Professor represents women in engineering at international workshop

LAWRENCE — Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, professor of mathematics and courtesy professor of electrical engineering and computer science, attended the roundtable UNESCO/IGU Workshop on Women in Africa and the Arab States at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris earlier this month as a representative of IEEE Women in Engineering.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the world’s largest technical professional association advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. It publishes technical journals, sponsors conferences, develops technology standards and supports the professional interests of more than 425,000 members worldwide.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Gas Union hosted the workshop to identify the socioeconomic, cultural and educational constraints for women in engineering in Africa and the Arab States. The Roundtable on Women in Engineering in Africa will examine science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational policies, curricula, teacher training and female participation. The Roundtable on Women in Engineering in the Arab States will discuss the factors preventing women from entering the workforce in greater numbers despite the large percentage of engineering students that are women.

Bozenna Pasik-Duncan is a Fellow of IEEE and has been recently elected a member of the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee after six years of serving as the liaison from the IEEE Control Systems Society. IEEE Women in Engineering is the largest international professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists and inspiring girls around the world to follow their academic interests to a career in engineering.  

Pasik-Duncan is the founder and first chair of the IEEE CSS Standing Committee on Women in Control. During her vice presidency for membership activities in the organization, she played an instrumental role in increasing the number of female fellows of IEEE. She has served in many leadership capacities in the organization, including several terms as chair of Technical Committee on Control Education, a member of IEEE-USA Communication Committee and a member of the Board of Governors of IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology  as the Liaison from IEEE CSS. She has been featured in many articles, including the interview with her in the December Issue of the Control Systems Magazine. 

Bozenna Pasik-Duncan is also a Fellow of the International Federation of Control as one of four female fellows among 147 fellows of IFAC. She is an advocate for women in STEM fields internationally. She is the founder and faculty sponsor of the KU Student Chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, and she is a member of the KU Women Hall of Fame.