IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021 - 273

especially, opened me more for scientific
collaborations. " The talk that inspired
Fru the most at ILC was " Lead Beyond:
Advancing Women of Color in Engineering
and STEM Entrepreneurship, "
something that she could closely relate
to as a black woman. The speaker provided
definitive statistics on how black
women are linked to science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) and how best to provide opportunities
and work together for the better.
Fru expressed that the virtual format
was excellent, and the session was very
interactive. Many questions popped up
and with the virtual format, everybody
had the opportunity to answer and interact
during the session. Fru adds that
" Every woman must choose to challenge
herself by learning new things all
the time. That was my thought before
attending the conference. I wanted to
learn more from the different panelists,
and I did. So many things were learned,
like having a checklist to map your career
as a STEM entrepreneur, which was
very helpful, and I implemented it on
different sectors of my career life. Also,
I have to be self-aware, being conscious
of my own character, feelings, motives,
and desires. "
Our final attendee at the ILC was
FIGURE 3. Mary Immaculate Neh Fru panning for heavy mineral concentrate. (Source: Fru.)
Dr. Onyia. She is a research associate
at the University of Leicester and CEO
of LENKÉ Space and Water Solutions
Ltd. Dr. Onyia also coleads the GRSS
IDEA Women in Africa core initiative.
Dr. Onyia is excited about working on
developing the LENKÉ soil water index
forecast tool (SWIFT) with a team of
scientists, programmers, and machine
learning experts based in Canada and
Latin America (see Figure 4). " SWIFT
is a satellite data-based tool designed to support natural
resource management in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly
water and agricultural resources, " expands Dr. Onyia. Her
proudest accomplishment as a STEM entrepreneur is her
start-up, LENKÉ Space and Water Solutions Ltd., a company
she cofounded with Dr. Lensa E. Jotte. First they won
the 2019 Copernicus hackathon hosted by the University
of Leicester, then they won the Santander Seed Grant, and
next, LENKÉ became the first company to win the European
Space Agency Business Incubation Center in Leicester grant.
GRSS is a Society that Dr. Onyia says she cherishes
for so many reasons. First and most significant is the
fact that her professional journey in remote sensing and
DECEMBER 2021 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
FIGURE 4. Dr. Nkeiruka " Nke " Nneti Onyia touring Leicester Space Park, the new site for
her expanding start-up, LENKÉ Space and Water Solutions Ltd. (Source: Dr. Onyia.)
geographic information systems gained traction when
she attended her first IGARSS conference in Milan in
2015. At the conference, she signed up for and participated
in the WinGRSS luncheon, where she met women
who had stayed on their paths, overcoming several
challenges. Her experience at IGARSS and the luncheon
led Dr. Onyia to become an active volunteer in the IDEA
committee. Her favorite talk at the ILC was the keynote
speech by Stacey Abrams. Dr. Onyia recalls that she
" could relate to her life experience of facing and overcoming
challenges that instill fear in you. I admire the
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021

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