Virtual mentorship event targets young women seeking STEM careers

Tundra Technical Solutions, a global staffing leader hiring diverse talent for the world’s most recognizable brands, is hosting its national mentorship event for young women to get a head start in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. Today at 7 p.m. EST, the Launchpad Project will virtually connect hundreds of high school students with influential women across a wide spectrum of STEM careers and offer scholarships towards their future education.

The goal of the event is to “help young women see how exciting and achievable a STEM career can be,” according to event organizers.

Women now make up half the workforce, but among STEM graduates only 23 per cent of women hold degrees in engineering and 30 per cent with math and computer science degrees according to StatsCan’s National Household Survey. These stats show that even less make it into the STEM workforce after graduation. By giving students access to mentorship from executive-level STEM leaders through a panel discussion and customized breakout rooms, Tundra hopes to increase the number of young women who will pursue a career in technology and engineering.

Responsible AI activist

Acting as the Launchpad’s virtual moderator is Komal Singh – Engineering Program Manager at Google and Responsible AI activist building planet-scale software infrastructure and innovative products used by millions around the globe.

Singh is also an international bestselling author of the Adventures of Ara series, and the most recently released, Ara the Dream Innovator. The series is inspired by a comment from Singh’s daughter who said that ‘boys are engineers’ and wanted to prove through these books that girls can be engineers too. The bestselling books introduce young curious minds to real-life trailblazers from diverse backgrounds, featuring characters that can be difficult to find in most children’s literature. “I wanted to marry the world of tech and whimsy in children to teach them about the world of STEM through the stories of real-life role models,” says Singh. “We wanted to depict characters children might not have previously encountered before, including women in tech, Indigenous people, and those of colour. I am very pleased to lead Tundra’s panel and describe my own work to show every girl that she can follow a similar path.”

STEM event is the largest so far

Joining Singh on the panel is Andrea Basco, Chief Information Officer at HSBC, Rupinder Dhillon, Head of Sobeys Enterprise Data, and Dr. Susan Siklos, Psychologist and Lead for Child and Youth Mental Health at TELUS Health. Other notable mentors this year are Leigha Mitchell, named Top 30 Developers Under 30 in Canada, Lisa McBride, President of Women in Nuclear Canada and Country Lead at GE Hitachi, Yasmin Somani, Director of Platform and Cloud Operations at Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, and many more.

This is Tundra’s third STEM event and the largest so far, involving mentors and students across Canada.

“Our goal is to help young women see how exciting and achievable a STEM career can be,” said Tundra president Micah Williams. “As a leading global recruiter of STEM talent, we believe it’s Tundra’s duty to balance the workforce for the better and help grow diversity in these industries. The Launchpad Project is a major first step toward achieving parity in the world’s fastest growing industries.”

Applications for the Tundra’s Launchpad Scholarship can be found at scholartree.ca.