Today, March 24th, is Ada Lovelace Day, a time to recognize women in science and technology. Ada Lovelace is credited with writing some of the world's first computer programs for a machine called the Analytical Engine. People all over the world are posting to the web, and putting links on twitter in tribute to women who have worked, famously or anonymously, in fields like medicine, computer science, engineering, and biology.
I'd like to tell you about someone on the more anonymous side of that famous-to-anonymous spectrum. Her name is Karen Hummel, and she's my aunt. Her first college degree was in a distinctly feminine field - Home Economics Education, but she returned to school after having three children to pursue a degree in engineering at K-State. While here, she directed the Minority Engineering Program. This program assisted traditionally underrepresented students: women, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, etc - in networking and pursuing careers in engineering. For her work, she was recognized with the Presidential Faculty/Staff Award for Distinguished Service to Minority Students in 1984.
The demands of working full time and raising a family make pursuing a degree a part-time process. Karen earned her engineering degree from San Diego State University in 1996. With degree in hand, she took on a position at General Dynamics as a coordinator for a team that
designed launch pads, (yes, launch pads! that's a seriously awesome job) and then later for TransCore on implementation of a toll road system in Oklahoma.
I chose Karen to write about today because I think she's typical of many women who work in the sciences and technology - more on the end of "anonymous" than "famous", and more balanced in her approach - science and technology woven in and among, informing a full life, rather than a single obsessive pursuit. I'm sure you know and love women much like her - consider recognizing and celebrating one of them today!
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