Hundreds of prominent women working in science, technology, engineering and math will become online mentors for college students next month, part of a six-week program to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM fields.
WitsOn (Women in Technology Sharing Online) is a pilot program sponsored by Piazza and Harvey Mudd College that will run for six weeks starting October 1. It will connect undergraduate students pursuing STEM degrees with female mentors from industry and academia who can speak from personal experience about issues of particular concern to young women.
By creating an online community of students and mentors, the sponsors of WitsOn hope that students—particularly though not exclusively young women—will better be able to envision themselves in STEM careers, thereby creating a larger pool of talented people who are ready to handle the challenges that humanity faces in the coming decades.
Over two dozen universities have already signed up to participate, including Caltech, Cornell, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and UC-Berkeley. If you're interested in being a mentor and/or having your institution or just your class participate, there's a simple request form to fill out.
Excerpts from a New York Times article on the topic & the WitsOn website.
Posted by L. Trouille
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