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Senior Kaitlin Gili starts international mentoring group for women

Like everyone else in the world, the Stevens community could use some good news. So let me tell you about Kaitlin Gili, a Stevens senior majoring in Physics, and the organization she founded, EWAAB, which helps young women planning to enter physics, computer science, and other male-dominated professions.

EWAAB stands for Encouraging Women Across All Borders. Its website describes it as “a non-profit organization that aims to strengthen the confidence of young women through personal mentorship, a strong support network of inspirational role models, and projects that encourage participants to go outside of their comfort zone in their careers of choice.”

I first heard about Gili from one of her professors, physicist Chris Search. After I reached out to her, we met in my office, and she told me a little about herself. Growing up in Ocala, Florida, she loved math and science, and especially physics. One of her favorite books was How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog by Chad Orzel. She wanted to go to a science-oriented college. Her family has modest means, so she needed a scholarship. Stevens offered her a good financial package.

At an orientation meeting for Physics majors, 10 students showed up, and Gili was the only female. Later, she had a hard time finding older female students or professors who could guide her and serve as role models. Stevens was all-male until 1971. Today, 29% of undergraduates and 26% of the faculty are female.

Over the next few years, Gili found mentors, including Lindsey Cormack, a professor of political science, and Hoveida Farvardin, an official at the World Bank and wife of Stevens President Nariman Farvardin. Gili also served as a mentor herself. She taught computer programming to girls in New Jersey through “Girls Who Code,” an organization that seeks “to close the gender gap in technology.”

Gili began to feel the need to do more. She met women in other majors at Stevens, including Chemistry and Business, who confessed that they, too, sometimes felt isolated by their gender. She had similar conversations with women she befriended during summer programs in Belgium, Japan, and England. “We kept coming back to the idea that there is a need for female mentors,” Gili said.

Last June, doing research on quantum optics at the University of Oxford, Gili and a student from the Slovak Republic, Dominika Ďurovčíková, decided to act. “We pulled together all the strongest women we knew and said, ‘Let’s do this.’” They started creating a network of female mentors for female freshmen and sophomores. Mentors can be faculty and other professionals, graduate students, or senior undergraduates.

Within the EWAAB mentorship program, called Encourage Her, mentors have face-to-face meetings with a group of three to five mentees roughly once per month over the course of a school year. Mentors and mentees work on CVs, resumes, presentation skills, confidence building, overcoming imposter syndrome, and handling mansplainers.

It’s hard to imagined anyone, male or female, cowing Gili. She comes across as both modest and confident, chill and fierce. She wants to pursue a career in quantum computers. In fact, she hopes to run her own quantum-computer company someday. The University of Oxford has accepted her into its graduate computing program, but she is deferring her graduate studies until next year so she can devote herself full-time to EWAAB. For the organization to thrive, Gili says that it “will take a lot of tender loving care and passion.”

EWAAB is already an international organization, with branches in the U.S. (Stevens, Caltech, William and Mary), Canada (McGill), United Kingdom (Oxford), Belgium (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Australia (University of Melbourne), and Slovak Republic (Comenius University). Gili is trying to raise money to broaden EWAAB’s reach. “I would love to help women in community colleges,” said Gili, whose sister attended a community college. Also on Gili’s wish list is a Facebook-style webpage that can help mentors and mentees stay in touch; a conference, ideally in late 2021; and funds for research and scholarships. 

I hope EWAAB enlists more and more women and spreads to more and more schools, because it’s sorely needed. After the coronavirus pandemic passes, women seeking careers in STEM will still face obstacles. You can help by volunteering for EWAAB or just telling people about it. Meanwhile, stay healthy!

John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings. This column is adapted from one he wrote for his Scientific American blog, “Cross-check.”

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