Women Who Lead

Published March 27, 2020

March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect on women's contributions to American history, society, and culture. At Tech, we celebrate the women who are making a difference in research and inspiring future generations to make their own history. 

Side-by-side portraits of Martha Moss, one from recently, one from the fifties

Martha Moss Quo

A woman of many firsts, the textile engineer and oldest living Tech alumna discusses her undergraduate experience and being a woman in STEM.

A timeline of women across Georgia Tech

Valerie Montgomery Rice

The first woman president of Morehouse School of Medicine was recently honored with a Gold and White Alumni Award.

Portrait of Valerie Montgomery Rice
“Tech prepared me for a life of study and rigor and discipline. My coursework was difficult and very humbling at the time, but as I look back, I now know how invaluable it was to building up my confidence and determination.”

—Valerie Montgomery Rice, CHEM 1983

Ayanna Howard with one of her robots

Ayanna Howard and De’Aira Bryant

There’s a piece of advice Georgia Tech Ph.D. student De’Aira Bryant recalls most often when it comes to her advisor, School of Interactive Computing Chair Ayanna Howard: You’ve got to start somewhere. For Bryant, who had no experience in robotics prior to her undergraduate studies, it’s apt. Through her time as a computer science student at the University of South Carolina and now as a graduate researcher in Howard’s lab at Georgia Tech, Bryant has relied on the guidance of a number of successful women who came before her. Now she and Howard are passing that torch to the next generation.

Abi Ivemeyer

The electrical and computer engineering student is one helluva engineer and only the fifth woman to sit behind the wheel of the Ramblin' Wreck.

Abi Ivemeyer behind the wheel of the Wreck
Portrait of Chan By

Chan By

She's the director of Security Assurance for The Walt Disney Company. And for her, being in a male-dominated field hasn’t deterred her in the slightest.

“For me, it was, ‘Let’s make sure you have all the attributes needed for a leader, especially as a woman in technology and a woman in security.’ That was part of the reason I decided to get my MBA, because it is a very competitive field. It is very male-dominated, and as a woman you want to have attributes that will support your candidacy for the next leadership position.”

—Chan By, EMBA 2019

CREDITS

Writer: Georgia Parmelee
Copy Editor: Stacy Braukman
Design: Erica Endicott