Jill Tarter was the only woman in her engineering physics class when she graduated from Cornell Engineering in 1965. Returning to Cornell for the first time in years, she recently observed that the campus has significantly changed – including a much more balanced mix of students. The undergraduate population in Cornell Engineering, specifically, first reached gender parity in 2018.

“That’s an enormous change. It’s really a culture shift,” Tarter said, reflecting on the transformation as she delivered the keynote address at a symposium celebrating 140 years of women in engineering at Cornell, hosted March 21-22.

Credit: Robyn Wishna

The two-day event was sponsored in part by the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) and organized by Lara Estroff, the Herbert Fisk Johnson Professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Marjolein van der Meulen, the Swanson Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and associate vice provost for research and innovation at Cornell.

The symposium honored the legacy of women engineers at Cornell engineering, beginning with Kate Gleason, who made history in 1884 when she became the first woman to study engineering at Cornell, paving the way for generations of women to follow. It also served as an opportunity to reflect on the progress made, acknowledge the challenges that remain, and celebrate the achievements of alumnae who have redefined the boundaries of engineering.

Credit: Robyn Wishna

Tarter’s keynote address focused on her inspiring journey, which famously included leading the search for extraterrestrial intelligence as the former director of the Center for SETI Research.

Tarter shared data showing that, when she was a student, the percentage of women enrolled at the university was 22.6% and the percentage of women studying engineering was 0.9%. Tarter said she was heartened to return to a campus in which about half of all undergraduate students, including those studying engineering, are women.

Tarter spoke about having tenacity and outworking her male counterparts to earn their respect – traits she maintained throughout a career that earned her public service awards from NASA and recognition from publications such as TIME and Discover magazines, which named her to their respective lists of most influential people.

“When people ask me, what do you tell young students about how to prepare for my career? I simply say, tell them to find something they like doing, hopefully something they love doing, and then study and train to get better at doing that than anyone else,” Tarter said, “because then they can take this toolbox with them wherever they find interesting problems. I found it a very satisfying way to spend a career.”

Tarter also shared memories of what it was like working with actress Jodie Foster, whose character in the 1997 movie “Contact” was inspired by Tarter.

Credit: Charissa King-O'Brien

Panel discussions throughout the symposium featured alumnae in leadership positions exploring topics such as overcoming obstacles and balancing demands as working mothers, the evolution of opportunities for women engineers and how to sustain progress, and how women are driving innovation across different sectors.

Panelists included Kathy Wilcox ’90, senior fellow at Advanced Micro Devices; Jaclyn Spear ’74, retired program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Nonproliferation Program; and Myra Ya-Lin Wong ’10, M.Eng. ’10, manager of wind technology at Invenergy.

In her opening remarks, Krystyn Van Vliet, vice president for innovation and external engagement strategy, said the 140-year milestone is not just a reflection of Cornell’s past, but a powerful call to the future.

Credit: Charissa King-O'Brien

“More than 15 years after Ezra Cornell penned his vision for ‘…any person…any study,’ budding engineers here included some who were also women,” Van Vliet said. “Those women were building new bridges, both literal and figurative, with their classmates and the wider community. Today, multiple generations – including women and across a much wider range of engineering fields and firms and innovations – are leading with that mindset: ‘Can we bridge that gap? Who can work with me to navigate this new obstacle?’”

Lois Pollack, associate dean for research and graduate studies at Cornell Engineering, noted in her opening remarks that the progress of women engineers at Cornell is a result of leadership that reflects the university’s values.

“We are at a pivotal moment,” Pollack said. “For the first time, we have a critical mass of women graduates who are in positions of influence, authority and leadership. We are no longer just opening doors. We are engineering entire pathways. But our work is far from finished. How do we keep this momentum? It's up to all of us.”