IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2021 - 13

Lieberman exploring Patagonia in January 2020.

what can come from a global pandemic
Lieberman. " I had just moved back with
like this. "
my parents in Idaho because of COVID,
and I wasn't having much social interaction, so it was amazing to have a way
Keep Striving
to connect with interesting and pasGiven all of these undertakings, it is
sionate people. " She reached out to the
unclear when Lieberman has free time,
founder, Anant Akash, and offered help,
but she shares that she spends as much
which is how she became the intern.
of it as possible outdoors and playing
club director, organizing virtual
sports. The concussions may have
events such as an interview
stymied her plans for profesbootcamp series, coffee
sional kiteboarding, but
Lieberman
m a t c h e s , and womthey did not crush her
en's panels.
love of outdoor activiwas active in the
In August 2020,
ties. In fact, they
Society of Women
intern.club put on
them: she
Engineers organization boosted
the world's largdoes digital photogduring college as a
est conference for
raphy of landscapes
corporate relations
interns, with more
as a creative outlet,
than 4,000 virtual
as a reason to explore
officer.
attendees. As part of
beautiful places, and
her tech support role,
has begun astrophotograLieberman stepped in whenphy, too. " When you're recovever a panel was not about to go on
ering from a concussion, you can't
as planned, which means she moderatdo much, " she says. " You can't look at
ed a few events. " It was incredible; we
screens, read, or exercise, but you can
brought in dozens of leaders and CEOs
look through a camera lens. "
who were all more than happy to share
Lieberman's love of the outdoors and
their expertise with our generation, "
her background in extreme sports may
she describes. " My favorite part is that
have prepared her for a career path where
we all have this opportunity to interact
women are the minority, but she also credwith each other in a way that wouldn't
its her hometown and secondary school
have happened organically because of
system with preventing gender bias. " The
COVID. Many doors closed because of the
concept of gender bias didn't register
pandemic, but that left room for innovain my life until I joined SWE [Society
tion and new doors to open. I'm trying
of Women Engineers] and found all of
to make the most of that and also help
these outlets specifically for women, " she
others experience the silver linings of
recalls. " Some of my peers have experi-

JUNE 2021

enced pretty nasty sexism, but at Santa
Clara and Microsoft, I've found really
encouraging and supportive atmospheres.
That is not to say there are many women
in those programs, but we can change
that. I think if women feel empowered to
speak up, then creating a more balanced
environment will be more achievable. "
" Hearing Dr. Panetta talk about
her experiences with sexism on the
UPWARD U.N.I.T.E.S panel, " she continues, " with people telling her she
couldn't do something but then she
goes and does it anyway-gives me
hope that things are changing because
I've been fortunate not to have that be
my experience. "
As for advice from her own journey
that she would pass on to other female
engineers, Lieberman counsels, " Try
different experiences and don't restrict
yourself. " Even as she is excited to take
on the program manager role at Microsoft, which she credits with expanding
her view of what engineering has to
offer, Lieberman considers incorporating other areas in her future, such as
roles in education or outreach.
She also advises people to create
the right environments for themselves.
" I think if you really want something,
you go after it in a myriad of ways to
set yourself up for success. Learn from
people, create a network, find mentors,
develop a healthy and productive environment, and then pay it forward to
enable others to thrive and succeed. "
Lieberman goes on to say that, " giving back to the community has been the
most fulfilling component of my STEM
experience and that's why I want to leave
open the possibility of not just doing neural engineering but something that creates opportunities for others. That fills my
heart up at the end of the day. I hope that
by the time I retire, I can look back and say
that I helped make the STEM world a better and more inclusive place for everyone. "
Of course, if she could combine neural engineering, computer science, creating opportunities for others, and the
outdoors ... well, that would really be an
environment for Lieberman to succeed.
-Leslie Prives

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2021

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