Concerns over the lack of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) have existed for a long time. But Janeen Uzzell, the CEO of the National Society of Black Engineers, said she wanted to teach engineering, so her father found it unexpected that her teacher tried to discourage her.
The instructor felt that Janeen’s talents would be stretched if she studied engineering and believed that she was not capable of handling the risks associated with the field. But for Janeen, the one source of inspiration that counted was her father’s faith in her.
Because there were so few women participating equally in the male-dominated sector at the time, it was understandable that her cousin Lasander Uzzell, who was the first engineer the younger Janeen heard about, had pushed her to pursue a career in engineering. Her cousin believed Janeen’s strong academic background in math and physics gave her an edge in her pursuit of becoming an excellent engineer.
She made the decision to put in extra effort to get good grades in order to increase her chances of enrolling in engineering school. Her efforts were rewarded when she was awarded a scholarship to attend college and study engineering. She was honest about the difficulties she faced in the class and acknowledged that it was challenging to understand the ideas and theories that underlie engineering and technology, according to robotics education.
She eventually fell in love with the subject, and as her cousin had predicted, it gave her employment options at a period when there was a severe underrepresentation of women engineers.
Her career began when she was given the chance to work for General Electric (GE); after consulting with her family, she chose to accept the offer. She has spent the previous 20 years at GE working in a variety of portfolios, including healthcare technology in some of the most difficult environments and top management as the leader of the women in STEM.