Trailblazers and future leaders of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) community gathered at Point Loma’s Liberty Station to celebrate the work of their peers and honor a pioneer during the 34th Annual Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Banquet, May 22.
The San Diego chapter of SWE held the event to recognize local high school and junior high school science fair winners, scholarships recipients and SWE leaders across San Diego County. The event also honored the life and contributions of legendary STEM innovator Alice May Anderson.
“Alice was a pioneer, a leader, a mentor, and a wonderful example for the many women who have contributed so much to our nation’s security,” said Carmela Keeney, executive director at Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific. “I am so very pleased to see that she is being recognized as such by the Society of Women Engineers.”
Posters, projects and award-winning science fair displays were all around the room as young women proudly showed off their hard work for banquet attendees, who gazed at the exhibits in awe of their efforts. In the intimate banquet hall, women of all ages gathered to celebrate and recognize their peers’ work throughout the year and revel in the history of women who made noteworthy strides in STEM.
“Just by knowing their history, it makes it acceptable that success is something that we’ve been successful at for decades, if not centuries,” said Debra Kimberling, the event’s keynote speaker and SWE fellow. “It’s about validating the successes that [have] made us successful in the STEM fields.”
Anderson, a forerunner in the development and modernization of STEM, was widely considered to be one of the nation’s “human computers” and built a 39-year career in civil defense — from becoming a naval drafter in World War II to spearheading analysis at SPAWAR, formerly known as Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS).
She led the development and testing of ballistic missile performance while serving as a member of the Vertical Launch ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) missile task team, earning her the nickname “ASROC Alice.” She passed away in January, just months shy of her 101st birthday.
“She was a pioneer as a woman in a field that was, and still is, predominately male,” said Keeney. “Such a small percentage of the work force was women, and she excelled and succeeded. She was a role model for women today.”
Many of Anderson’s peers praised her for her work and her influence in a time that was assuredly difficult for a woman in a male-dominated field, and in turn made a name for herself.
“Alice faced discrimination even more so than women do today,” said Joan Fisher, SWE San Diego’s section president for fiscal years 2003 and 2004. “When she came into her career, there were so few women in the engineering career field. A lot of what you did, you know you were being watched as to whether you would be accepted as a woman into the area she worked.”
SWE members expressed that Anderson pushed for her work to stand above the work of her peers, which gave women a role model — a successful woman in engineering, making history with the strides she had throughout her career.
“I would want women to walk away from this event knowing the role that women successfully played way back in the start of World War II, and that women are out there, in larger numbers than we’ve ever imagined,” said Kimberling. “I’m just really honored I knew Alice, and that her story came to light.”