-
![]()
Women in STEM Episode 31 – Wendy Shimata, VP of Autonomous Systems at Varda Space Industries
Interview with Wendy Shimata, who is currently the Vice President of Autonomous Systems at Varda Space Industries, a small space start-up in Los Angeles focused on in-space manufacturing and commercial reentry. She’s responsible for the technical growth and development of the GNC, software and mission operation teams in an effort towards moving towards autonomous systems architectures and execution. Prior to Varda, she was at SpaceX for 7 years working software on crewed spaceflight programs, and Boeing Satellite Systems working in GNC. In her spare time, she loves exploring new coffee and korean barbeque joints in LA and spending time with her three year old daughter.
-
![Nikita Tiwari photo]()
Women in STEM Episode 29 – Nikita Tiwari, Sr Customer Experience Engineer at Intel
Interview with Nikita Tiwari, Sr Customer Experience Engineer at Intel’s Client Computing Group. She brings the most compelling usages to the personal computer working alongside the OEM partners to manage and deliver their experience roadmap and co-engineer differentiated use cases. She has 9+ years of experience in silicon-processor debug, validation, artificial intelligence (AI) applications and automotive image processing unit (IPU). She has received a patent for her work in AI along with several publications. She obtained her Masters in ECE from Portland State University. Nikita chairs the Women at Intel Network (WIN) global (xSite) employee resource group and has held leadership positions in external organizations like Society of Women Engineers, Michigan Council of Women in Technology, TechWomen Mentoring Program, etc. She was recently awarded the 2020 SWE Distinguished New Engineer Award and the 2018 SWE New Emerging Leader award. She is one of the chairs for the SWE@Intel Awards committee. Nikita loves connecting people and helping them leverage from each other. Outside of work, Nikita and her husband enjoy hiking, running and spending time with their daughter Aarya.
-
![]()
Women in STEM Episode 27 – Meghann Hallock, Lead Physician Assistant, TeamHealth LongHorn Group
Interview with Meghann Hallock, Lead Physician Assistant at TeamHealth LongHorn Group. Currently, she is the Lead APC at St. David’s South Austin & Bastrop Emergency Departments, where she was recently nominated for APC of the year. She has a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies and a Bachelor’s of Science in Health Professions with a Minor in Aging and Adult Life, both from Grand Valley State University. Her Master’s Research Thesis was on “The Timeliness of Antibiotic Administration in Neutropenic Patients at Risk for Sepsis”.
-
![photo of Marie Adams]()
Women in STEM Episode 26 – Marie Adams, Director of Genomics Core, Van Andel Institute
Interview with Marie Adams who is the Director of Genomics Core at Van Andel Institute and an expert in the latest next-generation sequencing techniques. Marie earned a M.S. in genetics from Iowa State University and also serves as president (2023-2024) of the Association of Biomolecular Research Facilities (ABRF).
-
![photo of Kalyani Mallela]()
Women in STEM Episode 25 – Kalyani Mallela, Manager of Systems Engineering, Starkey Hearing Technologies
Interview with Kalyani Mallela who is Manager of Systems Engineering at Starkey Hearing Technologies. She has also held multiple positions with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) including president of the Minnesota Section. Kaylani has a Bachelors of Engineering in electronics and communications engineering and Masters of Science in electrical engineering and management of technology.
-
![photo of Jennifer Morikawa]()
Women in STEM Episode 24 – Jennifer Morikawa, Sr Manufacturing Engineer at GM, Past SWE Region Governor
Interview with Jennifer Morikawa, Sr Manufacturing Engineer at General Motors and past SWE Region H Governor.
-
![photo of Stacey DelVecchio]()
Women in STEM Episode 22 – Stacey DelVecchio, Chemical Engineer at Caterpillar, Past SWE President
Interview with Stacey DelVecchio, Chemical Engineer, Additive Manufacturing Product Manager at Caterpillar Inc., Past Society of Women Engineers (SWE) President.
-
![photo of Pooja Chandrashekar]()
Women in STEM Podcast Episode 20 – Pooja Chandrashekar, Founder and CEO of ProjectCSGIRLS
Interview with Pooja Chandrashekar, Founder and CEO of ProjectCSGIRLS. Pooja is currently a high school senior who founded ProjectCSGIRLS as a sophomore to address the gender gap in technology. ProjectCSGIRLS is a national youth-driven nonprofit which runs a national computer science competition, as well as workshops for middle school girls. This year ProjectCSGIRLS is also launching an international competition. Pooja speaks about her outreach work at conferences around the country, including O’Reilly Velocity New York Conference, the IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference, the Global Tech Women Voices Conference, and the STEM Symposium for the National Capital Region.
-
![photo of Courtney Thurston]()
Women in STEM Podcast Episode 19 – Courtney Thurston, 17 year old unmanned systems engineer
Interview with Courtney Thurston, 17 year old unmanned systems engineer. She recently interned at CERN and will be working as a propulsion intern for SpaceX this summer. Courtney also is working to make the technical fields more accessible, as a longtime editor of Wikipedia, co-founder of Magikstra, executive team member for ProjectCSGirls and as an Online Community Manager for The Scientista Foundation (among others!).
-
![photo of Melanie Stegman]()
Women in STEM Podcast Episode 18 – Melanie Stegman, Biochemist, Founder of Molecular Jig Games
Interview with Melanie Stegman, Biochemistry PhD & Founder of Molecular Jig Games. Melanie Stegman, Ph.D., Founder and Creative Director of Molecular Jig Games is convinced that cellular biology is the greatest fantasy world ever and that biochemistry is an inherently fun puzzle. Molecular Jig makes games to teach the average human how cells work.
