Contact: Lisa Francesca
Email: Lisa.francesca@sjsu.edu                                          
Phone:  408-924-3801

Conference Aims to Close Gender Gap and to
Inspire Female Engineering Students to “Win the Future”

San José, CA – The Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San José State University (SJSU) is hosting 450 female college students at the 2018 Silicon Valley Women in Engineering (WiE) Conference, Saturday, March 17, 2018, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event takes place at the Diaz Compean Student Union Ballroom.

The goal of the conference is to encourage and prepare women for STEM careers by advancing participant’s technical knowledge, nurturing their career development, and providing mentoring and networking opportunities with industry professionals.

“Our one-day conference brings together nearly 100 women technologists and hundreds of engineering students as a community to survey today’s opportunities and ponder what lies ahead. What are the key technology drivers?  Which dots need to be connected?  What are the impacts?” said Dr. Belle Wei, SJSU’s Guidry Chair for Engineering Education and Conference Chair.

Keynote speakers include top executives from Agilent, Google and Intel.  Presentations, roundtable discussions, and breakout sessions cover both emerging technologies and business skills for students who are planning their careers in tech.

New this year, the Innovation Showcase will allow students to experience leading technologies such as self-driving cars, 3D printing, drones, and artificial intelligence. A wide array of sponsors, Agilent, Applied Materials, Google, Mark & Carolyn Guidry Women in Engineering Program Fund, HP, Intel, KLA-Tencor, LAM Research, NETGEAR, SEMI, and Synopsys, will speak and showcase their products and technologies.  

Jinny Rhee, SJSU’s Associate Engineering Dean, said “Throughout college and in my career, I have always been in the minority as a woman in engineering. To see so many female engineers in all stages of life gathered in one place is both inspiring and empowering. I hope this event motivates a new generation of women to contribute their talent to the problem-solving collective for the betterment of society.”

For more information, visit the conference website.

About the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering

The Davidson College of Engineering comprises 12 engineering disciplines in addition to General Engineering, more than 7,400 undergraduate and graduate students, and approximately 260 faculty and staff members. It is the largest engineering program in the 23-campus California State University system.

About San José State University

The founding campus of the 23-campus California State University system, San José State provides a comprehensive university education, granting bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in 250 areas of study – offered through its eight colleges.

With more than 35,000 students and nearly 4,370 employees, San José State University continues to be an essential partner in the economic, cultural and social development of Silicon Valley and the state, annually contributing more than 7,000 graduates to the workforce. The university is immensely proud of the accomplishments of its more than 220,000 alumni, 60 percent of whom live and work in the Bay Area.