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.

Lisa Ward, PhD

Program Manager @ AMD

Lisa was initially drawn into Girlstart because of our hands-on, collaborative education environment. Today, she is joining our Women In STEM blog series to discuss her career as a Program Manager and share her advice for the next generation.

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to STEM?
I grew up with parents and teachers who believed in me and supported me with fun, challenging ways to grow my knowledge and love of math and physics. I especially enjoyed programs like MathCounts and Science Bowl.

Can you describe your career, and what you like about it?
My work combines electrical engineering, project management, statistical analysis, and communications. I work with colleagues across many teams to support collaboration on data projects. I also help share new tools and processes from those projects with all our teams. I really love sharing ideas and working with other people, and I love solving problems. Working in program management, I get to do both of those things in an engineering context. My favorite thing is that my work combines all of these together.

What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career?
Follow your interests. If you daydream about how something works, how to solve a problem, how to make something better, or why something behaves the way it does, then pay attention. That something may be your something. Seek out opportunities to explore that area more.

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?
No matter what you do, you will make mistakes. It’s okay. Mistakes are part of learning. Mistakes are part of discovery. Mistakes are part of creation. But mistakes are also really frustrating and disheartening. Confidence is important because it helps you get past the mistakes. Confidence makes you try again so you can learn, discover, and create.