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Careers in High Tech for Women in STEM at Oregon State University

The Open Source Lab’s Outreach Manager, Leslie Hawthorn, spoke with a group of 15 students – 12 of whom were women – last Thursday to discuss career opportunities in high tech for women. Through her work with the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), Hawthorn has started helping female students add to their experience at Oregon State.

During her latest discussion with the students, all from a variety of majors, Hawthorn included an overview of career life at Google, high tech networking opportunities, and this November’s Grace Hopper Conference in Portland, Oregon.

“It was very, very positive,” she said. “I think a lot of people were really excited to hear about life at Google. Also, we’re putting together a proposal for NCWIT; they’re providing funding to campus student groups to work to increase women’s participation computing and IT.

“A group of four of the women who attended came up after the talk and said that they were interested in starting that up.”

As a woman in high tech, Hawthorn is passionate about empowering women pursuing careers in science and technology.

“It has been repeatedly proven through studies that women lack role models for future careers in various fields,” she said. “This my opportunity to show 12 women at OSU who are majoring in everything from electrical engineering to biology some of their potential role models in the industry who are doing really amazing things.”

For Hawthorn’s perspective on the talk and information about previous and upcoming events, visit her blog.

See our news archive for other OSUOSL news stories.