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DreamGirls in

Action

DreamGirls in Action (DGA) is an out-of-school program designed to connect STEM principles with actual careers.   Through the program, participants will be exposed to careers from female professionals working in a variety of industries.

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Each DreamGirls in Action module will begin with a 15-20 minute video segment showcasing a female professional describing her background and what she does in her career.  This may be a live session where participants will be able to ask questions of the presenter.

 

The video will be followed by a 60-90 minute hands-on activity demonstrating what types of STEM principles the participants just heard about.

Featured presenter

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Kelley Dickmeyer, Industrial Engineer, Vera Bradley

Kelley received her Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. At Vera Bradley, she works in the Continuous Improvement department where she leads projects to make tasks and jobs more efficient. Her aim is to use creativity and problem solving to make employees’ jobs easier and get product to the customer faster.

Past featured presenters:

Jessica Giaquinto, Global Innovation & Product Development Post-Doctoral Fellow at Bayer Consumer Health

Jessica received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree with focus in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Butler University.  She creates innovative over-the-counter medicine at Bayer and makes sure the medicine stays on drug store shelves all over the world. Jessica uses her knowledge as a Pharmacist to make different types of allergy, cough/cold, pain/heart health, and digestive health medicine for people of all ages.

Dina Reagan, Director of Research & Development Bakery for Pepperidge Farm - Dina earned her Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and is responsible for allocating R&D resources to support a $670MM product Portfolio. Even more importantly, Dina is responsible for making yummy recipes and products that people love to eat!

 

Presenting along with Dina is Humberto Garcia, Director of Pepperidge Farm Packaging Developmentwho will help us see that a food package is more than just a container!

 

Thank you Dina and Humberto for showcasing your expertise!

Uma Ellur Staehler, Market Research Advisor, Eli Lilly and Company

Uma has over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, working in a variety of marketing roles at Eli Lilly and Company.  She recently transitioned to a new role as Market Research Advisor for the Connected Care Program; this program is focused on leveraging technology to connect various healthcare related components to improve patient outcomes (i.e. pharmaceutical drugs, devices, software, etc.), and is based in the Lilly Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA. Uma has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. 

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Tessa Martin, Associate Software Engineer, Yahoo! Sports, Oath Inc.

Tessa received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan. She now uses her skills and creativity to work on Front End Development for the Yahoo! Sports website.  Tessa has spent time teaching coding to multiple age groups, and in 2016 won first place in Target's hackathon!

 

Thank you Tessa for showing us what it's like to develop some of our favorite websites.

Caitlin Doyle, Supply Chain Operations Scheduling Program Manager at Google

Caitlin received her Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.  She is in charge of creating a weekly planning schedule for building and installing servers in all of Google's datacenters. Google has their own datacenters that house custom built servers that run all the various applications like Search, Maps, and Gmail.  She creates a plan that  contract manufacturers use to assembly the machines and the same plan is also used by Google's datacenter locations for scheduling installation of the equipment.

 

Thank you Caitlin for sharing your exciting career with us!

Katelyn Howay, Materials Engineer at FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)

Katelyn received her Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan and her Master’s degree in Polymer & Fiber Science from Clemson University.  She is responsible for approving soft trim materials (such as fabrics, suede and carpet) used in all FCA vehicles from Chryslers to Jeeps and Ram trucks.  She helps ensure the vehicle designers are choosing materials that will continue to look nice and be functional for as long as you own your car!

 

Thank you Katelyn for showing us there is so much more to car design than engines!

If you would like to organize a DGA group in your community:

The DreamGirls in Action program is looking for leaders who would like to bring the program to their area.  All DGA leaders must :

  • Be over 18 years old,

  • Submit to a short training and background check,

  • Be able to secure a location for the program (school or community building),

  • Share The DreamGirls Initiative’s commitment to inspiring young girls in STEM.

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