A new six-week program called Women in Technology Sharing Online or WitsOn will offer women undergraduates the opportunity to network with mentors in science and technology fields in the academic, government, and business spheres. Students at participating colleges and universities will be able to ask the mentors questions by email. Students, male or female, from any college or university may participate if they are nominated by a faculty member.
The WitsOn program is sponsored by Piazza, a social learning platform and Harvey Mudd College.
A one-day online test forum conducted last May produced 800 questions from students. About 300 mentors have been lined up to participate in the project which will begin on October 1 and last until mid-November. Among the lead mentors are former astronaut Mae Jemison, Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president at Microsoft, and Jacqueline Barton, chair of the department of chemistry at CalTech.
“We’ve seen that mentors help young people to envision successful outcomes for themselves,” stated President Klawe of Harvey Mudd College. “That’s so important for young women in technology-related fields, who in many cases still don’t encounter older people who resemble themselves.”
More information on the program is available here.