IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2023 - 5

PRESIDENT'S CORNER
John R. Long
Closing the Gender Gap in Our Field
A
Apple chief executive Tim Cook says
there are " not enough women at the
table " at technology firms, including
Apple.
In a recent
interview,
Cook said that technology " will not
achieve nearly what it could achieve "
without a more diverse workforce.
He also said that there were " no
good excuses " for the lack of women
in the tech sector.
The IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society
(SSCS) is also suffering from
" not enough women at the table. "
Statistics from the IEEE database
reveal that women comprise only
5% of SSCS membership-a statistic
that hasn't grown (or declined) in
almost a decade. While female employment
at many companies is increasing
steadily-for example, Apple's
workforce is now 35% female-their
representation in IEEE remains disappointingly
low: 5% in the SSCS;
between 9% and 10% in the Electron
Devices and Circuits and Systems
Societies; and about 15% for the
(much larger) Computer and Power &
Energy Societies.
Unfortunately, it's still an unusual
choice for women to study and remain
in the engineering profession. Prof.
Mary Wells outlined the problems we
face when recruiting and retaining
women in her excellent online article,
" Closing the Engineering Gender
Gap " [1]. As Well's notes:
From the aerospace sector to
Silicon Valley, engineering has a
significant retention problem...
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2022.3218119
Date of current version: 18 January 2023
Women leave engineering due
to a lack of job satisfaction,
lack of reliable role models,
inflexible work schedules, workplace
discrimination, and glass
ceiling issues.
Clearly, we have work to do.
The goal of IEEE, and the SSCS, is
to develop and share innovations for
the benefit of humanity. Continued
progress in our field relies upon an
open flow of information and ideas
from a diverse group that
benefits from inclusivity. The
SSCS promotes diversity and
inclusivity in our community
through conferences,
programs, and activities.
Opportunities for participation
and leadership
in our Society are open
to everyone, especially
women and others who
have not been represented well in
the past.
Having made these commitments,
to receive the prestigious Pederson
Award. Prof. Teresa Meng (Stanford
University) received the Pederson
Award in 2009: " For pioneering contributions
to the development of
integrated wireless communications
systems. "
The Women in Circuits (WiC) group
The SSCS
was established by the SSCS to re -
cruit, retain, and promote female
members for our Society. Alice Wang
led the group during the uncertainties
of the COVID pandemic
(Thank you, Alice!), and
promotes
diversity and
inclusivity in
our community
through
conferences,
programs, and
activities.
Farhana
Sheikh and
Kathy Wilcox now lead
this important initiative.
WiC organizes networking
events at all of our major
conferences. Look for their
mentoring events at the
ISSCC in February and at
ESSCIRC, A-SSCC, the VLSI
how can we raise our female membership
substantially? Promoting
excellence is always appropriate. In
2022, nine of 33 IEEE Field Award
recipients are women. SSCS Fellow
Ingrid Verbauwhede is the latest
recipient of the Donald O. Pederson
Award in Solid-State Circuits: " For
pioneering contributions to energyefficient
and high-performance secure
integrated circuits and systems. "
Prof. Verbauwhede is the leader of
the Computer Security and Industrial
Cryptography research group at KU
Leuven in Belgium. Dr. Verbauwhede
is the second female SSCS member
Symposia, and the CICC. WiC's mentoring
events support career growth
and introduce SSCS members to successful
women in our field. WiC is also
taking the lead in creating local SSCS
Chapter events, including networking
lunches and workshops on job
and resume preparation that help
overcome hurdles women face in
hiring. Chapter seminars created
by WiC on leadership work/life balance
and negotiation coach participants
in topics of special interest to
women working in our profession.
Serving on technical program committees
(TPCs) for conferences is also
important to the development of networking,
leadership, and technical
skills. The WiC group works with
IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE WINTER 2023
5
IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2023

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