July 2, 2026 – 10:40-12:00

In line with the objectives of the WIE Commitment Chart “Steering girls to STEM” the purpose of the panel is to promote female models who are role models and who carry out mentoring activities towards young minds.

To this end, the panel wants to highlight how, from the comparison between experienced and early stage researchers on their respective experiences, it is possible to identify guidelines and prospects for growth and good practices that increase the presence of young women in the aerospace sector.

10:40 - Welcoming (Dr. Sara Coppola, Dr. Ilaria Marasco, Dr. Chiara Martina: WIE Volunteers and organizers of the panel)

10:50 - Introduction to IEEE WIE AG and Commitment Chart - (Prof. Patrizia Lamberti, WIE AG Italy section chair)

11:00 - Prof. Paloma Diaz
Full Prof. Computer Science and Engineering Department
Global Engineering Deans Council Chair, Director of the Interactive Systems Research Group (DEI-Lab), Director of the UC3M-Telefónica Chair on Women&Technology, IEEE HKN Professional member.

11:30 - Young Researchers evidence

11:50 - Q&A session

Prof. Dr. Paloma Díaz is Full Professor of Computational Sciences and Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) since 2003. She was the first female Dean of the School of Engineering, Vice-rector of the UC3M Colmenarejo Campus and the Scientific Manager of the IST research program at the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. She is currently the Chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council and Director of the UC3M-Telefonica Chair on Women and Technology. With a Degree and PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, she has been involved in interdisciplinary research in the Interactive Systems research group (DEI LAB) that leads since 1996, the UC3M-BS Institute on Financial Big Data and the Institute of Gender Studies. She has been a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University, British Columbia University, and Stuttgart University. Her research focuses on designing digital solutions across domains such as crisis informatics, e-learning, health, industry, data visualization, and cultural heritage. She has led international, national, and regional projects and published over 250 articles in journals, conferences, and books. Her teaching profile includes creativity for industrial design, interaction design, human-computer interaction, programming, and data structures. She is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Education Society for her research on the affordable use of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in education.