Girls in Science Virtual Career Café, Part 1

Date & Time

Tuesday, June 8
4 PM PT

This event is in the past.

Tickets

Free for all to attend; donations
support the work of the
Burke Education team.

Registration is required.

Register now

Location

girls in science burke museum logo

Join local scientists and the Burke Ornithology team for a FREE two-part program exploring Washington careers in STEM and the 21st century skills needed to pursue these career paths. 

Can’t make the live events? Register now to watch later.

Local students who register for the events will get a link to recordings of both events, a coupon for Off The Rez Café, a free Girls in Science activity bag, and a special free ticket code to see Burke scientists in action!

 

Livestream dates

Tuesday June 8, 4 PM

Meet Medical Physicist Dr. Jess Fagerstom and Environmental Software Engineer Gracie Ermi to see how creativity, teamwork, and problem solving skills help them provide cancer therapy and save wildlife.

Wednesday June 9, 4 PM 

Meet Microsoft Program Manager Bea Mendez-Gandica and UW Grad Student Alyssa Sargent to see how technology, ingenuity, and observation skills help them manage cyber security and study hummingbirds.

Register now

 

This program is designed especially to serve femme/female identifying Middle School Students, but all are welcome to attend. Participants are encouraged to participate in the live chat and submit questions for our presenters by June 4.

In compliance with youth privacy protection laws, an adult must register and accompany youth 13 and under.

Want to find out about the event presenters and careers in STEM? Learn more.


Biographies

Dr. Jessica Fagerstrom
Jessica Fagerstrom is a Medical Physicist who is passionate and committed to treating cancer patients with the highest quality healthcare. Through her current work at the Northwest Medical Physics Center, Dr. Fagerstrom ensures that radiation is delivered safely and effectively. She is board certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics through the American Board of Radiology and is an active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.  She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her previous work took her to Hawaii where she was a clinical physicist at Queen’s Medical Center.

Gracie Ermi
Research software engineer Gracie Ermi builds technology platforms that just might help save our planet! Her work focuses specifically on saving endangered animals and preserving ocean health. Gracie works at Vulcan Inc. in Seattle, WA. She builds machine learning technology - training computers to do the most tedious aspects of conservation work so that experts can focus on more important tasks. She is passionate about sharing her story as a way to inspire people, especially women and girls, to pursue computer science. Gracie holds both a B.S. and a M.S. in computer science from Western Washington University.

Bea Mendez-Gandica
Beatris Alejandra Mendez Gandica is from San Cristobal, Venezuela. She is a security engineer working as a Program Manager at Microsoft. In this role, she manages the daily operations of a bot service platform that performs a variety of functions from validation of files to running static analysis tools. In 2018 she started a nonprofit organization, Nuevo Foundation, where she works to inspire kids to be curious, confident and courageous by discovering the world of STEM. Beatris was awarded the HACR Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers’ 40 Under 40 award and the UWEC Outstanding Recent Alumni award.

Alyssa Sargent
Alyssa Sargent is a rising ornithologist with a passion for all things hummingbird. Her primary area of interest is in tropical hummingbird ecology. She is researching movement, foraging and reproduction and seeks to optimize field ornithology by combining novel technology with traditional field research methods. Alyssa is passionate about sharing her time and research with the public to communicate the pressing need for wildlife conservation. She is a current Phd Student at the University of Washington and has done research across the globe from Australia to the Azores islands of Portugal.

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