Coordinator
Dr. Irena Atov
IEEE WIE Chair
Technical manager, Network architecture reliability group, Telstra Corporation

Lecturer brief history

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Dr Irena Atov is the Chairperson of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers' Women in Engineering (IEEE WIE), the largest international professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists. Irena has worked to inspire many young women through her numerous educational initiatives and mentorships on a local as well as the international level. She established the first IEEE WIE group in Australia and has been running outreach events to promote careers in science and engineering through universities and the IEEE for a number of years. She previously served on the IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade Committee, which is dedicated to development and support of young professionals. There she developed strategies and new member products and for this leadership she received a GOLD achievement award in 2008.

Dr Atov works at Telstra Corporation in Melbourne, Australia as a technical manager of a network architecture reliability group. Prior to this she held various research and teaching positions at universities in Australia. She has also worked as a consultant for industry in Australia and New Zealand and her research has contributed to the development of commercial network design tools for telecommunication service providers and vendors in Australasia.

Raised and educated in Macedonia she earned her Doctoral Degree in Electrical Engineering from RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). Irena has more than 20 published papers in these technical areas and a book chapter.

Panelist
Prof. Elisabeth von Brand
Associate Professor, Universidad Cato'lica del Norte

Lecturer brief history

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Elisabeth von Brand is a senior scientist, working in Genetics of Marine Organisms. She got her PhD in Japan, at Tohoku University in Sendai in 1991. She works since 1986 as faculty member at the Universidad Cato'lica del Norte, in Coquimbo, Chile.

In 2004 she attended the 9th WLN during the APEC held in Chile. This meeting was an inspiration for several women to found the "Asociacio'n de Mujeres Li'deres -- Chile" (AML), the Chilean equivalent to WLN. This group has been organizing different workshops for women entrepreneurs, mainly about digital economy and export readiness. These different activities were often accompanied by WLN -- APEC experts. In 2005, Elisabeth was chosen to represent Chile at 10th WLN -- APEC in Korea, and during her talk she was able to show the first women organization in Chile (AML) inspired by the activities of WLN. Few years later she attended the 13th WLN- APEC in Arequipa, Peru'.

During her professional career, Dr. von Brand has been actively involved in research, publishing international papers, attending seminars, participating in various editorial boards and teaching courses on undergraduate and graduate level. One of her interests has been to encourage young female students to continue there careers in science, pursuing graduate studies in Chile or abroad.

With this in mind, she is now targeting the challenge in "How to increase the presence and participation of women in science in Northern Chile", with emphasis on Marine Science, Exact Science (Applied Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy) and Mining, important fields in Northern Chile, where women are still underrepresented.

Panelist
Dr. Estrella Fagela Alabastro
Former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology

Lecturer brief history

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ESTRELLA F. ALABASTRO was the Secretary (Minister) of the Department of Science and
Technology from March 2001 to June 2010. She was the first woman to get the DOST portfolio.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering

Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, June 1967

M.S. in Chemical Engineering

Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, June 1965

B.S. in Chemical Engineering (Cum Laude)

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, April 1961

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT

• Handled the Grants-in-Aid Program of the DOST during her tenure as Undersecretary (Vice Minister) for Research and Development, DOST
• Involved in various International and Locally funded R&D Projects specifically on Food Engineering and Processing

UNIVERSITY TEACHING

• Handled Graduate and Undergraduate Courses in Food Engineering, Food Processing and Graduate Courses in Technology Management
• Acted as Thesis Adviser to Ph.D. and M.S. and B.S. students in Food Science and Technology

ADMINISTRATION

Held the following administrative positions at the University of the Philippines:

• Dean, College of Home Economics, 1984 -- 1990
• Chairman, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, 1973 -- 1977
• Chairman, Office of Research and Publications, 1981 -- 1984
• Philippine Coordinator, FAO Small Scale Food Industries Network

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Mar 2001-June 2010

Secretary (Minister), Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

May 2004-June 2010

Member, Advisory Board of the World Bank, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID funded CGIAR HarvestPlus Project

Nov 2003-June 2010

Chair, Advisory Board of the USAID funded Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII)

Nov 1998-June 2010

Professorial Lecturer, College of Home Economics and Technology Management Center, University of the Philippines

Jan 1995-Nov 1998

Undersecretary (Vice Minister) for Research and Development, Department of Science and Technology
Project Director, World Bank-OECF Funded Engineering and Science Education Project
Chairperson, National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP)
National Chairperson, ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology

1997-1998

Philippine Focal Person, ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST)

1995 -1997

Chairperson, ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (ASEAN-COST)

July 1997-April 1998

Officer-in-Charge, Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD)

July 1991-Jan 1995

Executive Director, Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD)

Feb 1995-Feb 1996

Officer-in-Charge, PCIERD

1992-1995

Phil. Focal Person, ASEAN-Committee on Science and Technology Sub-committee on Food Science and Technology

1994-1995

Phil. Focal Person, APEC Working Group on Industrial Science and Technology

1969-2010

Faculty Member (Professor), Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of the Philippines

1967-1969

Research Associate, Rice University, Houston, Texas

1961-1963

Development Engineer, Research and Development Center, San Miguel Corporation, Manila

Panelist
Shao Fengjing
Vice President of Qingdao University
Vice Board Chairman of Qingdao Haier Software Co., Ltd.
Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Qingdao Municipal Committee

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Shao Fengjing is Vice President of Qingdao University, Vice Board Chairman of Qingdao Haier Software Co., Ltd., Vice Chairman of the CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) Qingdao Municipal Committee, Chairman of The Jiu San

Society Qingdao Committee, Head of Shandong province computer application key disciplinary areas, Director of Qingdao Key Laboratory of Software. She got her PhD in Japan, at the University of Osaka University in 1991. She was mainly involved in communication protocol project. She was engaged in the postdoctoral research at Central Research Institute of Japan Matsushita

Electric Industrial in 1991-1993. And she was engaged as Research Fellow of Japan Matsushita Electric Industrial in 1993. This meantime, she mainly took charge of "software specification description standard" and "family communication platform―domestic operating system HAL/MA model and specification description". She came back home to become a Professor at Qingdao

University in 1994. She has served in many capacities such as assistant dean, dean and Vice President. She has taken on many research projects such as National 863 Project, the national natural fund, etc. For now, she is mainly involved in embedded software, data warehouse, data mining, augment reality, network applications and complexity, etc.

Panelist
Prof. Shinobu Yamaguchi
Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Lecturer brief history

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Academic Background:

1980.3

Graduated from Chikushi Public High School

1984.9

B.A., Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

1986.6

M.A in Speech Communication, Oregon State University, Oregon, USA

1991.2

Master of Public Management, Graduate School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

1998.10

Ph.D. in Economics of Education, Graduate School of Arts and Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Working Experience

1984-1986

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Speech Communication, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

1986-1989

Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

1989-1991

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Eastern Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University, New York, NY

1991-1994

Programme Officer, Sector of Education, United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization, Paris, France

1994-1996

Education Programme Officer, Beijing Office, United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization, Beijing, China

1999-present

Lecturer, Department of English and American Literature, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

2002-2006

Associate Professor, Global Scientific Information and Computing Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

2005-2007

Advisor to the President, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

2006-present

Professor, Global Scientific Information and Computing Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

2008-present

Invited Researcher, Beijing Office, United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization, Beijing, China

Research Areas:

International Development Engineering, Educational Development and ICT, International Collaboration and Higher Education

Panelist
Dr. Hideko S. Kunii
Chairperson Ricoh IT Solutions Co., Ltd.

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Hideko S. Kunii is a former Corporate Vice President of Ricoh Co., Ltd. From 1982 to 2008 she has been in charge of R&D in the software, system and communication fields and responsible for technology strategy in several fields including document solutions, middleware, embedded systems and networking at Ricoh. She has also served as the leader of company-wide, ad-hoc projects, including an imaging device controller platform. She received her Master of Science degree (MSc) from San Jose State University in Silicon Valley and her Ph.D. degree in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. She has experience in venture business operations for four years as the president of a company in the United States.

She has served as a member of Councils to several Ministries, including Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Internal Affairs and Communications, a director of Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association, and a member of Innovation Network Committee of Innovation Network Corporation. of Japan. She has continued her activities in academia, as well, serving as a member of the Science Council of Japan, Program Co-Chair for International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER2001), Vice President of the

Database Society of Japan, Former Chair of IEEE Japan Council, Women in Engineering (WIE) and Distinguished Guest Professor at Beihang University College of Software. She authored "Graph Data Model and its Data Language," published by Springer-Verlag in 1990.