The Convening

Education Development Center (EDC) was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold an NSF INCLUDES convening on engaging and retaining women veterans in the STEM Workforce which took place virtually, March 2-5, 2021. We have created a Linked Women Veterans in STEM Convening Networking Group for attendees to continue to connect and share information and resources related to our goals.

Convening Materials

Participants at this virtual convening helped us identify and prioritize strategies to develop and leverage existing services and stimulate new ideas to provide more targeted outreach to engage, train, and retain women veterans in the STEM workforce.

The objectives of the convening were to:

  • Provide an overview of the project, its goals, and the importance of engaging women veterans on the STEM Workforce.
  • Build a common understanding of the landscape of assets and challenges faced by women veterans in the four focus areas.
  • Make recommendations to address barriers to engaging women veterans in the STEM Workforce.
  • Identify and prioritize opportunities to scale recommendations related to policies, practices and funding needs for multiple key stakeholder audiences.

The schedule and topics for the convening were:

  • March 2, 2021 1:00– 4:30 EST: The Future of Women Vets in STEM Plenary where participants were provided an overview of the project and heard from four nationally recognized women veterans on their experiences transitioning from service to the workforce in Ted Talk-style keynote addresses.
  • March 3, 2021, 1:00 – 3:00 EST: Transition Services and STEM Workforce Development (concurrent) Work Group Discussions and Recommendations where participants had the opportunity to provide and prioritize recommendations to address barriers and leverage strengths in one of these focus areas.
  • March 4, 2021, 1:00 – 3:00 EST: STEM Education and Health and Well-being (concurrent) Work Group Discussions and Recommendations where participants had the opportunity to provide and prioritize recommendations to address barriers and leverage strengths in one of these focus areas.
  • March 5, 2021, 1:00 – 4:00 EST: Work Group Summaries, Discussant Panels, and Next Steps where a panel of employers, federal agencies, and our convening chairs discussed recommendations from the previous days and participants had an opportunity to ask questions and provide input on the recommendations.
    • STEM Industry Panel
    • Federal Agency Panel
      • Meg O’Grady, National Veterans’ Employment Manager, Department of Labor VETS
      • Tamre Newton, Director, Military-Civilian Transition Office, Department of Defense
      • Dr. Amy Street, Deputy Director of the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD
    • Convening Chair Panel
      • Dr. Anthony Dean, Assistant Dean for Research, Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University
      • Dr. Tomika Greer, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the College of Technology at the University of Houston
      • Rosalinda Vasquez Maury, Director of Applied Research and Analytics at the Institute of Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University
      • Micah Taylor, Air National Guard Education and Training Manager and Idaho Area Manager for Hire Heroes USA

Below are the graphic illustrations of the summary of recommendations and closing panel discussions.

Participants were also invited to join optional networking sessions prior to the start of each day hosted by:

  • March 2, 12:30 – 12:55 EST: Lillian Gregory, Digital Services PMO, Ericsson
  • March 3, 12:30 – 12:55 EST: Ashley Owens, Manager, Employment Opportunities and Micah Taylor, Idaho Area Manager, Hire Heroes USA
  • March 4, 12:30 – 12:55 EST: Dr. Simone Soso, NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub, Program Manager, Quality Education for Minorities
  • March 5, 12:30 – 12:55 EST: Ben Chu, Director – Global Management, Stacy Stenger, AVEN Field Force Chapter Co-Lead, Nahira Miscalichi, Global AVEN Project Manager and Treasurer, Amgen
Women Vets Social Banner invite