Dr. Boutheina Tlili, professor of Electrical Engineering at RIT Dubai and WIE chair was sponsored by the IEEE UAE section to participate in IEEE WIE International leadership Conference under the theme, Lead beyond:  Accelerating innovative women who change the world.  The conference had more than 1500 attendees from different sectors.  The attendees had the opportunity to create communities that fuel innovation, facilitate knowledge sharing and provide support through highly interactive sessions designed to foster discussion and collaboration.  WIE ILC focuses on providing leading-edge professional development for mid- and senior-level women.  The conference had a huge exhibition of very important companies from the silicon valley such as apple, google intel etc.  A career fair was taking place at the same time.  Dr. Boutheina was a speaker at a panel “ STEM Education & Opportunities for the Next Generation”.  Her presentation was about “Empowering women in the Arab world to choose and stay in the STEM field”.  During the two day conference, the audience was inspired by many keynote speakers during the plenary sessions.  Here is a list of some of the keynote speakers.

Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, Peggy Johnson, shares her personal stories about how bringing your authentic self to the workplace is key to a successful career.

Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Vice President of Human Resources at Intel, Barbara H. Whye presents the WIE attendees with strategies that are instrumental in moving the tech industry towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Staff Scientist of SLAC National Accelerator Library, Sila Kiliccote, and head of GISMO (Grid Integration Systems and Mobility) research, speaks about how to accelerate clean energy adoption using data.

Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, the Acting Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), gives a brief history of DARPA and an overview of its mission.

Global Head of Talent Acquisition and M&A, HR, Gunjan Aggarwal from Ericsson closes the first day of the WIE conference by presenting the attendees with her tech secrets for getting the most of being a conference attendee.

The 2017 IEEE President, Karen Bartleson, kicks off the second-day WIE ILC with a warm welcome to the attendees and gives a brief introduction to the IEEE organization. Bartleson encourages the audience to continue supporting the empowerment of women on a global scale, especially for young girls who are seeing more and more female role models in technology.

Overall, the WIE ILC is a great platform to network with more than 1500 attendees with 95% women from different sectors and background.