Saunders College hosts women’s conference

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Kathleen Buse

Women continue to remain underrepresented in the STEM professions—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—“with about 45 percent of women in science, 22 percent of women in technology and only 10 percent in engineering,” said Kathleen Buse, researcher and founder/CEO of Advancing Women in STEM.

Buse will discuss the complex factors with retaining and advancing women in the STEM professions at the sixth annual Power Your Potential Women’s Leadership Conference, sponsored by Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology. The women’s networking event, which begins with registration from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., a keynote address at 11:15 and networking lunch at 12:30 p.m., will be held on Friday, March 13, at RIT’s Vignelli Center for Design Studies, adjacent to James E. Booth Hall. Parking is available in F Lot.

“At RIT, we have seen a rise in female students seeking careers in STEM fields, particularly in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering,” said Saunders College Interim Dean Jacqueline Mozrall. “Dr. Buse’s research can offer insights into changing norms and stereotypes that inhibit women from achieving their true potential, not only in engineering, but in all fields where women are contributing and taking on leadership roles.”

Buse will be discussing second-generation gender bias in the workplace—the cultural assumptions and organizational structures that inadvertently benefit men while putting women at a disadvantage.

“This unconscious bias, especially for women in non-traditional roles like leadership and engineering, has a huge impact on their ability to be successful in corporate and industry roles,” said Buse, a former Eastman Kodak Co. engineer who received her master’s degree in engineering from RIT and now works at Case Western Reserve University.

“From research we discovered that women are more likely to have lower levels of self-efficacy, the belief in being able to achieve. In women who have engineering degrees, I found across the board that men have higher levels of this belief to succeed, older women have more than younger women, and for students in engineering and other STEM roles, they lack the belief to achieve.”

Power Your Potential guest panelists include Jennifer E. Green-Wilson, principal of the Institute for Business Literacy and Leadership; David Mammano, founder of Next Step Education Group; Cheri A. Copie, director of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs for NeoGenomics Laboratories Inc.; Kim Allen, public relations, Dixon Schwabl Advertising; and Sandra Parker, former president and chief executive officer of Rochester Business Alliance.

The cost is $40 for the public, $30 for RIT faculty/staff/alumni, $10 for students. For more information contact Dana Pierce at 585-475-2199 or dpierce@saunders.rit.edu.