The Penn State MRSEC received an overwhelming positive response to its first annual Women in STEM Mixer. This professional networking program connected 71 women and 7 men from a variety of STEM disciplines and multiple career stages, including undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, research staff, faculty and industry representatives. After the short feature Setting up for Success: Promoting Yourself and Your Research, attendees participated in three randomly assigned small-group discussions, each lead by faculty and industry cohosts. All participated in an open networking session and were encouraged to distribute and collect at least 5 business cards with follow-up contacts.
- 87% would attend the event again in the future (58% very likely)
- 92% would recommend this event to a friend (50% highly recommend)
- 46% will initiate 2 – 4 follow-up contacts within the next month
- 100% felt that is important to bring multiple career levels together in joint discussions to help recruit and retain women in STEM (65% extremely important)
