It’s no secret that gender disparity remains prevalent in STEM fields worldwide. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting ten women who are reshaping the future of STEM. Through their inventions, accomplishments, and innovations, they are not only closing the gender gap but also opening doors for the next generation.
Dr. Deb Hirst is a civil and environmental health engineer and the Deputy Branch Chief for the Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch at NIOSH. She works to improve safety in healthcare, especially for workers handling dangerous drugs used in cancer treatment. She also focuses on using engineering to reduce workplace hazards. Dr. Hirst started her career working for the Birmingham Water Works and Sewer Board and the U.S. Public Health Service before joining NIOSH. She was inspired to pursue engineering because of her childhood curiosity.
Innocentia Mahlangu is the founder of SHEngineers, a mentorship network that connects women engineers with young professionals to encourage more gender diversity in engineering. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering and has managed large infrastructure projects. Innocentia is recognized globally for her work in construction and has been named one of Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans in 2021. She also advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in her field.
Jameeka Green Aaron is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at OKTA. She is responsible for overseeing the security of the company's cloud systems. Jameeka has over 20 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity and has worked at major companies like Nike and Lockheed Martin. She holds a CISSP certification and is an alumna of the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen Program. Jameeka is passionate about supporting women and people of color in technology.
Kiara Nirghin is a South African inventor and technologist. She gained global recognition at 16 when she won the Google Science Fair for creating a material made from fruit peels that can hold 300 times its weight in water. This invention helped with water conservation during a drought in South Africa. Kiara is also the co-founder and CTO of Chima, an AI startup. She has been recognized by TIME Magazine, The Guardian, and Glamour as one of the most influential women of her generation.
Linda Yao is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Head of Strategy at Lenovo. She has worked in global mergers and acquisitions (M&A), data science, and helped build Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group into a $7 billion unit. Linda is currently focused on building Lenovo’s AI center of excellence to help businesses use AI responsibly and drive efficiency.
Lisa Piccirillo is a mathematician who studies low-dimensional topology and knot theory. She is best known for solving a long-standing math problem by proving that the Conway knot is not "slice," meaning it cannot smoothly untie in four-dimensional space. She earned her Ph.D from University Texas Austin in 2019 where she then became an assistant professor at Brandeis University. Piccirillo has received several awards, including the 2021 Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize, the Sloan Research Fellowship, and the Clay Mathematics Research Fellowship.
Nina Tandon is the co-founder and CEO of EpiBone, a biotech company that grows bone and cartilage for skeletal reconstruction. Under her leadership, EpiBone raised millions and performed the first human implantation of stem cell-grown bones. Nina is passionate about healthcare and engineering, with degrees from MIT and Columbia. She is inspired by her siblings’ genetic eye conditions, which drive her to improve medicine. Nina has been featured in major media and has delivered TED Talks.
Shanisha Reese is the deputy director of engineering at the USDA Forest Service. She manages infrastructure projects across California’s 18 national forests. Shanisha transitioned from facilities engineering to working on roads, campgrounds, and bridges after discovering her love for the outdoors. She is passionate about encouraging more professionals to join the Forest Service, highlighting the fulfilling, family-friendly career it offers.
Dr. Prathibha Varkey is the president of Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS), overseeing 17,000 employees across 16 hospitals and 53 clinics. She also serves as a professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Dr. Varkey has a background in public health and business and has held leadership roles at Yale New Haven Health and Seton Clinical Enterprise. She was named one of Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare” in 2023.
Emmy Murphy is a mathematician who was the first in her family to attend college and came out as transgender during her graduate studies. She is known for her work in symplectic and contact geometry, which studies the shape and structure of spaces. Emmy has made important discoveries about how flexible geometry can be, even though it's usually thought of as rigid. She is a professor at Princeton University and gave a lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2018.
These women are leaders in their fields and serve as powerful role models for future generations of scientists, engineers, and innovators. Their stories show the importance of diversity in STEM and how it can help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Whether working on medical technologies, solving math problems, or improving AI, they demonstrate that when we support diverse voices, innovation can thrive.
