New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering (NYU-POLY), Keynote Address, Women in Engineering Summit 2015.Presented by NYU-Poly Alumna and first African American Female PhD in Electrical Engineering, Ruthie D. Lyle, PhD.

2. +
Ruthie D. Lyle-Cannon, PhD
Lead Research Engineer USAA
March 5, 2015

3. +
Agenda
YOURstory
Women in
STEM
HERstory

4. +
Dr. Shirley Jackson
18th President RPI, first
African American to earn
PHD at MIT (1973 nuclear
physics)
Kalpana Chawla
first Indian-American
Astronaut, first Indian in
space, killed in Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
LiuYang
China’s first female
astronaut

5. +
HERstory
“It was a turbulent time in history; the future stood waiting
for change. In nearly all areas of society, the time was right
for disruption. It was time for barriers to come down and
limits to shatter; and finally time, for HERstory to pivot.
Now the only limit is you and the span of your dreams.”

6. +
Pick’in Cotton
Sometime during the early 1940s in a small
town in Sylvania Georgia, a black girl was
born to a family of 12.
Although bright and said to be of strong
promise by her teachers, she could not
attend school everyday.
Instead to help provide an income for her
family, she worked every other day picking
cotton on land her family didn’t own.

7. +
Toppin’ ‘Baca
About 10 years earlier in 1930 in Clarksville
Tennessee a boy was born in of tobacco
farmers.
He also was one of the oldest of 11 children
and despite being identified as a “tinker able
to fix most things” he was forced to stop
school in the six grade and work the farm full
time. They owned their land.

9. +
Evolution of My Life
Victory
Challenge
Decision
1987
Roosevelt
High
School
1992
Northeastern
University
1998
NYU-Poly
1999
IBM
2014
USAA
1st AA Female PhD, EE
Married
Started Family
*

10. +
INVENT
Emerging Technologies
PASSION ON PURPOSE
FREEDOM TO EXPLORE
LEVERAGE TECH
OUTSIDE THE BOX

11. +
Women in STEM
Can we craft a conversation around the reality of the
numbers and why it matters?

12. +
Women: Engineering

13. +
Women: Computer Science

14. +“99 percent of all statistics only tell 49
percent of the story.” Gents with No Cents by Ron DeLegge II
Gents with No Cents by
Ron DeLegge II― Ron DeLegge II,
Gents with No Cents

15. +
Why does it matter?
“A stereotype is not a
stereotype if it's true.”
― Ron DeLegge II,
Gents with No Cents

16. +
We’ve Got Problems !!

17. +
Social Issues à Technology

18. +
Why does it matter?
n Yesterday,Today,Tomorrow
n Diversity of Thought, Perspective
and Experience
n The World is Flat: Global and Social
Challenges to be Solved
n Unrealized Talent

19. +
YOURstory
"Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao-tzu, TheWay of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

20. +
WIE Summit in Review:
Success
Stories
Overcoming
Adversity
Career
Career and
Family
Building a
Thriving
Business
People, Panels, Presentations and Purpose

21. +
Closing Thoughts
“Now the only limit is you and the span of your dreams.“
n Make Your Journey
AuthenticallyYours!
n Determine what matter most to
you
n Be Flexible and Open to
Change
n Learn from and Teach Others
n Make Decisions without Fear
n Enjoy Life
God 1st, Family, Career YOURstory

22. +
“A ship in port is safe, but that is not what
ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new
things.”
— Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the U.S. Navy’s oldest active-
duty officer at the time of her retirement, developer of the first
compiler for a computer programming language, developer of
UNIVAC I and COBOL, and coiner of the terms “computer bug”
and “debugging.