In this episode of Diverse, SWE Senator and Global Ambassador Blanca Rosa Navarro Piedra shares her inspiring journey, from being the first SWE member in Costa Rica to establishing two SWE affiliates in the country
In conversation with FY24 SWE President Alexis McKittrick, Ph.D., Navarro Piedra details her advocacy work in Costa Rica, including several joint outreach projects with international partners.
Hear her advice for those who want to advance women in engineering around the globe, as well as the story of how Navarro Piedra got started in a STEM career.
Listen to the episode on SWE’s website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker: Blanca Rosa Navarro Piedra, SWE Senator and Global Ambassador
Blanca Rosa Navarro has served as SWE Global Ambassador for nine years and was elected to the SWE Senate for FY22-FY24.
She is a senior cloud services architect and has led technology projects in shared services, outsourcing services, and consulting multinational enterprises, serving Fortune 500 and government clients since 2007.
Navarro Piedra holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (ITCR) and has two master’s degrees in project management and strategic leadership in information technology (IT). Her technical portfolio includes three published patents, two additional patents filed, and four publications.
Navarro Piedra was the first member of Costa Rica. She launched the first university SWE affiliate in 2017 and the first SWE professional affiliate in 2018. She has been the leader of the SWE Global Women Engineers Affinity Group, part of the membership and Integrated Marketing Advisory Board (IMAB) committees, and a judge/evaluator of the awards & recognition committee. She also leads the VMware User Group (VMUG) in Costa Rica.
Navarro Piedra actively participates in women’s initiatives to advance career and gender equality. She fosters, supports, and drives diversity and inclusion best practices in the technology industry as a SWE ambassador who has facilitated and participated in open dialogues about diversity & inclusion topics in Costa Rica and Latin American communities. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her husband Evaristo, reading books, and practicing yoga.
Host: Alexis McKittrick, FY24 SWE President
Alexis McKittrick, Ph.D., a Society of Women Engineers 20-plus year and life member, has served as a volunteer leader in the organization for more than 15 years, holding roles that span all facets of the Society.
Prior to being elected president, Dr. McKittrick served as president-elect and spent two terms on SWE’s board of directors, including serving as secretary and leading the senate as speaker. Highlights from her other SWE leadership roles include chairing two committees; serving on two governance task forces; and serving as governor of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Dr. McKittrick is currently a program manager in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office. She serves on the SWE board of directors in her personal capacity.
Prior to joining the DOE, Dr. McKittrick served as a senior researcher at the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., where she conducted nonpartisan research and analysis for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and various federal agencies.
She also worked in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Division, focusing on greenhouse gas analysis and policy for the oil and gas, chemicals, and semiconductor sectors.
Dr. McKittrick holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar. In 2014, she was presented with the D.C. Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies’ Young Engineer of the Year Award and received SWE’s Emerging Leader Award in 2019.
Diverse: a SWE podcast has been recognized as a top women in STEM podcast and a top engineering podcast!
