Enjoy a fireside chat with two women who were recently recognized on the Forbes “50 Over 50” list in this episode of Diverse!
Karen Horting (she/her), CEO and executive director of SWE, sits down with Dr. Carlotta Berry (she/her), professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and founder of NoireSTEMinist, to discuss their respective work to increase STEM access.
Horting and Dr. Berry reflect on what they are most proud of, how their perspectives on leadership have evolved over time, and the unique intersections of their passions, including Berry’s creative venture into writing romance novels featuring Black characters in STEM fields.
Listen to the episode on SWE’s website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
You can explore the 2024 Forbes “50 Over 50” list in the Innovation category here.
Speaker: Dr. Carlotta Berry, Founder, NoireSTEMinist
Carlotta A. Berry is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and the Dr. Lawrence J. Giacoletto Endowed Chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Berry is the first Black woman to earn tenure, full professor and endowed chairship at Rose-Hulman.
She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Spelman College, bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, master’s degree in electrical engineering from Wayne State University, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Her research interests are in robotics education, interface design, human-robot interaction, and increasing historically marginalized and minoritized populations in STEM fields. She is author of the textbook Mobile Robotics for Multidisciplinary Study and editor for Mitigating Bias in Machine Learning.
Dr. Berry has a passion for diversifying the engineering profession by encouraging more women, marginalized and minoritized populations to pursue STEM degrees. In her role as the 2024 inaugural visiting scientist at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, she was able to execute her mission and promote her vision for STEM.
In 2020, she worked with colleagues around the world to start two nonprofit organizations, Black In Engineering and Black In Robotics. They have a mission to bring awareness to systemic racism and inequity in STEM; build community; advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and connect with allies and sponsors.
Dr. Berry also founded her business, NoireSTEMinist educational consulting, in 2020. Through her organization she does speaking engagements, workshops, consulting, performs hip hop slam poetry, gives engineering professor advice and engineering professor quizzes on social media. She also sells robots, children’s books, romance novels, and other merchandise to promote diversity in STEM as part of her mission to “Make STEM and robotics for the streets.”
Her strong longstanding service record has garnered her numerous accolades and awards, including the 2022 Society of Women Engineers Distinguished Engineering Educator Award.
Host: Karen Horting, Executive Director and CEO, Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
Karen Horting, CAE, is the executive director and CEO for the Society of Women Engineers, a position she has held since Dec. 31, 2013.
With more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and fund development, Horting was most recently the SWE deputy executive director.
In this capacity, she was responsible for all fund development activities for the organization, including corporate membership and SWE’s Corporate Partnership Council and more traditional philanthropy such as foundation and government grants, individual gifts, and bequests.
She also oversaw many of the Society’s programs and services, including professional development, K-12 outreach, the annual conference, and SWE’s international expansion.
She currently serves on the Leadership Circle of the 50K Coalition, the FIRST Robotics Board of Directors, the STEM Ed Coalition Board of Directors, Engineering CAS Diversity Advisory Board, and the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board (DAAB).
Diverse: a SWE podcast has been recognized as a top women in STEM podcast and a top engineering podcast!
