Abstract
Why are there so few women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)? Does it matter? If so, what can be done about it? This talk is about personal observations from the speaker’s career, advice she would give to her younger self, and suggestions for creating group cultures that encourage critical thinking, lifelong learning, and leverage diversity of thought and skills. Many people avoid STEM careers because they have too narrow a view of what a STEM career is like, or what types of skills are needed for success.
About the speaker
Dr Radia Perlman received her BS and MS in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1973 and 1976 respectively. In 1980, she joined Digital Equipment Corp. and produced the Spinning Tree Protocol (STP), which allows a network to deliver data reliably by making it possible to design the network with redundant link. Later, she received her PhD in Computer Science from MIT in 1988. She has worked at Dell EMC as a Fellow since 2014.
Dr Perlman has had a profound impact on how computer network works today. She has also made important contributions in network security. She has taught as an adjunct faculty at MIT, Harvard University, and University of Washington. Besides, she has published the textbook Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internet Protocols and co-written the textbook Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World. She also holds over 100 issued patents.
Dr Perlman received numerous prestigious awards. She was inducted to the US National Inventors Hall of Fame (2016), the Internet Society’s Internet Hall of Fame (2014), and elected to the US National Academy of Engineering (2015). She is also the recipient of ACM’s SIGCOMM Award (2010) and USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award, “the Flame” (2006).
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