WICE Panel at LATINCOM 2023

WICE Panel: Spotlighting Women Career Excellence

Event Date: November 17, 2023

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Venue: Hotel Riu Plaza, Panama City, Panama

The WICE Panel held withing LATINCOM 2023 on November 17, 2023, at Hotel Riu Plaza in Panama City, was a groundbreaking event that illuminated the exceptional contributions of women in the technology sector. The panel, titled “Spotlighting Women Career Excellence,” featured distinguished speakers who shared their journeys, insights, and expertise, offering a wealth of inspiration and knowledge.

The panelists, representing diverse backgrounds and expertise, showcased the breadth and depth of women’s influence in technology. From Susana Lau’s entrepreneurial journey to Michele Nogueira’s adventures in STEM and Muriel Médard’s non-obvious approach to research, each presentation provided unique perspectives and invaluable insights. Yessica Sáez emphasized the importance of empowering women in communications engineering and highlighted her path to leadership within ComSoc.

Moderator:

STEPHANIE BLACK, GBM PANAMÁ

Stephanie Black is an Electronic Telecommunications Engineer, Information Security Consultant at a prestigious cybersecurity firm. She is the leader and co-founder of the non-profit Association Women of Security (WOSEC) Panama Chapter and Ambassador of the Dojo Community Foundation. She is also an IVLP Alumni of the Washington D.C. State Department, United States with the “Promoting Cybersecurity” program. Stephanie currently serves as the ComSoc Panama Chapter Chair.

Panelists: 

SUSANA LAU, ETYALAB, PANAMA

TITLE: MY JOURNEY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Bio: Susana Lau is an information technology consultant with more than ten years of experience. She has a Master’s Degree in Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States through a Fulbright-Senacyt scholarship. In 2015, she founded EtyaLab, a technology company that provides web and mobile solutions. She also created Mercadito, an agtech-based mobile technology company, recognized by Forbes, and awarded in various competitions. Susana is passionate about entrepreneurship and supports the empowerment of women in the technology industry. She is currently the Chair of IEEE Panama Section and has been involved in various initiatives that promote STEM education and entrepreneurship, including the foundation, together with 3 colleagues, of the non-profit organization Fundación CREEA. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of two regulated companies as an independent member, where she contributes to technology, audit, risk, and ethics committees.

MICHELE NOGUEIRA, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF MINAS GERAIS (UFMG), BRAZIL

TITLE: MY ADVENTURE IN STEM: INSIGHTS FROM THE BACKSTAGE

Bio: Michele Nogueira is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. She received her doctorate in Computer Science from the University Pierre et Marie Curie – Sorbonne Université, France. She was on sabbatical leave at Carnegie Mellon University, USA (2016-2017). Her research interests include wireless networks, security, and dependability. She has worked on providing resilience to self-organized, cognitive, and wireless networks through adaptive and opportunistic approaches. Dr. Nogueira was one of the pioneers in addressing survivability issues in self-organized wireless networks, being the work “A Survey of Survivability in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks” one of her prominent scientific contributions. She has received Academic Scholarships from the Brazilian Government in her undergraduate and graduate years, and international grants such as the ACM SIGCOMM Geodiversity program. She has served as Associate Technical Editor for the IEEE Communications Magazine. She served as chair for the IEEE ComSoc Internet Technical Committee and is an ACM and IEEE Senior Member.

MURIEL MÉDARD, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT), USA

TITLE: A NON-OBVIOUS RESEARCHER

Bio: Muriel Médard is the NEC Professor of Software Science and Engineering in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department at MIT, where she leads the Network Coding and Reliable Communications Group in the Research Laboratory for Electronics at MIT and Chief Scientist for Steinwurf, which she has co-founded. She obtained three Bachelors degrees (EECS 1989, Mathematics 1989 and Humanities 1991), as well as her M.S. (1991) and Sc.D (1995), all from MIT. Muriel is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (elected 2020), a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (elected 2022), a Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors (elected 2018), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 2021), and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (elected 2008). She holds Honorary Doctorates from the Technical University of Munich (2020) and from The University of Aalborg (2022).

Muriel was co-winner of the MIT 2004 Harold E. Egerton Faculty Achievement Award and was named a Gilbreth Lecturer by the US National Academy of Engineering in 2007. She has receviend many IEEE Awards and recongnitions and has chaired several IEEE Committees throught her career.

Muriel has supervised over 40 master students, over 20 doctoral students and over 25 postdoctoral fellows.

YESSICA SÁEZ BARRIOS, UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLÓGICA DE PANAMÁ (UTP), PANAMÁ

TITLE: EMPOWERING WOMEN IN COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING: PAVING THE PATH TO COMSOC LEADERSHIP

Bio: Yessica Saez Barrios is an electronics and telecommunications engineer, graduated from the Technological University of Panama and a specialist in higher education from the University of the Isthmus of Panama. She holds an MEng and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.

She currently works as a researcher professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Technological University of Panama, where she serves as the Research Coordinator of the Azuero Region Branch. She is the coordinator of the Research Group on Telecommunications Engineering and Intelligent Systems Applied to Society (ITSIAS), where she collaborates in several research projects financed by different institutions.

She has several publications in national and international high impact scientific journals, has participated and presented scientific articles in various national and international congresses. She is a member of the National Research System (SNI) of Panama, director of outreach of the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science (APANAC), active member of the Science in Panama Foundation. Dr. Sáez is part of the board of directors of the Communications Society (COMSOC) of the IEEE Panama and the IEEE Panama Section, member of the board of directors of the Communications Society (COMSOC) of IEEE Latin America and WICE.