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IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2010
28
i
Being a good person also means deliv-
ering bad news in a “good” way. Especially
with the economic problems of recent
years, more and more managers have had
to regretfully let employees go.
“If I’ve learned one thing about deliv-
ering negative news,” counsels Gualco,
“it is to be straightforward and honest.
People may not like the message, but
they’ll appreciate the honest explana-
tion.” Another tactic is what Gualco
terms “bad news, good opportunity.”
“Our world is littered with people who
received bad news and turned around
and found an opportunity,” he says. “If
you don’t get a job or a promotion, it
forces you to look for something else
and that may be the job where you find
passion. You may find out the reason you
weren’t successful before was because it
wasn’t something you really wanted to
do.” People may not believe this in the
beginning, but after some time and reas-
sessment, they are likely to find that it
turns out to be true.
Gualco advises those who strive to be
managers to develop skills aligned with
his six principles and encourages those
who already are managers to reevaluate
themselves according to these items.
For organizations looking to hire good
managers, he suggests creating an inter-
viewing procedure and environment that
would promote the demonstration of
these traits.
Gualco also advises women to pay
particular attention to the development
of their leadership skills. With so many
years in human resources management,
he says we’ve seen the end of real tacit
discrimination against women and that,
especially for those who enter special-
ized fields such as engineering, it is the
development of managerial skills that
come in handy when trying to move
up. “Don’t just think about your profes-
sional life,” he cautions. “Think about
your whole person—who you want to
work for and how you want to manage.
You need all skills.”
With four books now published, Gual-
co is turning his focus to his fifth book,
which will also combine professional
development with interpersonal skills.
Focused on labor relations, the author
says the book will examine ways to be an
excellent negotiator, both in the work-
place and in life. After the guiding prin-
ciples of The Good Manager have helped
you expand your leadership and manage-
rial talents, perhaps his new book can
show you how to negotiate a higher sal-
ary that captures your true value.
—Leslie Prives
Reverse Bias
Teach, collaborate,
and change the world
“Industry engineers are vocational.”
These are the words that introduced me
to the longstanding battle of the biases
between engineers in academia versus
engineers in industry.
The response came quickly, “We real
engineers consider ourselves profession-
als that are solving real-world problems.
Of course, you know the saying, those
who can’t do, teach.”
As a witness to this battle, I was now
holding back the laughter. I’d like to meet
anyone who has ever gone through an
undergraduate program without encoun-
tering a Ph.D. that couldn’t teach their
way out of a paper bag. Note that having
a Ph.D. is not a necessary and sufficient
condition for being a decent teacher.
My second thought was, “Would you
ever go to a doctor who never saw a live
patient? Then why would we not want
our engineers to have industry experi-
ence putting the theory into practice for
the benefit of society?”
I’m considered quite an anomaly in
the academic world because I came from
industry to the university. Of course,
showing up on campus in a pink suit and
matching high heel shoes didn’t help
me blend in either. Nevertheless, I have
always continued working with indus-
try and cannot imagine myself working
any other way. If I didn’t have a real cli-
ent application to target my research, I
honestly think I would be bored. I also
think the students in my lab wouldn’t
be the most sought-after graduating stu-
dents on the campus. Their experience
working with our industry collaborators
makes them ready to jump in on proj-
ects as immediate technical contributors
upon graduation.
When interviewing for one of my
industry consulting positions, I recall
the manager setting the expectations
very clearly. He said, “We expect that
when you are done, you will deliver a
working product and not some useless
publication.”
This perception from the industry
side considers academics as students
who never leave the comforts of school
and work in a vacuum. A s an aside, I love
to vacuum, not work in one, yet more
proof that I am a walking anomaly.
Industry complains to universities
that students don’t get enough “training”
in valuable skills that can allow them to
be immediate technical contributors.
Universities fight back that skills are not
“scholarly,” and that students are learn-
ing to be innovative critical thinkers.
Oh really? How can that be possible
when the people teaching them have
never been outside the safety of the walls
of academia and have no idea what it’s
like out there in the real world?
One professor responded, “Why do
you keep saying we don’t live in the real
world?” The response, “Because in the
real world, you can be fired from your
job, and you actually worry about eco-
nomic downturns.”
At this point, I am ready to send the
two sides into a dark room with rusty
saws to fight it out.
How can one side live without the
other? Industry needs fresh new per-
spectives that young engineers have to
offer, while the universities need indus-
try to help provide relevant experiences
outside the classroom that exercise and
strengthen everything that students
learn from lectures, laboratory assign-
ments, and team projects. Why is the
concept of creating a synergistic rela-
tionship that is mutually beneficial for
academia and industry so difficult for
some people to grasp? Maybe because
(continued on page 34)
Digital Obje ct Identifier 10.1109 /MWIE.2 010.939 084
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2010
34
t
Building a WiEM Network
Mixing women and electromagnetics
The inaugural IEEE Women in Electro-
magnetics (WiEM) workshop was held
on the campus of the University of Utah
on 5–8 June 2009. Elena Semouchkina
was one of three organizers of the inter-
national workshop.
The study of electromagnetics
requires immersion in physics and math-
ematics, neither of which has attract-
ed large numbers of female students.
Semouchkina recalls being the only
female in her electromagnetics courses,
an experience many of the workshop
participants shared. The WiEM work-
shop was an opportunity for young
researchers, primarily though not exclu-
sively female, to interact with established
women scientists who offered both tech-
nical talks and advice on how to prosper
in their careers. Male graduate students
attended, but all of the presenters were
women, among them some of the lead-
ers in the field.
Both the technical talks and the
career sessions were notable for their
informality and the excitement
that generated questions and discus-
sions between the young researchers
and senior scientists. For many of the
younger women, this was a rare oppor-
tunity to meet with female mentors and
colleagues.
“Those students, professors, and
company leaders who participated
at the workshop are now building a
WiEM network,” Semouchkina says.
“They are e-mailing, creating a Web
site and a Facebook site, and we will
soon have all of the lectures from the
workshop online. It was very success-
ful, and we will try to do this again
every year.”
As one of the students put it in an
e-mail to the organizers, “As I ref lected
on the workshop on my way home, I
realized that the most valuable benefit
that I have taken away is a feeling of
support. I came to the workshop feeling
alienated and left feeling part of a very
supportive community.”
Semouchkina thanks the Material
Research Institute at Penn State Univer-
sity for its support of the workshop. The
University of Utah and the University
of Central Florida sponsored her coor-
ganizers and major funding came from
the IEEE.
Digital Obje ct Identifier 10.1109 /MWIE.2 010.9387 39
The WiEM workshop was an opportunity for young researchers to interact with
established female scientists who offered technical talks and advice on how to
thrive in their careers.
Career Advisor
(continued from page 28)
some faculty members need to take those
internships themselves and see what is
really going on in industry. Maybe we
need to get the industry people into the
classrooms teaching and sharing their
experiences with our young people.
Good news, it is actually hap-
pening! IEEE industry engineers are
among some of our local institutions’
best assets as adjunct instructors and
campus research labs are now working
hand in hand on industry funded cam-
pus projects. Guess what? No one has
caught cooties for walking on both sides
of industry and academe!
IEEE has helped academia by get-
ting students to take on real-world
challenges. Most recently, one of our
own Boston student members won the
“People’s Choice Award” in the IEEE
President’s Humanitarian Challenge.
I find it inspiring that this young man
has touched millions of lives with his
innovative work. He had to work with
doctors, politicians, and social organiza-
tions to accomplish a feat that govern-
ments have failed to overcome. He knew
no limits and worked around red tape
that most others would have run away
from. He has made all of us at IEEE very
proud and we should be very proud of
his mentors and academic advisor for
encouraging him.
His advisor got it right and has
learned to reverse the biases. Teach the
engineering, get students to think out-
side the box, collaborate with industry,
and change the world. Yes, his advi-
sor definitely walks on both sides of
academia and industry. What is more
impressive is his advisor does it all in
high heels.
—Karen Panetta