Leading the Way to Inclusiveness
Since the beginning, it has been our mission to create an inclusive environment where our employees feel welcome no matter their background, race, or sex. Our field, engineering, can sometimes be discriminating for those who are not the majority. We continuously advocate for more inclusiveness for women in STEM. Currently in the US, only 20% of engineers are women, but these numbers are increasing.
“We had four women in my (graduating) class. It was kind of shocking since most classes have two, maybe one.” Says Sarah Dory, one of our electrical engineers.
Casey Richardson our associate electrical engineer agrees with Dory.
“Being a woman, it does make me stand out sometimes, but I don’t mind.”
For Richardson, the decision of becoming an engineer was an easy one.
“My parents both got degrees in engineering. My dad teaches engineering so I kind of knew what I was getting into.” She says.
Alicia Bird, also an associate electrical engineer, decided in high school to study engineering after taking a Physics class that challenged her. Her college experience was a bit different from Dory and Richardson because she was one of only two women in the class.
“We ended up being pretty close just trying to get through the tough bits. Being the only women was just another thing you had to deal with but you just get used to it.” Bird says.
She says it would be nice for more people to have access to STEM classes in high school to attract them to the field.
Daniela Fuentes, associate software engineer, is originally from Venezuela, she was first exposed to programming and software engineering in college.
“Initially it was very challenging learning everything from zero, but I was excited about tackling difficult issues and learning new ways to solve problems.” Fuentes says.
She adds that she would like to see more support from men in the field to inspire more women to become engineers.
Dory, Richardson, Bird, and Fuentes are currently working on a variety of things at Ciholas, including software, ultra-wide band radar, model applications, and data analysis.
We, as a company, will continue to support programs and advocate for more diversity among our engineers through our intern program, our hiring practices, and our support of organizations that promote diversity in the STEM fields.
