Motivating Women To Pursue STEM: Featuring Dr. Karen Moxon

Dr. Karen Moxon is a powerhouse researcher in the field of neuroengineering and professor of bioengineering, that focuses on understanding how information in the brain is represented and how it is affected by spinal injury, stroke, or other brain damage.

Dr. Moxon is an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an active contributor to the activities and efforts of the IEEE Brain Initiative.

Dr. Moxon’s work has spurred an entirely new discipline within neuroengineering, called brain-machine interface, which has had a global impact. In this episode she takes is in and out of the lab, talking both about her research on functions of the brain and what she has been doing to inspire young women to pursue careers in STEM.

Dr. Moxon on her surprise realizing that girls bracing themselves the potential negativity in approaching stem fields:
_08:26 " I was just shocked and so upset that the questions were, how do I protect myself in this male dominated world where men are really pushing me out? These were high school kids and they felt this. They wanted to know, how do I navigate around the negativity that's coming out at me to move into this thing I really want to do because I really want to do coding. I really want to be a computer scientist. And I just thought, Oh my goodness. This is still going on like 38 years after I finished high school.”

Dr. Moxon's biggest piece of advice for young people feeling lost:
_19:25 " You really need to know what makes you happy... what do you feel good doing..and you need to do those things because in those times in life when it's hard and things get tough, and they always do: if you're doing something you're passionate about, you can plow through. If you're just sort of doing it because you don't know what else to do, harder to move forward, it's harder to be successful. So I think that the idea that you should be passionate, what you're doing is the most important."

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To learn more about Dr. Moxon, make sure to visit : https://moxonlab.bme.ucdavis.edu/

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