Participant Comments

The invitational working conference gathered an intergenerational and interdisciplinary community of racially and ethnically diverse scholars to have a dialogue about scholarship on workplace factors that are associated with women's success in STEM fields. At the end of the day, participants were asked to evaluate the conference. The following is a summation of participant reactions.

Conference participants appreciated the opportunity to network with women scientists of diverse backgrounds throughout the day; one response to the question asking what the highlight of the day was, accentuated this with a succinct “the participants!” Many commented that facilitation in their groups was excellent. Participants also highly valued the small group-brainstorming format during the working part of the day, putting emphasis on the creativity and engagement that such a small group allows. Most expressed appreciation for the diversity of approaches by individuals in their groups and felt that the energy in the groups was inspiring.

• “I liked best that I met people from all over the country and with different disciplines, backgrounds, histories, etc…”
  
• “I found interacting with more senior scientists to be professionally valuable and inspiring, the conference served as a very safe venue to discuss difficult issues faced by professional women.”
  
•  “The success of the conference could be mainly due to the fact that everyone’s comments were welcome and the fact that such comments will be put towards an edited volume which has the potential to make a difference.” 
  
•  “During my time so far in the working world, I had not encountered a conference which allowed for such an immense level of attendee participation as was seen in this conference.”