2018 NE GWiSE Summer Retreat
August 17, 2018
Our second annual Summer Retreat was hosted by member school, MIT. Each year, the retreat brings together the constituents of NE GWiSE to network, meet new members, and socialize around a central topic. Since we often play dual roles as both mentees and mentors, we focused 2018’s retreat on Navigating Power Dynamics & Building Confident Mentalities as STEM graduate students in academia.
The event featured a keynote lecture from MIT Professor of Astrophysics Sara Seager. She walked us through the milestones of her academic career leading up to her present day success. As she described her research and the methods she has pioneered to identify exoplanets, she paused at key points to recount anecdotal interactions with peers, mentors, and colleagues. Workshops were run throughout the day addressing strategies to prepare for, and overcome the obstacles graduate students will likely face as they continue their careers in STEM fields. The first workshop session equipped attendees with strategies of how to interact with superiors, and how to form meaningful mentor-mentee relationships. The second session discussed power dynamics, and privilege in STEM, and how to maintain professional relationships. The final session focused on empowerment, how to respond to misused power, and mindful decision making.
Read more about the retreat here.
