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Adele Mae Luta

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Adele Mae Luta

Exploration Spacewalk Integration Project Manager @ Oceaneering International Inc.

Adele is an Exploration Spacewalk Integration Project Manager at Oceaneering International Inc.  Her passion for the STEM field as a young girl has led her to supporting the exploration spacesuit and space vehicle integration for NASA’s next missions to the moon. She encourages young girls to have confidence and not let obstacles get in the way of your dreams.

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

Girlstart has amazing programs like their Summer Camps. It would have been great to attend when I was a girl. I love the Q&A with the girls!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?

It was many things but I loved math in school and when I discovered that physics was a way to apply math – I was hooked!

Briefly describe your career.

I am supporting the exploration spacesuit and space vehicle integration for NASA’s next missions to the moon. Due to my STEM degrees, I have been lucky to work in human spaceflight, defense, and healthcare. I have also lived and worked internationally. I love sharing stories about innovation, physics, and human systems. I hold a BS and MS degrees in Physics and an MS and PhD (ABD) in Psychology with an emphasis in cognition and learning.

What are your favorite things about your career?

Being challenged, especially when I am part of a team developing something that has never been done before in outer space. 

What projects/programs have you worked on?

I have supported NASA’s Space Shuttle program, the International Space Station program, and now Artemis as we return to the moon. I have also been able to support really cool defense and healthcare initiatives through Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) programs.

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them? 

Science doesn’t care if you are cool, rich, or have lots of followers. Science is hard and demanding but amazing and powerful. If this sounds interesting, maybe you are a future scientist!

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?

STEM is hard, but that is what makes it great! At least for me. When you come across a challenge that you need to overcome – having confidence in yourself and your team keeps you moving toward the solution.

Adele is also a member of AstraFemina, a non-profit organization of women who are leaders in STEM fields, with a mission to Inspire Today’s Girls to Become Tomorrow’s STEM Stars by sharing their stories.

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Rachel Medbery

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Rachel Medbery

Thoracic Surgeon @ Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons

Rachel Medbery is a Thoracic Surgeon @ Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons. She has a passion for being in the STEM field and loves to help others. She is the first female thoracic surgeon in Central Texas and is thrilled to lead the path for other young women. We are so grateful to have her on our blog today to discuss her experiences and hear more about what led her to a career in STEM!

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

I’m hopeful to influence other young women to attack their dreams and passions head-on and not to be discouraged by the fields that are mostly male-dominated. We need more women breaking glass ceilings!

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them? 

DO NOT let anyone tell you that you “can’t” or that you “shouldn’t!” Also, do not be scared by a challenge. The challenging careers make success all the more rewarding. Keep your head down and keep your eye on your ultimate goal. Ask for help and lean on friends and family for support. Others want to help you succeed!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?

When I was in my 5th grade science class and got to dissect frogs, I just loved it! It’s funny because I was so scared that I actually asked my mother to write an “excuse note” so that I wouldn’t have to do it; luckily, she refused. I had so much fun that I went home that night and told my parents I wanted to become a surgeon. I never looked back. 

What are your favorite things about your career/field?

I love the instant gratification of surgery. It is very high risk but high reward. I’m able to see patients, take them to the operating room and fix a problem. I go home at the end of the day knowing I have helped impact other people’s lives for the better. 

Briefly describe your career/field.

I’m a general thoracic surgeon which means I operate on everything in a person’s chest except their heart and aorta. Approximately 70% of my practice involves removing cancers of the chest — most of which are lung cancers. I do the majority of my cases minimally invasively with the DaVinci robot. 

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?

Young women need to realize they can be and do anything their heart desires and they need female mentors to help give encouragement.

What projects/programs have you worked on?

I am the first female thoracic surgeon in Central Texas! I’m so excited to lead the path for other young women. 

What is your greatest accomplishment?

I’m mostly proud of the fact that I never gave up. I had a dream and a kept on moving in a direction to make it come true. After high school, 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 7 years of general surgery training and 3 years of cardiothoracic surgery training…I finally accomplished my dream. The road was long and challenging and I’m mostly proud of my perseverance.

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Anjana Sundarrajan

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Anjana Sundarrajan

Graduate Scientist at AstraZeneca

Anjana Sundarrajan is a Graduate Scientist at AstraZeneca and an inspirational woman in STEM! Watch her interview to learn more about her and her career!

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Roopa Malavally

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Roopa Malavally

Staff Technical Writer for Machine Learning Software Engineering @ Advanced Micro Devices

Roopa was inspired to pursue a career in STEM because of her father who always encouraged her to explore and try new avenues even at the risk of failing. She has received numerous awards for innovation and excellence in software documentation and has a passion for inspiring other young girls to break barriers and pursue STEM. We are thrilled with having her on our blog today to discuss her experiences and to hear about what led her to a career in STEM!

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?

The patriarchal system continues to persist in certain sections of society in many countries. Girls are denied education in families and are encouraged to pursue domestic chores. I am passionate about equalizing educational opportunities and ending gender disparities. Girlstart allows me to eliminate stereotyping, fight cultural norms, and encourage girls to take up STEM.

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them?

Don’t be afraid of failure and open yourself up to new ideas. Believe in yourself and build resilience. Confidence helps us to try again and again with persistence. Find a role model, and know that you never have to choose between family and STEM!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?

My father was a voracious reader and always encouraged me to explore and try new avenues, even at the risk of failure. While I have two Master’s degrees in English Language and Literature, I am happy that pursuing a career in STEM has brought me immense joy and success.

What are your favorite things about your career?

I enjoy learning new technologies and writing is my passion. My career is a heady combination of the two!!
Technical documentation also requires interaction with people and relies heavily on networking with teams. I enjoy interacting with people at varying levels – from novices to leaders in the organization.

Briefly describe your career.

I get to work with some of the world’s smartest people, learn, and write about things I never imagined!

A technical writer writes descriptive manuals, guides, knowledge bases, and blogs about complex subjects. It includes researching topics, creating videos, tutorials, and editing work for publication. Documentation plays a significant role in an enhanced user experience to a variety of audiences. Our responsibilities are to ensure the most logical way to present information and simplify complex software for easy reading comprehension. Content strategy includes generating innovative ideas and workflow ideas. Technical writers work closely with subject-matter experts, Legal and Support teams, product managers. Sometimes, creating Curriculum and Training documentation also comes under technical documentation.

I work in a dynamic software environment, the Machine Learning Software Engineering (MLSE) team at AMD. I create technical documentation for novice and advanced users of AMD ROCm. AMD ROCm is the first open-source software development platform for HPC/Hyperscale-class GPU computing; it brings the UNIX philosophy of choice, minimalism, and modular software development to GPU computing.

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?

Girls must know to break barriers. And confidence is key to breaking the subconscious stereotyping of associating STEM with boys and men. Cultural norms and gender bias are deeply entrenched in some societies and having faith in their innate ability to shatter the glass ceiling is important.

What projects have you worked on?

I started my career as a technical writer creating online documentation for an Integrated Development Environment, and have since worked on a variety of technical documentation projects.

These include:

  • Led teams to create inline context-sensitive
  • Help and served as Information Architect focusing on content organization and structure on websites for enhanced user experiences
  • Implemented knowledge bases for Support teams, a self-serve library of product information
  • Learned new technologies to document complex Software Development Kit (SDK) guides for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence applications. These include Programming and API guides.
  • Worked closely with Universities to create Curriculum documentation for Training teams and student textbooks describing parallel processing capabilities of AMD GPUs on a ROCm platform.
  • Participated actively in Women’s Leadership teams in companies to introduce inspiring women leaders in STEM
  • Won several awards for innovation and excellence in software documentation
  • Volunteer extensively with non-profit organizations for children’s education in STEM and academic welfare of children from underprivileged sections of society

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Mothers are known to be their children’s first role models. I believe in empowering girls to live a life every day that is worth emulating, showing curiosity, building resilience, being self-reliant, exuding positive energy, being empathetic, and reaching for the stars. My daughter wants to pursue an MD, Ph.D. in Reproductive sciences. My high-schooler son conducted summer camps for underprivileged children in India to encourage children to stay in school highlighting the importance of education and STEM.

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