IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011 - 14

Dr. Eve Riskin (first row, right) and the MobileASL research group have developed
software to enable people who are deaf to use video cell phones. Of her love
of teaching Riskin says, "It is rewarding to watch students develop from junior
researchers into confident Ph.D. graduates."

and they had ties back to industry so they
The UW's Eve Riskin is one of a
were able to bring funding and contacts
growing number of academics to have
as well as connections for internships,"
noticed this overlooked pool of appliRiskin says. In addition, they often
cants (be they consultants,
had experience with budgets
government researchers,
and timelines, offered
or industry professionOn-Ramps
great mentoring with
als) and to have taken
validates
their dual industry/
steps to promote
academic perspecnot just the hiring
the industry-totive, and were able to
of exemplary canacademia path and
demonstrate practididates, but also,
shows women that
cal application of
in Riskin's case,
such a career change
course material.
to hire women in
This sparked an
particular.
is possible.
idea for Riskin-an
Riskin wears many
untapped pool of bright
hats at UW. She has
and qualified female facbeen a professor of eleculty applicants-and so the three
trical engineering for 20 years,
members of the CIC, Program/Research
associate dean of engineering for five,
Manager Dr. Joyce Yen, Research Assoand she also heads up the university's
ciate Coleen Carrigan, and Riskin, sat
Center for Institutional Change (CIC),
down and hammered out a National Sciwhich was formed when the university
ence Foundation proposal for a series of
received a 2001 National Science Founworkshops aimed at "growing a national
dation ADVANCE grant to implement
cohort of women faculty for all universiprograms to help women advance in
ties to hire." It was a win-win-win idea
science, technology, engineering, and
that would benefit the new faculty, their
math (STEM) disciplines.
students, and universities alike.
In 2007 Riskin noticed that some of
As they researched their proposal,
UW's faculty who had come from industry
Riskin says the team "sat down and
were performing exceptionally well. As
compiled a list of women who had made
she says, they came in and hit the ground
this trip." The team contacted 11 differrunning. "They were a little more mature
ent women and listened to their career
than someone straight from university,

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 2011

stories. And, Riskin says, there were
some rock stars, including Dr. Ayanna
Howard, who moved from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory to associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and chemical engineer Dr. Suzie
Pun, now an associate professor at UW.
The 11 role models offered input as
to what workshop topics might be most
useful to other women contemplating
the same path. From the proposal process alone, the CIC was able to compile
an agenda, reserve some of the interviewees as speakers, and place some on their
advisory board. Not surprisingly, Riskin
speaks fondly of the proposal process, as
the camaraderie and excitement generated by the CIC team (which also includes
Program Operations Specialist Kristin
Hofmeister) seemed to be indicative of
the atmosphere Riskin was striving to
create with the workshops themselves.
In 2008, the CIC won a three-year
National Science Foundation grant to
implement On-Ramps into Academia.

A Collegial Environment
Of the many benefits offered by OnRamps is that it validates the industryto-academia path and shows women
that such a career change is possible.
Then there is the workshop itself. Participants workshop their CVs and discuss
issues such as the work-life balance, why
academia is a rewarding place to work,
how to leverage an industrial position
to bring funding, how to get teaching
started efficiently, and how to apply for
academic jobs. In summarizing her OnRamps experience, Julian says, "The

IEEE FELLOWS ARE WELL
REPRESENTED AMONG
ON-RAMPERS
April Brown
Ingrid Daubechies
Jelena Kovacevic
Leda Lunardi
Karen Panetta
Keren Bergman
Lih Lin
Mihaela van der Schaar

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011