On September 5th, 2014, the IEEE UFFC Society hosted the Women in Engineering (WIE) networking event at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium in Chicago. The event aims to highlight achievements and enhance networking of WIE. It also provides an interface with IEEE UFFC-S members to encourage communication and volunteering within the society. For the first time, the registration-form invited conference registrants to indicate intent to attend this event. Very strong interest was expressed with a total of 113 pre-registrants.

The 90 people attending the lunch-time event were greeted by the IUS General Chair, Dr. Jafar Saniie and the IEEE UFFC-S President Dr. Jian-yu Lu. Professor Elisa Konofagou of the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at Columbia University in New York City provided a highlight presentation describing her work and career path.

Dr. Konofagou earned her Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston (Texas, USA) in 1999 for work in elastography at the University of Texas Medical School. She then carried out postdoctoral work in elasticity-based monitoring of focused ultrasound therapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA), an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School. She has worked at Columbia University since 2003 where she is currently a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, and Director of the Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory. She is widely recognized as one of the leaders in her field.

Dr. Konofagou presented an animated description of her own career and shared her experience to suggest strategies toward career-building. Among the many points that were presented and discussed were: the importance of developing certitude by working the project from all the angles, how management and networking skills are necessary to build dynamic research and the need to catch opportunities by recognizing and protecting original results. The presentation led to very fruitful and active exchanges.

The IEEE WIE is the largest professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists and inspiring young women to follow their academic interests towards a career in engineering. Membership is open to both women and men.

For more information, see http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/women/index.html

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