WiSE Club Column

WiSE Club Column

Sarah Thieler, Columnist

Falmouth Academy’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Club was founded in 2018 by Emma Keeler ’19, a passionate student who was inspired to invite women working in various fields of science to talk to FA students after her experience working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). FA’s WiSE Club started its fourth year led by two co-presidents: Sarah Thieler ’22 and Sophia Venetis ’22. Since we are allowed to invite speakers to visit us in-person this year, WiSE hopes that the spirit of inspiration and connection the club has created will soon return.

WiSE held its first meeting on October 8. Our speaker was Courtney Anderson, a senior at Stanford University working towards her Bachelor’s of Engineering. This past summer Ms. Anderson was a Summer Student Fellow at WHOI, where she designed and built microplastic filters for seawater inspired by manta ray’s gill filters. Ms. Anderson expressed her love for hands-on building projects as a child, and how that established a strong foundation of interest in pursuing engineering as a career.

Our second speaker was Gwyneth Packard (P ’24), who spoke to us on November 8th. She is an ocean robotics software engineer at WHOI and designs behaviors for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) exploration of the oceans. In addition to her scientific research, Ms. Packard is also the co-chair of WHOI’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion.

WiSE has a mix of both virtual and in-person speakers scheduled for the rest of the year. On November 29th, we welcome Jaida Elcock, one of the founders of Minorities in Shark Sciences and an MIT-WHOI Joint Program student. On December 7, we welcome Ashlee Wisniewski, a current project manager at Repligen Corporation, a company devoted to the development of materials used in biological drugs. Our last speaker before Winter Break will be Dr. Jill Vantongeren, an Associate Professor of Petrology and Mineralogy at Tufts University.

Virtual speakers join us through Zoom meetings hosted by the club’s advisors, Mrs. Sharon Kreamer and Dr. Alison Ament. WiSE is also planning field trips to WHOI and the Marine Biological Laboratory, in addition to hosting in-school lab experiments. All students are welcome to join for a speaker at lunch or to sign up to participate in a field trip or lab!

WiSE meets on Day 4’s in room 109 during lunch (12:35-1 pm), with the occasional speaker coming on Mondays after school for a longer talk.