Speaking Points as Delivered, September 14th, 2016 at Texas A&M University. Writing the W into Engineering Forum.

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Writing the W into Engineering Forum
Remarks of Rosalind Hudnell, Intel Corporation
September 14, 2016
Texas A&M University
As delivered by Kaye Gardner O’Kearny, Director, Higher Education, Intel Corporation
- Good Afternoon. Thank you so much for your presence today. I am so sorry that I am not here with you.
This past weekend, my sister in law passed away after a long bout with cancer, and I am with my family.
- This event has been a long time in the making. In fact, I remember it when it was just an idea, a small
vision; a few people looking for a way to address an issue in need of transformation and creativity.
- While words have incredible power, it won’t be the topics on our agenda here that will drive true change –
change will transpire because of the power of this room, curated with the people who have the power to
drive change on different levels; and my friends, change is what we need. As Catherine Smith has so wisely
named this – we must put the W into Engineering! And that W must be diverse.
- Attracting and retaining women in the technology industry, particularly in the fields of engineering, has
been a longstanding challenge for industry and academia. We have seen progress, but we would all agree it
has not been enough. Women succeeding in technology fields remains the exception, not the rule.
- At Intel, we started our increased focus on diversity when we decided to publish our workforce data twelve
years ago. Throughout our journey, we have learned that better outreach, unconscious bias training,
driving fairness and parity in performance management systems, and supporting a supportive environment
through affinity groups and councils are all important – the journey to full inclusion is through retention
and development, and academia is no different.
- So who has reached gender parity in academia? Medicine; and it took a long time.
- The first medical school in the U.S. was established in 1765.
- The first woman to graduate from medical school graduated in 1849; nearly 85 years later.
- In 2002, 150 years later, female medical students accounted for 44% of total graduates.
- Today, 250 years after the first U.S. medical school was established, the field of medicine is nearing true
gender diversity; 47% of medical school graduates last year were women.
- My friends, we all applaud that result. But let’s face it – our industry moves exponentially faster. We can’t
afford to wait another century to reach parity – innovation can’t wait any longer, and there is no Marcus
Welby, St. Elsewhere, ER, or Private Practice TV show to help us. But what we can do is learn what happens
when women see their future selves.
- We know that the number one factor that determines if a young person chooses to pursue a degree and
career in engineering is whether or not they have at least one parent or an adult close to them connected
to and either teaching or working in the field. Essentially, having a role model that can translate what this
amazing industry does makes all the difference.

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- I want you to close your eyes. Picture a mathematician... maybe one who worked with NASA in the 1950s…
What does that person look like? Chances are, most will picture a white man…..or some may picture a
white woman - but that, in all honesty, would be the outlier.
- What most people won’t picture are the four black women who were NASA mathematicians during the
Apollo mission - Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden – they, the
subject of the new major motion picture “Hidden Figures,” helped launch rockets and astronauts into
space.
- Their story remained untold for a long time. And while I am so excited that this story is finally being told, I
am saddened it wasn’t told as part of the original Apollo story. Imagine where we could be if our daughters
had seen women, black women, as central to this story……..we have lost time.
- Another part of the challenge with diversity in engineering is that we really aren’t great at communicating
what the impact of engineering is.
- In the medical field, it’s clear. Doctors save lives.
- So do engineers – but it’s much more difficult to make that connection. And the data demonstrates this;
once girls (and boys) understand what it means to be an engineer, and what it’s like to be an engineer, they
are more likely to choose to be an engineer.
- The past work we’ve accomplished with the Computer Clubhouse Network, for example, with hands-on
activities designed to demonstrate to youth the benefits of using and creating and making with technology,
is a great example of this.
- Once these passionate students get to college though, it can be a different story. It is challenging to make it
to graduation.
- The classes are tough. The instructors are tough. The material can be challenging. In fact, if we are honest,
physics and calculus remain gatekeeper classes to see “who can survive.” Statistically, those who don’t
survive are the most underrepresented, who often don’t have a supportive environment to help them
make it through.
- On top of that, there aren’t a lot of women or underserved minorities, which can be extremely isolating.
- And what happens? They decide it is too difficult; they can’t see themselves working in the field (again, few
role models), and they drop out.
- Our leaky pipeline starts in academia – in some instances, nearly 40% of women and underrepresented
minorities will drop out of an engineering pursuit between the freshman and sophomore year. Those that
make it through then often enter into work environments that again are isolating and not supportive, so
they leave.
- We all depend on a strong pipeline and my friends – the pipeline is leaking.
- As a part of our commitment to the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, we have partnered
with several academic institutions to improve the pipeline and retain more engineers.
- With the National Science Foundation, we set a goal to graduate an additional 10,000 engineers. We
achieved it and I want to salute Dr. Gary May, Dean of Engineering at Georgia Tech who will be with you
tomorrow, for his leadership with us on this initiative.
- We are also supporting the BRAID initiative, a partnership between the Anita Borg Institute and Harvey
Mudd College.

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- The goal of both these programs is simple; to increase the diversity of engineering and computer science
departments in universities across the country.
- Our strategy is multi-pronged;
o Building a sense of community, and increasing and expanding mentorship;
o Providing more initial support, through tutoring, financial incentives, and summer prep
programs, and;
o Redesigning introductory gateway engineering courses to make them more appealing to
underrepresented students.
- We are beginning to see retention improve with these efforts. We need more. That is what I am so excited
about – that our industry is increasingly all in; and now with this event, we can engage with academia to
begin our journey of inclusion earlier.
- And we must accelerate progress.
- You see, right now, we are in the midst of what some call the Fourth Industrial Revolution – one that will
fundamentally change the way we interact with the world, blurring the lines between the physical and
digital.
- You are beginning to see indications of this revolution everywhere you look; from big data and
virtualization, to advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence, to virtual and augmented reality –
or merged reality, as we like to call it, when you combine the two. Things are changing faster than ever
before.
- By 2020, we expect 50 billion objects and 200 billion sensors to be connected to the cloud in the Internet
of Things; in the next few decades self-driving cars, autonomous, intelligent robots, smart factories, and
cyber-physical systems will become the standard. Every job of the future will require an understanding of
technology and engineering.
- In order to reach that future, the next generation of innovators must be equipped with the right
technology and innovation skills. We have left generations behind with each industrial revolution shift.
With the third revolution, we created a digital divide - and honestly, we are still working to close it as it
relates to engineering and computer science.
- Our goal is to help close the gap and enter the fourth industrial revolution with a more inclusive agenda.
- For our academic community, it is not going to be acceptable to continue the acceptance of a culture that
says on the first day “look to the left, look to the right, two of you won’t be here next year….” We need to
work together to say look to the left, look to the right – these are your peers; let’s make sure all three of
you are still here next year!
- Again, I am so sorry I will miss the discussion over the next two days. I believe that the voices in this room
will contribute to new approaches to this critical challenge. Thank you for your commitment.
- I am thrilled now to introduce Shariq Yosufzai, VP of Global Diversity and University Affairs at Chevron.
Shariq – the vision has come to life, and while I’m not here in person it is my honor to partner with you.
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