Boston University Celebrates International Women's Day
Michelle Sander, 2017 OSA Ambassador, Boston University, USA
On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the success women have achieved by empowering each other and have an opportunity to advocate for gender parity. Especially for women in Optics and STEM fields where women are unfortunately still underrepresented, this marks a special occasion to come together and express support, encouragement and inspiration to each other. On Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at Boston University, this spirit shone through brightly as students throughout various stages in their undergraduate and graduate studies, post-doctoral fellows and faculty, female and male, all gathered together wearing something red for a picture in the Photonics Center Lobby. It was a wonderful testimony of how far we have come in our journey towards diversity and equality and reminded us that collectively we can strive towards further increasing female representation in optics.
Quotes from within the BU photonics community:
"International Women's Day celebrates the progress we have made towards fairness and equality. It means so much to see my peers and professors come together to celebrate this cause, and to feel supported by the Boston University community as a woman in engineering." - Allison Marn
"To me, International Women's Day is a day to celebrate and recognize an essential part of our society." - Miguel Goni
"It was encouraging to see so many of my peers and colleagues join us for a group photo in celebration of International Women's Day. The showing highlights the diversity and inclusiveness of Photonics research at BU, a community I am very proud to be a part of." - Tim Weber
"Today, I saw friends and colleagues gather to acknowledge their responsibility to support, empower, and advocate for one another. The mutual respect and friendship shared in the moments before and after the picture is incredibly uplifting and reminds me of our individual roles in making progress together." - Atcha Totachawattana
“I was delighted when a student in our department, Atcha Totachawattana, went around our offices telling all of us to show up in red outfits... for a photo shoot comprising BU photonics folks... as a small token of appreciation for the ongoing, uphill and very important struggles, worldwide, to bring gender parity amongst the practitioners in STEM fields. I felt proud to be a member of the BU photonics community (and the photoshoot!) that showcased the significant strides our gang has been making in, slowly but surely, increasing the participation of women in optics.” - Prof. Siddharth Ramachandran
“I was thrilled to see the support shown for this day by my colleagues at the Photonics Center, who showed wonderful creativity in their red choices! Since it is Spring Break here, I wasn’t sure how many people would be around. I¹m so glad to be part of the Boston University Photonics community.” - Prof. Alice White
