This blog is part of our #PeopleOfRobogals series. This series highlights our volunteers from across the organisation, from our chapters to our leadership team and board members. Robogals is made possible by our amazing volunteers from across the globe, ranging from students to professionals of all genders, ages and backgrounds. We come from a wide range expertise from engineering to law to commerce and are all united under the cause of gender equity in engineering and technology. We sat down with former CEO of Robogals, Nicole Brown, to learn about her experiences and fondest memories of volunteering at Robogals over the past 7 years! What inspired you to pursue a career path in the STEM fields? I’ve always loved problem solving but I didn’t have many female role models growing up, so even though my dad and my grandfather were both engineers, it never occurred to me that engineering was an option until about two weeks before VCE subject selection was due and my parents had me do a careers aptitude test. The funny thing is, there were always hints towards engineering; I was always interested in how things worked and constantly questioning how and why things happened. I had a great upbringing, but I just never had that person that sparked the idea that engineering was a possibility. What do you think is the biggest challenge women face leading into a STEM career? How is Robogals changing the game for them? The problem is a lack of adequate role models to demonstrate what engineering is about. I think the biggest responsibility we have is challenging society’s expectation of what kinds of careers people can pursue. Robogals is changing the game by taking that first step to raise awareness and engage young girls, and also producing positive role models for future generations. Robogals has a strong university-level culture that invites everyone to contribute, which I believe has fostered a sense of positivity and self-belief amongst our volunteers and created a solid community. The government is becoming more committed to bringing women into STEM. What do you think is encouraging this new awareness? People are becoming more confident in the power of their voices. Society has proven it’s ready for change through the marriage equality vote and the campaigns for equal pay; so the power really lies with the public now. As companies recognise and respond to this demand, it has a domino effect where one success will encourage another, and the government has clearly noticed this pattern in the private sector. You have been here through Marita’s leadership, your own leadership and now Ami’s. How do you think Robogals has evolved through these leadership changes? Well each CEO has gotten taller so the next CEO will have to be at least 7 foot! When Marita started, Robogals evolved as quickly as the conversation going on in society, and Marita was fantastic with her entrepreneurial mindset. She was all about getting the publicity, growth, sponsors – very much the founder’s drive to success. When I took over, my focus was on our stability. I hope I was able to create the foundations that we needed to make Robogals a sustainable group, as well as develop the processes to help us move forward. Ami is now focused on taking these foundations and growing the organisation. Her legacy will be developing strong, long-term strategies, setting key partnerships in place and taking Robogals to new heights. What have been some of your proudest achievements as CEO? I think our biggest achievement as an organisation, was our expansion into new countries. During my time as CEO, we expanded into New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Canada! It’s been amazing to witness the impact that Robogals has been making outside of HQ in Melbourne. On a personal level, I was recognised as a runner up in the Queens Young Leader in 2015 for my work with Robogals. However, most of all, my proudest achievement was witnessing the incredible people I worked with grow throughout their time in Robogals and the successes they have had since are absolutely incredible. Some have founded businesses, some are working with incredible companies such as SpaceX and Google and others have continued to volunteer in different groups making a difference. At what point did you decide to step away from Robogals? There is a need for organisations like Robogals that are constantly evolving to bring in new ideas and new leadership. I realised in 2016 that we needed a new leader, someone who could take the organisation to the next level and it’s a credit to Ami that her ideas were much bigger and bolder than I could have imagined. I felt it was proof that I had given my all during my time as CEO. What are some of your very favourite memories from your time with Robogals? I still remember the first time I led a workshop, we took a Grade 3 class on a rural trip to Ballarat. It was a two hour workshop but about an hour in, the students had finished everything we had planned. They were just so advanced, and the girls were so enthusiastic, asking to do everything. I also remember, I was just new to the CEO role when I received an email from someone in Birmingham, England, saying that they had attended one of our workshop and loved it so much, she asked if they could start a Robogals chapter in the UK! What do you wish people knew about Robogals? The biggest thing that is underpublicised is the outreach we have. So many people I have met from industry know about Robogals, that I think more companies would recognise that Robogals is a valuable cause to invest in, and identify it’s an excellent pathway to potential employment for our university volunteers! Also, the community feeling at the university level is not widely known. I frequently go to events for women in industry and so many people that I
Robogals Monash Chapter Industry Gala
On 27th March 2018, the Robogals Monash chapter held their annual Industry Gala night, a way to thank volunteers for their hard work and dedication throughout the year by providing them with an opportunity to connect with Robogals’ sponsors and network with representatives from various STEM sectors. The night was also a chance for our volunteers to listen to three women in STEM share their experience building their careers, promoting gender diversity within their companies and the positive impact they have witnessed organisations like Robogals have on the wider STEM community. Our first guest speaker was Lina Chan, Developer at ANZ, who shared how she discovered what she was truly passionate about by deviating from the traditional pathways of achieving success set out for her, and instead forged her own path. Her experience has taught her the importance of being open-minded to new opportunities, in order to better connect with yourself and your purpose in life, and learn a different perspective. Our volunteers then heard from Professor Jean Armstrong of Monash University’s Faculty of Engineering, who described the life of a female STEM academic. She revealed an honest and awe-inspiring depiction of her struggles and triumphs as a female within this field, where she specialises in Digital Telecommunications. Professor Armstrong shared her opinions on the three best and worst aspects about being an academic, and shared her top career tips for students considering an academic career. In particular, she emphasised the importance of learning how to prioritise, learning how to say no, and the advantages of establishing a mentor early on while career-building. Our last guest speaker of the evening was Emma Love, Implementation Manager at Ericsson, who treasures a personal connection with Robogals, having been the Co-President of Robogals Perth during 2014 to 2015. Emma discussed the benefits of putting yourself out there and giving new challenges a try, especially if it pushes you to discover unfamiliar territory. She revealed that the best moments of her career so far always occurred when she actively pushed her boundaries and discovered something new about herself. Following the presentations, our volunteers had the opportunity to network with representatives from a range of organisations including Advisian, ANZ, Bosch, Deloitte, Ericsson, Jacobs and Real Time Leaning (RTL), as well as several members of the Engineering Faculty of Monash University. We were also honoured to have Robogals CEO Ami Pasricha, as well as several members of the Robogals Global Committee and the Board attend the Industry Gala night. The Robogals Monash chapter would like to thank both the Monash Executive Committee, as well as the newly formed Monash Support Team members, for their hard work and dedication, working together to plan and deliver such a successful event.
#PeopleOfRobogals: Melissa Um, Robogals Melbourne chapter president
This blog is part of our #PeopleOfRobogals series. This series highlights our volunteers from across the organisation, from our chapters to our leadership team and board members. Robogals is made possible by our amazing volunteers from across the globe, ranging from students to professionals of all genders, ages and backgrounds. We come from a wide range expertise from engineering to law to commerce and are all united under the cause of gender equity in engineering and technology. We sat down with the president of the Robogals Melbourne chapter, Melissa Um, to learn about her time at Robogals as well as her experiences working, studying and volunteering in the STEM fields. Melissa’s experience with Robogals How did you become involved in Robogals? I discovered Robogals during the summer break right before my first year of university. I’d always done extra-curriculars throughout high school so I wanted to find something engineering related at Melbourne. I did a bit of training throughout the year but it wasn’t until I went to one of our workshop at a primary school in November that year that I discovered how much fun the work is. What has been your greatest challenge as President? Overall, it’s been easier than I thought it would be. I think we’ve been really lucky, we’ve had a great team where everyone is really involved and passionate about our mission. Definitely the biggest challenge so far was the transition from my first year to my second year as president. In my first year the majority of the team, including me, were new to our roles so we bonded over that shared experience. But then a lot of people left and new people joined, so we had to start from scratch to rebuild the team and it was a huge learning experience for me. What is the biggest change you have witnessed happen at Robogals? We used to focus on reaching as many kids as possible but recently we’ve started focusing on the impact that we can have on each individual instead. I think it’s a good change because teaching a greater number of girls doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re achieving the maximum impact that we could have, compared to teaching the same group of girls more often and supporting their interest in STEM. I’ve seen this trend occurring in other chapters too, so I think the next step for us, is to continue developing more advanced workshops that can support girls long-term, and see where the shift takes Robogals. Melissa’s experiences working, studying and volunteering in the STEM fields. What are you studying in the engineering field? When I graduated high school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I picked Melbourne University because they use the Melbourne model where you do a very broad undergraduate and don’t specialise until your Masters. I did a Bachelor of Science as my undergraduate,which had a wide variety of STEM subjects including introductory engineering. I’ve been working or volunteering part-time throughout most of my degree, so I’ve actually just started my Masters of Engineering majoring in Civil this year. For example, last year I was volunteering at my local council and only studied part-time. How did you become involved with your local Council? Actually the manager that I ended up working with at the Council, I had met previously through Robogals when he reached out to us to demonstrate a local coding club he had set up. Later on when I was thinking of ways to gain more working experience, I reached out to him to ask if he knew anyone and he actually invited me to join his team. What did you do whilst working at your local Council? I was there for eight months and worked on two different teams. My first rotation was on the waste and recycling team where I did stormwater management and education at primary schools in the area. My second rotation was on the strategic transport and traffic engineering team, we evaluated road designs petitioned to the Council and engaged in strategic planning with urban planners. My favourite project was when we worked with local schools to involve their communities in active travel and reduce reliance on cars, reducing traffic congestion. You said you’ve been working part-time, where do you work currently? I’m currently working for Lendlease on the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project as part of their cadet program. I found the program advertised on my university’s careers page and applied at the of last year. When did you start volunteering? I started when I was about 15, it was an optional extra-curriculum I did through my school and I found I really enjoyed it, so it stuck. Over the years I’ve done a few different things but mostly I’ve been volunteering at Robogals and St John Ambulance. How did you become involved with St John Ambulance? I started off as a youth member and gained experience teaching kids, and eventually I was put in charge of one of their youth programs in my area. I’ve been with St John for almost seven years now, so I’ve done all their courses in CPR and first aid several times and I still really love it. Most people do their first aid training once and then never use it, but volunteering at St John means you go out to events like music concerts or community events and you actually get to use those skills you’ve learnt.
Robogals EMEA at The Big Bang Fair
On 16th March, Robogals EMEA attended The Big Bang Fair in Birmingham NEC – the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK. The three day fair is jam-packed with interactive workshops, exhibitions, theatre shows, and careers information sessions featuring STEM professionals, to inspire and engage hundreds of thousands of young visitors annually. This award-winning fair aims to show young people (primarily aged 7-19) the exciting and rewarding opportunities that exist for them in the STEM field, by bringing education out of the classroom and into everyday lives. The culminating event to mark the end of British Science Week, this year the fair brought particular focus to the different areas within engineering in celebration of the UK Government’s recent endorsement of the Year of Engineering, a brand-new campaign by not-for-profit organisation, EngineeringUK, to inspire a whole generation of young people. EngineeringUK estimates that at least 186,000 new engineers will be needed each year until 2024 to fill the UK’s current skills shortage, and work on a wealth of new projects to help tackle society’s greatest challenges. Robogals volunteers from the Manchester, LSBU and Bristol chapters ran incredibly popular robotics workshops over the weekend, attracting hundreds of students by deploying a playful, busking robot to engage members of the crowd in a friendly game of ‘pass-the-robot’. The team brought along an Arduino smart car which demonstrated to the entranced crowd how robotic hardware and software interacts to problem-solve the command issued. The computer remote-controlled car, built by EMEA regional mentor, Gabriela Gallegos, was a huge success with the crowd eagerly sharing their experience on social media. Our team also brought along several LEGO MINDSTORM EV3s robots that proved immensely popular with students, and Robogals workshops were booked out before midday. Students were grouped into teams of 15 by our volunteers and challenged to use the EV3 robots to complete the Line-Follower Challenge. The challenge is simple; teams must program a robot with color sensors, like the EV3s, to follow a black line. However, programming a robot to do what appears to them to be a simple task, usually proves more fiddly than they expected, and it becomes a fascinating challenge for students. Learning both the logic and skills behind programming robots for this challenge helps the students improve their understanding of how robots “think”, and hopefully increases their appreciation for the complexity involved in programming LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots. Teams are encouraged to test different approaches to solving the problem and ultimately discover what the working programming solution is. Robogals volunteers were on hand throughout the workshops to supervise teams and guide them through the challenge, assisting students to identify and troubleshoot the problems they encountered. Through patient guidance, the vast majority of teams were successful and received certificates for their achievement to hopefully remind them of the time they partook in a Robogals robotics challenge. Overall, the Big Bang Fair was a resounding success for Robogals, with our volunteers guiding more than 50 girls and 100 boys through the Line-Follower challenge, engaging countless attendees with busking and showcasing the Arduino Smart Car. Our volunteers were also approached by several visiting teachers interested in visiting the university-based chapters with their students and finding partnership organisations to assist in running an after-school robotics club at local secondary schools. To find out more about EngineeringUK’s Year of Engineering 2018 campaign, follow this link: https://www.yearofengineering.gov.uk/
#PeopleOfRobogals Launch on International Women’s Day
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day: a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. We are incredibly proud to be an organisation that empowers girls and women, especially in STEM. In celebration of #IWD2018, Robogals is launching a monthly #PeopleOfRobogals blog series. This blog is part of our #PeopleOfRobogals series. This series highlights our volunteers from across the organisation, from our chapters to our leadership team and board members. Robogals is made possible by our amazing volunteers from across the globe, ranging from students to professionals of all genders, ages and backgrounds. We come from a wide range expertise from engineering to law to commerce and are all united under the cause of gender equity in engineering and technology. People of Robogals – Ami Pasricha, Robogals Global CEO We sat down with the our Robogals Global CEO, Ami Pasricha, to pick her brains on a range of topics. Keep on reading to get a glimpse into the mind of a modern-day engineering female. Who is the most inspiring person you have met so far? I met this person in September 2017: her name is Lucy and she’s almost 10. She won first place in the Intermediate category of the Robogals Annual Science Challenge in 2017 by designing a hydraulic hand, which was entirely her own idea! What impressed me was the inspiration for her idea, and her youth. Her mother had been in an accident that had rendered her hand immobile, so Lucy took a real-life problem that affected her and translated that into something that encompasses awareness of the uses of STEM in everyday life. What do you think is the biggest challenge or stigma women continue to experience? I believe some of the biggest challenges women face in STEM are due to socialisation, starting from when they are very young. Not only are young girls at times discouraged from pursuing STEM despite having an interest in it, these societal expectations have resulted in women being underrepresented later on in STEM classes in high school and university, not to mention the workforce. This lack of female role models, paired with an overall lack of awareness about careers in STEM, leaves girls with the message that STEM is not for them. The Robogals 2020 Strategy aims to address this directly by building awareness in the community and highlighting the exciting and rewarding opportunities women come across in their STEM careers. It’s the confidence that older and more professionally developed women have, that we are trying to instil in young girls. If we can harness girls’ interest in STEM when they are young, then we can take the steps to build their confidence in themselves and their abilities at an earlier stage. It’s Robogals’ 10 anniversary this year. Looking forward to the next decade, what do you hope to achieve? As an organisation, we have always been at the forefront of advocating for change by encouraging young women in our community to embrace STEM. We’re not only hoping to continue our work, but to also grow the breadth and depth of our impact. This involves reinventing the way in which we deliver workshops, working more closely with parents, teachers and the community to foster an environment in which young women feel supported in pursuing STEM, and providing personal and professional development for our volunteers. At the moment, most of our Chapters run primarily robotics-based workshops. However, some have independently started introducing new workshops in other fields, such as civil and electrical engineering. We’d like to introduce a wider variety of workshops across the entire organisation to show students the breadth of career opportunities that exist in engineering. We’ve also recently experienced a swell in support from the government and several industries looking to support women in STEM, particularly in the education sector. This has been pivotal to helping us move forward across all of our regions. As a not-for-profit, we can only thrive when we have the support to turn our individual efforts into broader, collective change. What are some of the challenges Robogals will face in the next few years? Our biggest concern is the longevity of volunteers’ engagement. Robogals is a university-based cultural organisation, which results in a high turnover of volunteers. As a global team, now more than ever, we’re focusing on volunteer development for specific roles, as well as providing volunteers with additional soft skills to complement their technical degrees. We are at a time now where both the government and society have realised how important promoting gender equality is. Because of this, it’s vital for Robogals to strengthen existing relationships in this space, build new relationships with other organisations and act as an advocate for even more young women. You mentioned earlier the support we are getting from the government, what do you think has motivated this growing awareness in society? I think this growing awareness is the result of technological developments. In the future, experts estimate a large proportion of current jobs will require basic skills in STEM. The question is: by 2030, will Australia have a workforce equipped with the skills necessary to sustain our economy? That’s why there is a growing focus on this now. STEM and gender equality issues have always been relevant, but now there is increased awareness of how technology is shaping the way that we work and interact. Confidence is a big issue for women in STEM. How do Robogals workshops change the way our girls walk back out of workshops? What difference do you see? Our workshops start with an interactive overview of engineering. Our volunteers encourage students to link engineering to real life issues, which is the key to making them realise how prominent STEM is in their day-to-day lives. The second part of the workshop is designed to give the girls a hands-on opportunity to work with robots. In terms of their confidence, the girls start to develop it when they do the workshop tasks themselves. Most students love
EMEA SINE 2018
Earlier this month, our EMEA region ran Robogals’ first 2018 S INE conference at the University of Aberdeen. When we asked the regional team what stood out at EMEA SINE, they all agreed it was the palpable sense of community, interest shown by volunteers, level of engagement and the desire to share ideas. SINE (Seminar Inductive New Executives) is a conference hosted annually by each of Robogals’ three regions: Asia Pacific, North America and Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA). SINE is an exciting time for Robogals as volunteers from across a region come together to learn more about the broader Robogals community through workshops, presentations and panel events. A key SINE objective is to share ideas on how to run better workshops and develop soft skills in areas such as event management, teamwork, sustainability and networking. At SINE, our EMEA volunteers were able to take part in learning workshops such as Role Specific Training, Succession Planning and Handover, Networking Skills, Commercial Collaboration and Partnerships, Volunteer Engagement and Introduction to Public Speaking. These workshops are particularly pertinent as SINE coincides with the induction of new chapter executives, This year’s EMEA conference focused on ‘innovation’ and the conference agenda was curated to include initiatives such as the “Cool Ideas Showcase”, “Workshop Challenge” and “Workshop Ideas, Stories and Experiences”. These initiatives encouraged chapters to share their experiences over the last year and learn from each other. There were also plenty of opportunities to ask questions and give feedback to the regional team during our Industry/Graduates Panel and Outgoing Panel. These events equipped volunteers with insights that allowed them to better plan for the year ahead and improve in areas that would most benefit our chapters. 2017 was clear a year of growth for EMEA as the regional team expanded from two to eight members. Furthermore, EMEA welcomed the launch of two new chapters at the University of St. Andrews and London South Bank University. EMEA SINE was also a fantastic time for our EMEA volunteers to celebrate their 2017 achievements and reward volunteers for their hard work. The following awards were presented to selected EMEA chapters during the annual EMEA awards ceremony: The “Innovation Award” – given to our Sussex chapter for what they have achieved this year in terms of chapter growth, sustainability and embracing new ideas The “Up Award” – given to our new London South Bank University chapter with an honorary mention for our Loughborough chapter for their progress made throughout the year, as well as for their sense of community and teamwork The “‘They did that? Wow!’ Award” – given to our London Imperial chapter with an honorary mention for the Aberdeen chapter, for the events/projects they have run during this past year, as well as for their high levels of volunteers’ engagement EMEA awarded their “Legends of Robogals” award to Elena Lazarova (previously from the Manchester chapter/currently Regional Mentor). Alice Porter (from our Manchester chapter) received an honorary mention. March will be a busy month for EMEA with International Women’s Day coming up on the 8th of March as well as Big Bang Fair on 16th and 17th March. EMEA is also planning a new Science Challenge across the region, which will most likely run in 2019, as well as various workshops and activities throughout the year.
Robogals Queens Chapter’s Inaugural Rural Workshop
This past semester marked a significant milestone for Robogals North America; the Queen’s Chapter ran our first workshop with a school located in a rural community. The inclusion of rural communities in educational programs like Robogals is essential. These programs provide students with opportunities to learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and explore careers they may have otherwise overlooked. Many girls, especially in more remote communities, may have less exposure to enrichment programs, especially science-based workshops. In a town such as Kingston, schools within the city are able to participate in many programs run through the university; but the farther removed from the city, the less opportunities there are for such activities. Robogals is working hard to combat this problem by actively reaching out to under-served groups in our broader community. By reaching out to these students at a young age Robogals is able to dispose the stereotypes of a “typical” engineering student, and serves as a role model for young girls. To start off our rural workshop series we sent a team of volunteers to the school — about an hour outside of the city — to run activities with the students during science class. This workshop gave the students an introduction to robotics, and got them excited to sign up for the field trip to Queen’s campus the next week. Being able to provide transportation to and from campus made the trip much more accessible for many families – and the following Friday we sent a bus to the school to pick up eighteen students, and two parent chaperones who has signed up for the field trip. When the students arrived at Queen’s our wonderful volunteers led them in team-building STEM challenges, such as “the Marshmallow Challenge”. One of the most exciting aspects of the trip was taking the students on a tour of Queen’s campus. This allowed the girls to see first-hand what it is like to study engineering, and provided them with inspiration for their own post-secondary school goals. After a catered lunch, the afternoon consisted of extended robotics workshops that built on their knowledge from the morning workshop. Our first rural workshop was a huge success. Moving forward, the Queen’s Chapter will strive to reach more under-served groups, especially remote secondary schools. Being able to host the workshop on campus limited our cost of running the workshop down to just providing a bus for the students. It is free for university clubs to book rooms on campus, and by partnering with local businesses we are often able to cater lunch for the students free of charge. The feedback from the teachers, parents, and students involved in the workshops was overwhelmingly positive. The students were excited to use new technology and learn new things. As volunteers, we were grateful to be able to provide the students with an experience that they might otherwise miss out on.
Robogals Perth Chapter High Tea
At Robogals, we work to inspire, engage and empower. In that spirit, our Perth chapter held a high tea late last year in collaboration with BP, one of the world’s leading integrated oil and gas companies and silver sponsor of the chapter. This event was motivated by Robogals’ and BP’s shared vision of ensuring a better gender balance across the workforce. The aim? Connecting our university-attending volunteers with industry representatives. This kind of Robogals event is always well received by both parties and this event was no exception. The annual high tea saw more participation in 2017 than ever before! The opportunity provided Robogals volunteers with access to representatives from over nine companies and in return, the companies with passionate, motivated young men and women, invested in a vision of global change. This knowledge exchange is a key part of Robogals’ commitment to developing our volunteers into culturally aware industry leaders. ‘I think the high tea was a huge success and gave us access to key insights about future employment and the opportunity to discuss current issues within our difference industries’ – Rae Tang, Robogals Perth Marketing Manager. Our volunteers said the highlights of the evening were the delicious food, high attendance and the keynote speaker, Susie Pezzoni from BP. Ms Pezzoni’s speech highlighted the influence other women in the industry had on her and sparked conversations around inspiring women and gender diversity. We are very proud of the impact we can have not only on school-aged girls across the world through our education workshops, but also the value Robogals can bring to students studying at university. We are proud of the professional development opportunities we can provide and of the strong multi-disciplinary, gender diverse communities we build within universities to support young women through their higher education.
Robogals Science and Engineering Day 2017
On Friday October 6th, Robogals teamed up with Engineers Australia to run the 2017 Science and Engineering Day (SED). The event was open to girls across Melbourne, and this year, it was held in conjunction with a celebration of the conclusion of the Robogals Science Challenge. The Robogals Science Challenge is an Australia-wide science competition for young girls. Through the competition, participants learn about science and engineering while working on fun projects on a variety of topics.
Robogals nominated for Engineers Australia Award
Robogals Global is thrilled to announce that we have been highly commended for the 2017 Most Encouraging Student or Non-Profit Group in Gender Diversity category award, by Engineers Australia. The award was received by Chelsea Edmonds, Regional Executive Officer for APAC, on behalf of Robogals at the Women In Engineering Winter Gala Dinner, on 5th August 2017.
