2023-2024 WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVES SEMINAR
Let'S Get Real
Speaker Line-up
ENGR311A
Winter Quarter
In-Person | 4:30 - 5:20pm | Thursdays | Y2E2 111
Winter Quarter
In-Person | 4:30 - 5:20pm | Thursdays | Y2E2 111
Jan 11
Marie Harnly
Director, Special Projects, White House Situation Room and Stanford BS
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Marie Harnly is the Director of Special Projects for the White House Situation Room. She leads a team of 700 contractors and federal government personnel overseeing the 77 million dollar renovations of the Situation Room and its alternate location. Prior to her current position, Marie was the commander of a military engineering unit in Turkey, where she led 48 military and 420 contractors to plan, construct, operate, and maintain 3.2 billion dollars in real property spanning across 3,323 acres, 1,370 facilities, 932 housing units, and five geographically separated units. She also provided explosive ordnance disposal, fire protection, environmental protection, and housing services to approximately 4,800 personnel, supporting operations in the Middle East.
Marie has served in the military as an engineer for over 15 years and in a variety of leadership positions, including at the Pentagon and White House. She earned master’s degrees from Harvard University, the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, and the Air Force Institute of Technology, and bachelor’s degrees from Stanford University. She also published three academic journal articles and holds a Professional Engineering license and Project Management Professional certification. |
Jan 18
Jackie Chen
Senior Scientist, Sandia National Laboratories and Stanford PhD
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Jacqueline H. Chen is a Senior Scientist at the Combustion Research Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. She received her B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University, her M. S. degree from University of California at Berkeley and her Ph.D. degree from Stanford University. She has contributed broadly to research in turbulent combustion elucidating ‘turbulence-chemistry’ interactions in combustion through direct numerical simulations. To achieve scalable performance of DNS on heterogeneous computer architectures she leads an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, applied mathematicians and computational scientists to develop an exascale direct numerical simulation capability for turbulent reactive flows with complex chemistry and multi-physics. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Combustion Institute and the American Physical Society. She is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. She is a member of the Council for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the Combustion Institute’s Bernard Lewis Gold Medal Award in 2018, the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award in 2018, the Department of Energy Office of Science Distinguished Scientists Fellow Award in 2020. She served on the Combustion Institute Board of Directors and was past Editor of Journal of Flow, Turbulence and Combustion. She serves on the Editorial Boards of Physical Review Fluids and Progress in Energy and Combustion.
She grew up in Athens, Ohio in the 60’s-70’s, got married and raised two children, Maya and Zachary, and in her spare time, enjoys music, skiing and cooking. She has mentored many postdocs and graduate students who have gone on to have successful careers in academia, industry and national labs. |
Jan 25
Trae Vassallo
WW Operations, Apple, Stanford BS & MS
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Trae Vassallo is in WW Operations at Apple. She was previously Co-Founder and Managing Director of Defy, an early stage venture capital firm. She is an engineer, an entrepreneur, an investor, and an operator, and her passion is collaborating with amazing teams.
A "design thinker" and engineer at heart, Trae thrives at the intersection of great products and big markets. Prior to Defy, Trae was a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Over her investing career, Trae invested in number of leading companies including Verse, Elevate Security, eero, Molekule, Nest Labs, Dropcam, Aggregate Knowledge and Opower. Trae has public company experience having been on the board of directors at Telstra, an international telecommunications company. Before joining KPCB, Trae was a Co-Founder of Good Technology, a KPCB portfolio company that provides end-to-end wireless email services to the enterprise. Trae began her career at IDEO, where she developed ground-breaking products for companies including Palm and Dell. Trae holds 13 patents across a broad array of technologies and disciplines. Trae strives to empower women in technology. She helped co-found and run Equity Summit, an annual event that brings $2T of AUM together for relationship building and authentic conversation between leading LPs and women GPs. In 2015, Trae co-authored the study "Elephant in the Valley" to help highlight the underlying data around the experiences of women in technology. Trae earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in mechanical engineering with honors from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Trae participated on the Trust of the Stanford Business School and as an advisor to the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford. In addition to collaborating with amazing teams, Trae is passionate about adventuring with her husband, Steve, and three children. |
FEB 1
Veronica Santos
Associate Dean & Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCLA
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Veronica Santos is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Director of the UCLA Biomechatronics Lab (http://biomechatronics.ucla.edu). She currently serves as the Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Faculty Affairs for the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Dr. Santos earned her B.S. in mechanical engineering (music minor) from UC Berkeley, was a Quality and R&D Engineer at Guidant Corporation, and earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering (biometry minor) from Cornell University. As a postdoc at the University of Southern California, she contributed to the development of a bio-inspired tactile sensor for prosthetic hands before moving to Arizona State University as an Assistant Professor. Her research interests include hand biomechanics, human-machine systems, tactile sensing and perception, and prosthetics/robotics for grasp and manipulation. Dr. Santos was selected for an NSF CAREER Award, the U.S. Defense Science Study Group, a U.S. National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium, and numerous teaching awards. Her work has appeared in TechCrunch and Forbes, among others. Dr. Santos has served as an ICRA Editor and IEEE Haptics Symposium Editor-in-Chief. She was a General Co-Chair for the 2022 IEEE Haptics Symposium, a role she reprises for 2024.
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Feb 8
Kathryn Jablokow
Program Director, NSF
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Dr. Kathryn Jablokow serves the National Science Foundation (NSF) as Program Director for the Engineering Design and Systems Engineering (EDSE) program in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Division. In that role, her aim is to lead the engineering design and systems engineering research communities in transformative new directions, including projects related to immersive design, collaborative design, bio-design, design in under-resourced communities, and extreme design. She is also a passionate supporter of programs and activities that encourage new investigators to join the research community.
In her academic life, Kathryn is a Professor of Engineering Design and Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University, where she has enjoyed teaching, research, and serving in various leadership positions for over 33 years. Her research focuses on design cognition, high performance design teams, design fixation, and design education. She is one of three faculty to create a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Creativity, Innovation, and Transformation – currently offered through Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/learn/creativity-innovation). Dr. Jablokow has received many awards for her teaching and research, including the W. M. Keck Foundation Teaching Excellence Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award, and multiple Best Paper Awards. She is a Fellow of ASME, a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Member of ASEE, Sigma Xi, and the Design Society; she was recently elected to the ASME Board of Governors (2023-26). She earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University, where she specialized in robotics and helped design large-payload walking machines. Kathryn’s other interests include practicing yoga, collecting cookbooks, learning German, reading classic British mysteries, and enjoying a really good cup of hot tea (milk, no sugar!). |
Feb 15
Ankur Ganguli
Executive Director of Vehicle Mechatronics Embedded Controls, GM
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Ankur Ganguli joined General Motors in 2016 and is currently leading the Vehicle Mechatronic Embedded Controls – Evolving Business Team. Previously within GM, Ankur served in the roles of Director of Battery Pack Engineering and Director of Software Engineering for Vehicle Motion Embedded Controls. Prior to joining GM, Ankur worked at Eaton, where she took on various technical and leadership roles delivering innovations and products with smart and connected technologies across Hydraulics, Aerospace, Vehicle and Electrical Power Management businesses.
Ankur has Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, India and Master’s and PhD, from University of Minnesota. She served on the Advisory Board for the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Minnesota from 2013-2018, providing strategic guidance to the department and supporting the student community. Ankur currently is a member of the Industry Advisory Board of IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Controls) with a mission to bridge the gap between industry needs and academic research. On the personal front, Ankur is an avid yoga practitioner and YTT200 certified yoga teacher; a novice hiker; a struggling musician and a proud mother of two awesome children, Diya & Aadi, who teach her something new everyday. She lives with her husband, Suvo, the kids and their dog, Mishti, in Northville, MI. |
Feb 22
Tess Hatch
Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
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Tess invests in technology and people who believe as strongly as she does that frontier technology will develop solutions for societal problems. She is a partner based in Silicon Valley fostering entrepreneurship of frontier technology, specifically the commercialization of space, drones, autonomous vehicles, and climate technology.
Tess has partnered with Black Sheep Foods, Boom Supersonic, DroneDeploy, Iris Automation, Lumachain, Phantom Auto, Rocket Lab, and Spire Global. She was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital. She speaks and is published regularly on Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and other publications on space and frontier technology. Tess earned a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. She went on to work for Boeing and then SpaceX where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon9 rocket. She remains close to her alma mater by co-teaching a class at Stanford, serving on the board of advisors for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and founding the Stanford Aero/Astro Alumni Association. Tess is passionate about space exploration and imagines a future where we all travel to space. She hopes to one day take a trip herself. |
Feb 29
Santhi Analytis
Venture Advisor, Designer Fund, Stanford MS & PhD
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Dr. Santhi Analytis is an award-winning founder, advisor, and investor. Her expertise is in building and leading complex hardware engineering teams, encompassing user-centric design, mechanical, electrical, firmware and software components. Santhi co-founded and served as CTO of Moxxly, Inc., a smart breast pump company that got FDA 510(k) clearance on its debut product that entered the market in 2018. The company was acquired by Olle Larsson Holding AG, the parent company of Medela and Bravado. She was the founding VP of Engineering at the San Francisco-based HVAC startup Treau, Inc. (DBA Gradient Comfort). She has also spent substantial time in Asia, Latin America, and locally in the Bay Area on factory floors solving manufacturing quality issues and getting products through pilot production.
A passionate angel investor, Dr. Analytis focuses on companies in sustainability and health, while supporting underestimated founders including women, BIPOC and entrepreneurs in emerging markets. She supports technology-focused venture capital firms with diligence activities, including Designer Fund, for early stage investments. Santhi has been named on Hackbright Academy and Girl Geek X’s “Female CTOs to Watch” lists in 2016 and 2019. Her breakthrough product design work at Gradient led to recognition as one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 and a Fast Company World Changing Idea. She was also an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recipient; the program partially funded her Ph.D. thesis work under Dr. Mark Cutkosky, in which she developed tools for enabling minimally invasive interventions with real-time MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Dr. Analytis has 10+ peer-reviewed publications and 20+ patents. She holds a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Latin American Studies from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Santhi lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and two kids. |
Mar 7
Sara Bowen and Colette Posse
Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Boeing High Lift Configuration Aerodynamics Engineer, Boeing
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Sara Bowen (left) is vice president of Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Employee Listening & Organizational Research at The Boeing Company.
Sara is responsible for developing and executing the company’s global strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion, ensuring Boeing fulfills its promise of equal opportunity, and strengthening a culture of belonging. She also leads the Employee Listening and Organizational Research team, which harnesses the power of employee voice to drive business excellence.
Prior to joining Boeing, Sara led Starbucks’ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility team, which included the company’s first-time public achievement of 100% pay equity in 2018. Sara also worked as an employment lawyer for two decades, helping companies fulfill their promises of equal opportunity.
Sara earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and her law degree from Stanford Law School.
Colette (right) grew up in the Los Angeles area and graduated from Stanford University with dual bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering. In her free time, she enjoys dancing and watching ballet and serves as Washington State chapter chair of Stanford Admission’s alumni volunteer team.
Sara is responsible for developing and executing the company’s global strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion, ensuring Boeing fulfills its promise of equal opportunity, and strengthening a culture of belonging. She also leads the Employee Listening and Organizational Research team, which harnesses the power of employee voice to drive business excellence.
Prior to joining Boeing, Sara led Starbucks’ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility team, which included the company’s first-time public achievement of 100% pay equity in 2018. Sara also worked as an employment lawyer for two decades, helping companies fulfill their promises of equal opportunity.
Sara earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and her law degree from Stanford Law School.
Colette (right) grew up in the Los Angeles area and graduated from Stanford University with dual bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering. In her free time, she enjoys dancing and watching ballet and serves as Washington State chapter chair of Stanford Admission’s alumni volunteer team.
Mar 14
profs. Sheri Sheppard and Allison Okamura
Stanford Mechanical Engineering Professors
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Sheri Sheppard teaches both undergraduate and graduate design-related classes, and conducts research on fracture mechanics and applied finite element analysis, and on how people become engineers. From 1999-2008 she served as a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, leading the Foundation’s engineering study. In addition to publishing technical papers, reports, and textbooks, she has led or co-led several large, multi-institutional projects to build new educational research programs and related resources, such as the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE), The National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter), and a program on summer research experiences for high school teachers. Her industry experience includes engineering positions at Detroit's "Big Three” — Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, and Chrysler Corporation. She earned her bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin, and her PhD at the University of Michigan. At Stanford she has served a chair of the faculty senate, as associate vice provost for graduate education, and is the longtime faculty founder of and adviser to the graduate student group MEwomen. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors and awards, including the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford University's highest award for excellence in teaching and the Chester F. Carlson and Ralph Coats Roe Awards of the American Society for Engineering Education in recognition of distinguished accomplishment in engineering education, and for outstanding teaching and notable contributions to the mechanical engineering profession.
Allison M. Okamura received the BS degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994, and the MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1996 and 2000, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. She is currently Professor in the mechanical engineering department at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in computer science. She was previously Professor and Vice Chair of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. She has been an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, editor-in-chief of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Conference Editorial Board, an editor of the International Journal of Robotics Research, and co-chair of the IEEE Haptics Symposium. Her awards include the 2020 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award, 2019 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Service Award, 2016 Duca Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, 2009 IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award, 2005 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award, and 2004 NSF CAREER Award. She is an IEEE Fellow. Her academic interests include haptics, teleoperation, virtual environments and simulators, medical robotics, soft robotics, neuromechanics and rehabilitation, prosthetics, and education. Outside academia, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, running, and playing ice hockey.
Allison M. Okamura received the BS degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994, and the MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1996 and 2000, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. She is currently Professor in the mechanical engineering department at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in computer science. She was previously Professor and Vice Chair of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. She has been an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, editor-in-chief of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Conference Editorial Board, an editor of the International Journal of Robotics Research, and co-chair of the IEEE Haptics Symposium. Her awards include the 2020 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award, 2019 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Service Award, 2016 Duca Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, 2009 IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics Early Career Award, 2005 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award, and 2004 NSF CAREER Award. She is an IEEE Fellow. Her academic interests include haptics, teleoperation, virtual environments and simulators, medical robotics, soft robotics, neuromechanics and rehabilitation, prosthetics, and education. Outside academia, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, running, and playing ice hockey.
