IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2022 - 46

Women in Engineering
by Lauren E. Kegley
T he Roaring 20s: A Decade Helping
Reshape the Face of IEEE PELS
L
ooking back, 2020 was a year
of great reflection for many of
us-an opportunity to re-evaluate
some of our patterns and make
decisions on how we want to invest
our time moving forward. While the
world waited for the end of a pandemic,
the IEEE Power Electronics
Society (PELS) Women in Engineering
(WiE) committee made important
strides towards reshaping our
strategy for supporting the IEEE
PELS membership. As a part of this
evolution in mission, we strive to
not only elevate women in our technical
society but to create inclusive
environments to promote learning
for all of our membership-regardless
of gender identity. This evolution
is key to acting on one of our
society's core values: Diversity and
Inclusiveness is the first core value
listed within the PELS Strategic
Plan. " PELS embraces the imperative
to encourage and assure the diversity
and inclusion in our membership,
volunteers, local and AdCom leadership.
We shall respect each other's
needs and values with honesty and
transparency. "
Beginning in 2020, the IEEE PELS
WiE committee began to create
intentional events focused on professional
development opportunities for
all of our members-with the intention
to create spaces for cross-funcDigital
Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2021.3139253
Date of current version: 17 February 2022
tional networking. It's our goal to not
only help share valuable soft skills
development opportunities, but to
help you meet other PELS members
along the way. With this in mind, a
new mission statement was created
for the committee: " The IEEE PELS
WiE committee plays a vital role in
fostering an environment of diversity
and inclusion within PELS by
hosting events and initiatives that
support this commitment to diversity.
It focuses on the development of
events that support and welcome
the entire community to be a part
of the conversation. "
From this mission statement
flows three pillars that guide our
committee's action:
1) Advocacy for Equitable Elevation
& Recognition
2) Educat ion Events Targeted at
Broad Demographics, Celebrating
Diverse Voices
3) Creat ing Networking Opportunit
ies to Empower Diverse
Voices & Authentic Expression of
All Members
To further support this mission, the
IEEE PELS WiE Committee worked
with leaders of the membership committee
and AdCom to formally adopt
the IEEE WiE pledge with modified
language to support more than just
gender identity. Our pledge to you, fellow
member, is: " The IEEE Power
Electronics Society pledges to work
toward diversified representation
and participation at all IEEE PELS
46 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z March 2022
meetings, conferences, and events. All
aspects of diversity will be considered. "
This includes many different
diversity identities, including -but not
limited to- gender, regional, affiliation,
racial, ethnicity, and culture. What
does this mean for you? Whoever you
are and however you identify yourself
across the spectrum of affiliations,
which makes each of us unique, we
support you and want to help you
grow as a technical leader and provide
an environment where you want to
volunteer your time and effort.
The IEEE PELS WiE steering committee
currently includes 11 volunteer
leaders, focused on execution of
the aforementioned mission:
■ Satarupa Bal, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory
■ Stephanie Watts Butler, Technology
Innovation Architect
■ Nayara Brandao de Freitas, Institute
for Systems & Computer Engineering,
Technology & Science
(INESC TEC)
■ Christina DiMarino, Virginia Tech
■ Indhumathi Gunasekaran, Accenture
India
■ Randima Hasanthi, University of
Moratuwa
■ Lauren Kegley, (PELS WiE Committee
Chair), Wolfspeed
■ Katherine Kim, National Taiwan
University
■ Sahana Krishnan, University of California
Berkeley
■ Kristen Parrish, Wolfspeed
■ Maryam Saeedifard, Georgia Tech
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2022

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