NJIT Community Members,
Celebrating Women’s History Month each March has been a national tradition for more than 30 years and, at NJIT, we take advantage of this opportunity to recognize the impact of women on our university, our society, and our world. We are incredibly proud of the women who graduate from this university and become both leaders and agents for change within their fields. Those include women such as the following, to name just a few:
- General Ellen Pawlikowski, who was the third woman ever to become a four-star general in the United States Air Force and has maintained responsibility for more than 80,000 people who assure the Air Force’s weapons readiness.
- Marjorie Perry, who is president and CEO of MZM Construction, which was just recently named by Forbes as one of the 100 fastest-growing inner city companies for 2018.
- Anita LaSalle, who is the program director for the National Science Foundation’s Division of Computer and Network Systems.
- Sukla Chandra, who is managing director of GE Ventures India and is responsible for technology transfer and licensing for GE Technologies in India.
Throughout March, our campus community will experience a number of programs designed to highlight the success of women at our university, in professional fields and throughout society at large. The signature event each year is the Women Designing the Future Conference, hosted by NJIT’s Murray Center for Women in Technology. This year’s conference will be held on Friday, March 29 and will be themed “Game Changers” due to its focus on leading female innovators and technological advancements that will transform our lives during the next decade, including new applications of artificial intelligence, robotics and the future of work, next generation genomics, and break-through personalized medical technologies.
It is imperative that we celebrate events such as this conference in addition to Women’s History Month and be mindful at all times of the need to cultivate future generations of women studying, researching, and working in the science and technology sectors. Our challenge goes beyond attracting significantly more women to these fields; we also must make certain there are ample opportunities for women to assume positions of leadership throughout the tech world, which has not been the case, historically. So, please join NJIT in honoring the many women who have bettered our university and our world while we simultaneously work to create opportunities for the next generation of women leaders.
Joel S. Bloom, President