Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Technologies Symposium

General theme of this year’s symposium is the intersection of women, gender, and sexuality with technologies—whether in terms of the place, representation, and contributions of women, gender, and sexuality within technologies or in terms of the ways in which various technologies affect women, gender, and sexuality. Within this context, we conceive of “technologies” as a broad notion encompassing many aspects of the science, technology, engineering, health, and mathematics (STEHM) fields, including biotechnology, personalized medicine, and biomedical and healthcare techniques; physical tools, software, and systems; environmental, sustainable, and green technologies; artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning; robotics, computing and information technologies, and virtual and augmented reality technologies. But we also understand “technologies” as sites of systemic social and/or political organization, control, and surveillance; as techniques of production of the self, of social being(s), of creative representations in science fiction, the arts, and media; and as tools of transformation of embodied subjectivities.

• 8:30am-12:00pm — CHECK-IN and REGISTRATION (SHED-3950, lobby)
• 9:00am-11:30am — STUDENT PANELS, POSTERS, and DISPLAYS (zines, films, etc.)
  • 9:00am-10:00am – Concurrent Panels—One
    • Panel A (McKenzie Commons, LBR-1251) – Women and Gender Minorities in the History of STEM
      • Moderator:  Heidi Nickisher, School of Art, CAD
      • “The Impact of Margaret Hamilton” — Maythem Alhafedhi, CET and Raafay Ali, GCCIS
      • “Women Designers in Evolving Typographic Technologies" — Francesca Delaney, CAD
      • “Out of the Kitchen and Somehow Back in It” — Royce Idris Banks, CLA
    • Panel B (Prism, Campus Center 2050) – Trans/Feminist Applications
      • Moderator: Kathy Ehrlich-Scheffer, WE@RIT (Women in Engineering), KGCOE
      • “Beyond Subtext: A Guide to (Re)imagining Trans*ness in Indie Video Games” — Maya Gopoian Heatley, CLA
      • “’Feel Confined, Only Free to Expand Myself within Boundaries’: AI's Potential to Liberate and Perpetuate” — Emily Funk, CLA
      • “Applications of Feminist Theory to Human-Computer Interaction: A Literature Review” — Stephanie Patterson, GCCIS
      • “Quantifying Gender-Inclusivity: Operationalizing GenderMag for Audit Evaluations” — Jadeline Miao, GCCIS
• • 9:30am-11:00am – Three Consecutive Film Screenings and Discussions (WAL-4520)
    (Films begin at 9:30, 10:00, and 10:30)
    • Queer & Trans Identity through Social VR: VRChat — Liam Olson, CAD
    • Liminal Nascence — Mckayla Streber, CAD
  • 10:00am-11:00am – Poster Session (SHED-3950, Lobby), coffee available
    • Nonhuman Sex Beyond the Binary Zines
      • Biodiversity Across Sea and Sky — Dan Noonan, CAD, Galena Wurtzel, CAD, and Emma Jordan, COS
      • The Aphid — Collin Cleary, GCCIS
      • Slime-tastic Slugs! — Rachel Mikolajczyk, CAD, and Emily DiMarco, CAD
      • Mole-ificient Mystery: What Sex Are Moles? — Jasmine Spangler, KGCOE
      • A Bug’s Life — Korey Uba, KGCOE and Natalie Martin, CAD
    • Women in Computing Cards — Renee Guerin, CLA
    • Secret Codes and Secret Coders — Sophie Martinage, KGCOE
    • “Women in Computing History” — Camille May, KGCOE
    • Women in Computing Around the World — Kaylah Rouzier, GCCIS, Madisyn Altieri, CAD, and Lindsay Ford, GCCIS
    • Empowering the Next Generation of Students in STEM: The SMASH Experience for Girls — D'asia Johnson, COS, Isabella Erickson, CHST and Erin Ryan, COS
  • 10:00am-12:00pm – Storybooth (RIT Archives Research Center, WAL 3^rd floor)
    • Conversations with Current and Future STEM Leaders — organized by Women in Technology (WIT) and RIT Archive
  • 11:00am-11:50am – Concurrent Panels—Two
    • Panel C (McKenzie Commons, LBR-1251) – Putting WGSS to Use in the Real World
      • Moderator: Patricia Taboada-Serrano, Department of Chemical Engineering, KGCOE
      • “AP Access: How AP Computer Science Empowers Women” — Abigail Prowse, GCCIS
      • “Star Stories: Black Women in Astrophysics” — Ky'Johnna Jamison, CAD
    • Panel D (Prism, Campus Center 2050) – Roundtable: Experiences of Women and Gender Minorities in Technology
      • Moderator: Leah Mackin, CET
      • Mufarowashe Musodza, CET
      • Stephanie Patterson, GCCIS
      • Kayley Judd, CET
      • Jadeline Miao, GCCIS
• 12:00pm-2:00pm — INVITED PRESENTERS AT THE LUNCH TABLE (SHED-3350 and 3950)
  • 12:00pm — Lunch for participants (SHED-3950—lobby)
  • 12:30pm-2:00pm — Invited session (SHED-3350)
    • 12:30pm – Introduction: Silvia Benso, WGSS Program and Department of Philosophy, CLA
      • Welcoming remarks: Prabu David, RIT Provost, Office of Academic Affairs
    • 12:40pm-1:00pm – Invited talk: Deborah Blizzard, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, CLA
      “What are the Value, Role, and Contributions of WGSS at Tech Institutions?”
  • 1:00pm-2:00pm — Roundtable: Women’s Voices, Women’s Stories (SHED-3350)
    • Interviewer: Nickesia Gordon, School of Communication, CLA
    • Moderator: Kaitlin Stack Whitney, Department of Science, Technology and Society, CLA
    • Elizabeth Hill Ruder, Wegmans School of Health, CHST
    • Sharon Mason, School of Information, GCCIS
    • Noelle Evans, CAD alum and WXXI’s Murrow Award-Winning Education Reporter/Producer
    • Karen Roth, KGCOE alum and President of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• 2:00pm-2:10pm — 2025 WHM POSTER DESIGN CONTEST PRIZE AWARD (SHED-3350)
  • ​​Presented by Silvia Benso, WGSS Program, CLA
• 2:15pm-4:30pm — FACULTY/STAFF PANELS (SHED-3350)
  • 2:15pm-2:20pm: Introduction: Shay Olmstead, WGSS Program, CLA
    • Welcoming remarks: Lauren Hall, Dean’s Office and Department of Political Science, CLA
  • 2:20pm-3:20pm: Panel A — Deaf History, Data Entry, and Design: What’s a Woman got to do with it?
    • Moderator: Corinna S. Hill, Department of Liberal Studies, NTID
    • “The Women of the Graphic Design Archive” — Shani Avni, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT Libraries
    • “A Menial Challenge in the Tech Workforce: Women, Gender, and Data Entry” — Corinna Schlombs, Department of History, CLA
    • “Gender in U.S. Deaf History” — Barbara Earth, Deaf Health Care and Biomedical Science Hub, NTID
  • 3:30pm-4:30pm: Panel B — Discourse as Self-Making Technology
    • Moderator: Phillippa Thiuri, Diversity and Inclusion and WGSS Program, CLA
    • “What Can Trauma Studies Illustrate about Writing as a Technology of Self-Making” — Christine Ross, University Writing Program, SOIS
    • “Mediation of Self-Making Technology: In the Case of the 4B Movement in South Korea” — Daeun Shin, Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, CLA
    • “Ancrene Wisse: Making A Queer Self in the Thirteenth-Century Anchorhold” — Una Creedon-Carey, University Writing Program, SOIS
    • “FYW: A Safe & Diverse Space of Self-Construction” — David Yockel, University Writing Program, SOIS
• 4:30pm-5:00pm — POETRY READING BY RIT STUDENTS (SHED-3350)
  • “Writing as Technology of Creativity, Exploration, and Healing” — organized by Karen (Ren) vanMeenen, Department of English, CLA
    • Readings by: Maggie Boyle, Tippi Chou, Isra Haywood, Robin Kapon, Leo Richmond, Erica Smart, Harper Van Lare, Zoe Wheatcroft
• 5:00pm-5:30pm — LECTURE PERFORMANCE (SHED-3350)
  • “Resonant Voices: Celebrating Women Composers in Chamber Music” — organized and directed by Yunn-Shan Ma, School of Performing Arts, CLA
• 5:30pm-6:00pm — RECEPTION (SHED-3950—lobby)

Organized by: WGSS Program, College of Liberal Arts

Sponsored by: Dean’s Office, College of Liberal Arts

With support from: College of Art and Design, Kate Gleason College of Engineering, Advance RIT, President’s Commission on Women, Title IX Office, and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Resource Center