IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016 - 102

Women in Engineering

Women in Engineering, Science, and
Technology in the United Arab Emirates
By Laura Margheri

T

he meetings of the members of
the IEEE Women in Engineering
(WIE) Committee, including the
WIE representatives of the
various IEEE Regions, Sections, and
Societies, always provide opportuni-
ties for promoting the activities of the
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
(RAS), for showing the scientific and
technological breakthroughs in robotics
and automation, and for being updated
on worldwide initiatives and challenges,
as well as for starting new multi-
disciplinary and cross-geographical
collaborations.
Robotics to-
day
is a highly
The Women
multi- and trans-
In Engineering
disciplinary area,
which includes
Committee meetings
many differ-
always provide
ent-and not
only engineer-
opportunities
ing-disciplines.
for starting new
Seen as one of
the major tech-
multidisciplinary and
nologies of the
cross-geographical
future, robotics
is also a perfect
collaborations.
training ground
for young scien-
tists and inven-
tors, as well as a great, attractive platform
for male and female scientists and engi-
neers working in other more specific
fields who can apply their theories and
research lines into more concrete appli-
cations and physical artifacts. Moreover,
robotics produces both radical indus-
trial innovation and novel scientific and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2016.2558299
Date of publication: 17 June 2016

102

*

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

*

JUNE 2016

engineering knowledge, which also
makes it a melting pot for the academic
and industrial worlds.
Under the umbrella of robotics,
there are a lot of possibilities for new
multisociety and interregional collab-
orations that attract new students,
promote academia/industry partner-
ships, and increase the visibility of
both early-stage researchers and lead-
ers. These initiatives, which can be
strategically important for the global
growth of the Society and, in particu-
lar, for inspiring, engaging, and
advancing women in robotics and
automation, need international and
multidisciplinary contests and support
to start and nurture. The IEEE WIE,
merging together different IEEE
Regions and Societies and where rep-
resentatives of both the academic and
industrial fields meet, is a perfect place
for realizing this opportunity, learning
from different social and cultural con-
texts, and sharing and harmonizing
the efforts for the benefit of commu-
nity members.
The in-person meeting of the WIE
Committee members and representa-
tives was usually held in conjunction
with the IEEE WIE International Lead-
ership Conference (http://ieee-wie-ilc.
org/), which is annually organized in
the Silicon Valley area (San Francisco
and San Jose, in particular)-a well
established place for the growth of
robotics, where many women are
leading research groups at universities
and manage high-profit companies.
During the last meeting in San Jose, the
WIE Committee proposed to move the
meeting globally and to organize it in
conjunction with one of the interna-

tional events organized locally for
women in engineering to better be
aware of the activities and needs of
WIE at a regional level. Therefore, this
year, the meeting was held 2-4 April
2016 in Dubai, together with the WIE
Summit proposed by the Dubai Society
of Engineering. The event was an
opportunity to gather together the
leaders of the Society of Engineers in
Dubai, the members of the IEEE WIE
Committee, and the major representa-
tives of the IEEE Societies (see Fig-
ure 1). It was politically strategic both
for WIE and for the United Arab Emir-
ates (UAE) Section. The UAE, in fact,
offers the basis for a strategy for
becoming a knowledge-based economy
by having particular attention paid to
the role that women will play in sci-
ence, technology, and engineering in
the future.
After remarkable economic progress
over the last 40 years that was basically
funded by oil receipts, the strategy
moved toward a highly skilled, knowl-
edge-based economy, especially focused
on producing high-value products and
services. This effort requires increasing
the number of high-quality graduates in
science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM). Also, a key to
success has been identified as the
empowerment of women [1].
As described through a series of
interviews in a report of the Economist
Intelligence Unit in 2014, it is worth
noting that UAE-based female stu-
dents are outperforming their male
counterparts, as they are more dedi-
cated and determined than male
pupils. The big issue is how many of
these women will enter into STEM
http://ieee-wie-ilc
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016
