Despite comprising half of the college-educated workforce in the United States, less than 30 percent of women make up the science workforce, with there being a particular dearth in the physical sciences and and engineering fields (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2016).
As a STEM-based organization, serving many young women, The LEAH Knox Scholars program and Life Science Cares hosted a Women in STEM panel on April 11th at Sanofi Genzyme, a biotechnology company in Cambridge. Youth had the opportunity to hear from nine distinguished women in STEM fields. The fields represented ranged from biomedical science and pharmaceuticals to engineering and data analysis. During the panel, they provided a brief overview of the work they do, how they got into the STEM field, and what it means to them being women leaders in a predominantly male-dominated field.
Afterwards, the panelists were able to get a chance to interact with the youth in small groups to go over career advice, answer questions, and get to hear more about the amazing work the mentors are doing through LEAH. The youth were engaged throughout the evening and asked many thought-provoking questions. Many youth remarked how great it was to hear from such a diverse, experienced panel.
