part of this workshop, participants will put these principles into practice to create and deliver an effective elevator pitch.​
Dr. Deanna Montgomery
SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Deanna Montgomery is the manager of the EECS Communication Lab, which provides writing, speaking, and visual design support to MIT’s largest department. Deanna holds a B.S. in chemistry from Houghton College and a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Michigan. In addition to her scientific background, she has experience in communicating with a variety of audiences about technical topics and teaching researchers about technical communication. Deanna firmly believes that communication skills can always improve, and she particularly enjoys helping others work towards implementing better communication techniques and strategies through training and practice.
ABOUT
Graduate Womxn at MIT (gwaMIT) is an organization to support MIT graduate students seeking a space to talk about the experiences of being a woman and/or being coded as a woman, while acknowledging the diversity among people who have had these experiences. We use the term “womxn” to signify that gwaMIT is a space for anyone who identifies with this mission, which may include transgender women, cisgender women, non-binary people, and gender diverse people.
