WiE-UC December Newsletter

ISSUE

19

December 2021

WIE - UC NEWSLETTER IEEE Student Branch of the UC Women in Engineering Affinity Group

WHAT'S INSIDE: Biography of Edith Clarke - P. 1

Achievement of Molly Stevens - P.2

Curiosity - P.3

Recipes with WiE P.3

ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021

Biography EDITH CLARKE Edith Clarke was born on February 10, 1883, in Howard County, Maryland. One of 9 children, Clarke was orphaned when she was twelve years old. At the age of eighteen, she received a small inheritance, which she used to attend Vassar College. She went on to earn her bachelor’s in mathematics and astronomy in 1908 with Phi Beta Kappa honors.

After graduating, she taught mathematics at a private girls' school in San Francisco, and then at Marshall College in Huntington, West Virginia. In the fall of 1911, after facing a serious illness, Edith enrolled as a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin. At the end of her first year, she took a summer job as a “Computer Assistant” at AT&T, and was so interested in her work that she stayed on at AT&T to train and direct a group of (human) “computers”. It was during this time in World War I that she led a group of women who did calculations for Transmission and Protection Engineering Department.

In 1918, Clarke left her job to enroll in the Electrical Engineering (EE) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned her master’s degree in that same field in June 1919. She was the first woman to have been awarded that degree in the department of EE. Afterwards, Clarke took a job as a “computer” General Electric in Schenectady, New York, and in 1921 filed a patent for a “graphical calculator” to be employed in solving electric power transmission line problems.

In 1921, Clarke also took a leave of absence from GE in order to teach physics for a year at Constantinople Women’s College in Turkey. Upon her return to NY in 1922, Clarke fulfilled her lifelong dream of working

SOURCE: ENERGY.GOV

as an engineer for the Central Station Engineering Department of GE – making her the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the US. In 1926, Clarke became the first woman to deliver a paper before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. It was this paper which allowed her and other engineers to determine characteristics essential to analyzing large transmission systems, as they had begun to expand.

Longer transmission lines meant a greater chance of instability, and since, at the time, electrical engineers were unprepared to deal with larger systems, Clarke applied a mathematical technique called the method of symmetrical components in order to model a power system and its behavior.

She was also the first woman to be accepted as a full voting member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, which became IEEE in 1963). .

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ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021

She retired in 1945, and became a Fellow of AIEE in 1948 – another first for women.

Between 1923 and 1951, Clarke authored or co-authored nineteen technical papers between 1923 and 1951. She was the first woman to present an AIEE paper. In 1941, she and a colleague were awarded “best paper of the year”. Additionally, Clarke authored a two-volume reference textbook, Circuit Analysis of A. C. Systems.

In 1947 she became the first female professor in the engineering department at the University of Texas, in Austin. She retired for a second time in 1956, when she returned to her farm in Howard County. .

Clarke received the Society of Women Engineer's Achievement Award in 1954, and was selected for inclusion in Women of Achievement in Maryland History in 1998.

Clarke was also included in American National Biography and Notable American Women of the Modern Period.

Edith Clarke passed away in 1959 at the age of seventy-six. We wish to thank her for her many, many contributions to the area of EE, and hope that by sharing her achievements, she may continue to inspire girls and women to pursue their dreams. .

Sarah Holm

Achievement MOLLY STEVENS

Molly Morgag Stevens is a professor of Biomedical materials and Regenerative Medicine and the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.

Stevens won The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award 2021 for her multidisciplinary research in regenerative medicine and biosensing which results are being translated into the development of pointof-care tests for tumors and viruses like HIV and Ebola. These biosensors are designed to allow rapid diagnoses anywhere in the world by being costeffective, easy to interpret, and not requiring specialized lab equipment. Her research also led to a development of the understanding of interactions at the biomaterial interface.

SOURCE: INVEST-IN-INNOVATION.COM

Molly Stevens has received more than 30 awards and honors, addressed world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 and discussed how mobile health technologies are democratizing healthcare.

Sofia Diogo PAGE 2

ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021

Curiosity of the month...

Whether or not you are a cinephile you’ve certainly heard of The Imitation Game.

This movie follows a team of cryptanalysts working the Enigma project, which consisted in decrypting secret Nazi communications during the Second World War, functioning in the center of Allied codebreaking during the War, Bletchley Park. The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley as Alan Turing and Joan Clarke respectively.

The woman behind the character…

Clarke attended Newnham College, Cambridge, on a scholarship. Here she gained a double first degree in mathematics and was dolefully denied a full degree, as Cambridge only awarded these to men until 1948. Despite the unjust situation, Joan was able to prove her genius as a cryptanalyst and numismatist, particularly on the Enigma!

Joan’s work at Bletchley Park and her role on the Enigma project earned her a Member of the Order of the British Empire award, one of the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire awards.

SOURCE: SCIENTIFICWOMEN.NET

Mariana Almeida

Recipes with WiE: KANELBULLAR This is a traditional Swedish recipe for cinnamon buns, passed down to me from my grandma! It’s the perfect recipe to get into the Holiday spirit, and one of my most favorite sweets to eat this time of year.

Contrary to North American cinnamon buns, these treats don’t have a glaze; instead, we use what they call “pearl sugar”, which is just coarse sugar.

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ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021

INGREDIENTS For the Dough:

For the Filling:

1 egg

Softened butter***

200 g butter*

1 – 1 ½ dl sugar

1 ½ dl sugar

2 – 3 tbsp cinnamon

50 g yeast**

Ground cardamom**** (optional)

½ tsp salt 16 dl (950 g)

all-purpose flour

5 dl milk * You can use unsalted if you prefer to better control the amount of salt, but I’ve always used salted butter with no problem. ** Use baker’s yeast! It comes in small blocks in the fridge section of any supermarket. Don’t use dry yeast. *** The original recipe calls for around 75 – 100 g of butter per 25 g of dough, but if you find this is too much, just eyeball it! This butter is to spread on the inside of the dough, so you’ll know more or less how much you’ll need. **** I usually measure with my heart, so there’s no real measurement. Don’t use too much – a light sprinkle is enough!

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Melt butter in a heat-proof bowl. Add milk and heat the mixture until it reaches 37ºC, or until warm to the touch. If you have a cooking thermometer, 37ºC is the optimal temperature – just be careful it doesn’t reach 50ºC, or it will kill the yeast. If you don’t have a thermometer, be sure the mixture doesn’t seem hot – body temperature to warm is what you’re looking for.

2. Place the yeast into a large bowl, and pour the warm milk and melted butter on top. Mix until the yeast has been incorporated fully; you can break the block of yeast up prior to adding the milk and butter to make this step easier.

3. Add the egg, salt, sugar, and flour to the bowl, saving 1-2 dl of flour to use later. Beat the mixture for 7-8 minutes with the dough hook attachments of your mixer. It should come together as a soft dough, and shouldn’t stick to your hands.

4. Sprinkle flour over the surface of the dough, cover the bowl with a cloth, and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, or until it doubles in size.

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ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021

INSTRUCTIONS 5. Once your dough has risen, place it on a floured surface and knead a few times. Divide the dough into 4 portions.

6. Roll each portion out into a rectangular shape. Brush the rolled out dough with softened butter.

7. Mix sugar and cinnamon together for the filling and sprinkle on each rectangular slab of dough. If you are using cardamom, sprinkle some on top after.

8. Roll each portion into a log and divide into equally sized buns. Place buns into cupcake liners and allow to rise for another 20-40 minutes in a warm place.

9. Sprinkle buns with coarse sugar, and brush with an egg wash (just a beaten egg).

10. Bake at 125ºC for 5-10 minutes, or until golden.

SOLUTIONS 1.NOVEMBER 2.ELECTRICAL 3.SWEDEN 4.MEDICINE 5.JOAN 6.FEBRUARY 7.EBOLA

Sarah Holm

DOWN 1. Month in which we celebrate the day for the elimination of violence against women 2. Type of engineering Edith decided to pursue 3. This month's recipe is traditional in this country 5. The name of the character represented by Keira knightley in "The Imitation Game"

ACROSS 4. This month's WiE Talk will address gender inequality in this area 6. Edith Clarke's birth month 7. Viral disease that can be treated by studies carried out by Molly Stevens in the area of regenerative medicine and biosensing PAGE 5

Happy Holidays!

SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!

ISSUE NO. 19 | DECEMBER 2021