On Saturday, Jan. 25, VU Women in Tech hosted its 10th annual conference at the Villanova Inn. The theme for this year’s conference was “Building on the Past to Empower Today and Shape the Future.”
VU Women in Tech is a platform that strives to connect women who are students, faculty and staff within technological fields.
At 8 a.m., students, faculty, staff and speakers started filtering in with excitement and were gifted some Villanova swag.
“I can’t help but feel immense pride for what we have become, but we are just getting started,” faculty advisor Alicia Strandberg said.
Strandberg began the event by giving a brief history about the VU Women in Tech conferences over the years. She shared that the conference started 10 years ago in Bartley Hall, and now there are hundreds of people attending these conferences every year and consistently overflowing venues.
The keynote speaker, Alana Hoskin (‘00 VSB), who serves as Nike’s Chief Risk Officer and is on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Villanova Business School, joined the conference via Zoom, but nevertheless, made a great impact.
“All experiences build on each other, you won’t have a linear path,” Hoskin said.
She described her educational and professional experiences over the years and how she had to take many different paths to find her career.
“You can’t plan for everything,” she said.
During the Q&A, she was asked how to best advocate for a role one wants.
“Speak up, use that voice,” Hoskin said. “You have to be an advocate for you.”
The event continued with a couple of breakout sessions with multiple speakers, many who are Villanova alumni.
Raquel Ronzone (‘11 CLAS) led one of sessions titled “Defining #Disability Tech: Innovations for the World’s Largest Minority.” Ronzone is the Senior Manager of Partnerships at the Howe Innovation Center. Ronzone started by talking about accessibility in relation to everyday activities. She said that people need to build products and services with accessibility and disability in mind.
“Accessibility is not just the responsibility of those who need it, it’s all our responsibility,” Ronzone said.
She further unpacked the definition of disability tech which is to help assist, adapt and include. She described how different innovations such as touchscreens, closed-captioning and even bendy straws were created to support the disability community and have later expanded to many consumers’ hands.
Ronzone said that there are more than 2,500 disability tech companies that are innovating technology for the greater community.
Pamela Cacchione (‘84 FCN) led another session titled, “Robotics to Wearables: Technology in Care of Older Adults.” Cacchione is a nurse scientist at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Cacchoine’s research focuses on how robots can help improve the lives of the older generation. She shared how excited the older adults were to participate in a research study.
“As an older adult we are not often invited to help somebody,” Cacchione said.
She shared that throughout her study, she tested whether the robots could ask the participants how they are feeling from a one to 10 scale and can have a conversation regarding their symptoms.
Cacchoine even brought out one of the robots, “Paro,” which is a hyper realistic, artificial intelligent stuffed seal that was tested and adored by the older generation. People in the session enjoyed interacting and taking pictures with the robot.
Following the breakout sessions, everyone enjoyed lunch and met Aurora Grace, who is the founder of her chocolate company, Aurora Grace Chocolates. Her chocolate molds are 3D printed, with hand drawn designs. There were some chocolates available (in “Villanova blue”) for people to try, as well as a 3D printer to show how a chocolate mold is designed.
Additionally, there was a lunchtime keynote session titled “From Aspiration to Achievement: My NASA Career Journey Fueled by Grit and Drive.” The keynote speaker was Christy Hansen (‘97 CLAS) who works as the Deputy Mission Manager (Mars 2 Mars Program) at NASA.
“I couldn’t put a name on the job that I wanted,” Hansen said.
She shared that she was approached by a NASA worker after seeing a tape of her participating in one of her graduate classes.
“I just said yes, and it was my dream job,” Hansen said. “You never know who is watching.”
In a male-dominated field, she has constantly faced speed bumps from people telling her no.
“I just had a lot of grit, and that no guy will get me down,” she said. “Do what you love, and follow your dreams. This will be what pushed you through challenging times.”
The room was full of impressive nods and laughter throughout her keynote speech.
The conference ended with a lively raffle full of Villanova merchandise and a reception to follow.