IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2015 - 114

us, the young researchers. He constantly
transfers his passion for teaching, not
only to automation theories in books
but also to unwritten rules in his career
path. Witnessing what he has done for
his students (including me), as well as
the high expectations and confidence
he had in each of us, convinced me to
choose an academic career after graduation. I would like to be a professor like
him, making a positive impact on my
students or anyone I can reach with my
hands and heart.

Q: Why did you choose to get actively
involved in the RAS WIE Committee?
A: I think
for anyone, male
I think for anyone,
or female, networking is the
male or female,
key to charting a
networking is the key
career path for
success. For
to charting a career
women in parpath for success.
ticular, advocacy
is important.
The WIE group in RAS, in my mind, is
our advocate that provides such needed
sponsorship for women in the RAS. If
women do not empower women, why
would we expect men to do so? Thus,
when the committee was looking for people to help with the Women's Luncheon at
CASE, one of the flagship conferences of
the RAS, I stepped up and volunteered
because I think supporting WIE is, in turn,
supporting myself. Thus, I would implore
women/girls to please consider joining us
in the WIE and its future events. Your

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

june 2015

presence will make a huge difference to all
of us as a whole.
I have been organizing the Women's
Luncheon at CASE for the past several
years. I always find it refreshing to listen
to the keynote speech and discussions
among our audience. There were stories
that inspired me and others to rethink the
ways we deal with our working environment. There were good suggestions to
make our committee stronger and our
events more attractive. For instance, at
CASE 2013, Dr. Laura Mclay shared with
the audience five observations about
WIE, which ignited a heated discussion
on ways to increase the visibility of
women researchers. An audience member suggested that we organize panel discussions on selected topics of interest
instead of a keynote speech to offer more
perspectives from a variety of panelists.
The biggest gain to me, or any participant
in my opinion, is the expansion of our
perspective network in the RAS.

Q: Considering your experience as a
member of the RAS WIE Committee,
what do you think are the actions
needed to increase the number of
women leaders in the field of automation? Do you have any vision for the
future of WIE in automation?
A: I think we should improve our
communication with other governing
committees in the RAS. WIE should also
recruit members from other governing
committees in RAS, male and female, and
in most cases, senior men. Thus, those
senior leaders will be able to truly under-

stand us and can represent us and speak
on our behalf in a diverse range of networks to lift us ever higher.
I hope that, in the future, WIE can
come up with some activities, in addition to the women's luncheons, that are
not limited by time and location. The
luncheons are helpful in that we get to
physically meet and engage with some
of our colleagues in automation around
the world. However, not every WIE
member can participate due to travel
funding, busy schedules, and so on.

Q: What is the most important lesson

you learned during your career that
you want to share with us?
A: There is more to life than work. As
a mother of two young children, I think
true success comes from a balance of
family and work. I would not be where I
am today if I did not have the support of
my family. Thus, I would like to tell every
young woman/girl not to forget that there
is life beyond the four walls of her office.

Q: Do you think that there are characteristics that women have that can be
used as "tricks" to become more effective leaders in the field?
A: Women are more compassionate.
Our way of communicating with people
is more interpersonal. Those feminine
characteristics make us great team players who are good at cultivating meaningful and sustainable relationships and
effectively influencing people.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2015