IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2022 - 35

manager, I always try to break the
stereotypes. "
With 12 years of experience teaching
programming languages, algorithms,
and data structures to a variety of student
ages and education levels, Dragoumanos
is currently a software architect
at the Computer Technology Institute
and Press " Diophantus, " an organization
focusing on R&D in information
and communication technologies. He is
also a current member of the IEEE EAB
Pre-University Education Coordination
Committee, an associate editor of IEEE
Potentials Magazine, a member of the
Advisory Editorial Board of IEEE Spectrum/The
Institute, founder and coeditor
of IEEE Region 8 Today, and member
of the IEEE Region 8 Professional and
Educational Committee.
" I realized early during my career
that my success depends on my ability to
empower others, " explains Dragoumanos.
To that end, he invested time and
effort into what he calls questioning stereotypes
using facts, meaning pushing
through to give people a chance regardless
of your first impression or their limiting
beliefs in their own abilities. In one
example he shares, " a female student
of mine was trying to cheat in her C#
exams because she was sure she was not
good enough in the field. Instead of punishing
her, I told her that we could have
a few extra courses outside the official
curriculum. " Recognizing the opportunity,
he amusingly adds, " I made her
promise that in a few years when I will
be seeking a job, she will hire me as her
right hand. " (She is now the head developer
for a company that manages the
yacht marina in her hometown.)
Looking ahead at continuing to open
doors for women in STEM, Dragoumanos
puts out a call to members: anyone
with ideas for new preuniversity STEM
programs,
tutorials, or educational
resources should share them through
the IEEE STEM Portal. And for those
looking for resources, he recommends
tryengineering.org, the portal that
the IEEE EAB Pre-University Education
Coordination Committee maintains,
which offers a whole category of Girls in
STEM programs.
" Creating new programs is an ongoing
action item for motivating and influencing
our future women in STEM, " he
concludes.
Mohamed Ibnkahla
Ottawa
Dr. Mohamed
Ibnkahla is
focused on
the possibilities.
A professor
of computer
engineering at
Carleton University
in Canada and Cisco Chair in the
Internet of Things in the Department
of Systems and Computer Engineering,
he says, " it is important to support
women in this industry because they
are underrepresented while they have all
the required qualifications to succeed
and excel. " Supporting them, he advises,
means " reaching out to women at the
early stages of their engineering education
and professional development. "
To that end, he works with underDr.
Mohamed
Ibnkahla
graduate and graduate students to
provide encouragement as they are
embarking on their STEM careers. One
example he recounts is of a female student
who applied to Carleton's graduate
program, which is mostly dominated
by men. " Her file was very strong, and
she deserved to be hired as a graduate
student, " he explains. " I supported her
application and she was accepted into
the program with a scholarship from
my research grants. " As her education
progressed, he " provided the student
with the necessary tools and work
environment to do her job well, including
encouraging her to participate in
extracurricular activities such as giving
seminars, taking leadership activities
in engineering societies and in the
local WIE Society, outreach to the general
public, writing stories and meeting
the media, etc. " Ultimately, Ibnkahla
shares, " This student did extremely well
in her academic career as well as in her
collaborative work with industry. She
also received a number of academic and
professional awards. I can consider her
DECEMBER 2022
among the top 10% of graduate students
I've supervised in my career. "
Ibnkahla is grateful to WIE for its
active work to promote and support
women and for its recognition of his
efforts in these areas by designating
him one of the " Extraordinary Men. " A
member of IEEE's Canada Region who
belongs to the Communications, Computer
and Signal Processing Societies,
Ibnkahla holds an engineering degree in
electronics and a Ph.D. degree in signal
processing and communications, both
from the National Polytechnic Institute
of Toulouse in France.
Akinori Nishihara
Tokyo
Akinori Nishihara is
Professor Emeritus
of the Tokyo
Institute of Technology,
and currently
works as
the university's
COO of Tokyo Tech
Academy for Super
Smart Society. An
IEEE Life Fellow, member of the IEEE
Circuits and Systems Society, the IEEE
Signal Processing Society, and the IEEE
Education Society, Nishihara has been
an active volunteer for Region 10, serving
as director in 2019-2020, and participating
in the Japan Council and Tokyo Section
as well.
As a part of his volunteer efforts,
Akinori Nishihara
Nishihara helped establish the Japan
Council's WIE Affinity Group in 2005,
served as webmaster of the WIE Japan
website, and successfully nominated 14
women in Region 10 to be IEEE Senior
Members. One of those nominated was
Takako Hashimoto, who later served
as IEEE WIE chair in 2015-2016, as
well as Region 10 secretary and Japan
Council chair.
According to him, " Japan is far behind
in gender equality (116th in 146 countries
in the Global Gender Gap Index
2022 by WEF), and we have to change
this. " Part of how is via organizations
such as WIE, which help to model be -
havior and normalize new standards.
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
35
https://tryengineering.org/
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2022

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