Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Dartmouth College’s Alexis Abramson On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Always think about strategy and impact. People spend time focusing on solving the present problem and not so much the future vision. We have a new Design Initiative at Dartmouth that aims to combat this. When talking to faculty and students about design, they often say they want funding to create new prototypes or an internship to solve specific problems. That’s all great, but I like to pull them back a bit and encourage them to think about the impact that will have on the world. As our school continues to grow, it’s important to think about not just teaching better, but about lives touched and the impact we can really have. It’s about making decisions about where to go and what to do and keeping that strategy and impact in mind.
As a part of our series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Alexis Abramson.
Alexis Abramson is the 13th dean of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Prior to joining Dartmouth, she was the Milton and Tamar Maltz Professor of Energy Innovation at Case Western Reserve University and served as a director of the university’s Great Lakes Energy Institute focused on creating sustainable energy technology solutions. During the Obama administration, Abramson served as chief scientist and manager of the Emerging Technologies Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program. In 2018, she served as technical adviser for Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion effort launched by Bill Gates to combat human-driven climate change. As a leader in sustainable energy technology and advanced energy research, Abramson has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Obviously, I didn’t wake up one day and decide to become an engineering dean, but through a little trial and error, I got to where I am now. Growing up, my parents were not very tech or engineering-oriented, so I spent a lot of time fixing VCRs, taking apart toasters, and replacing door locks because nobody in my house knew how. You could say that I have always been an engineer at heart, and science and engineering grew to become a passion. As I grew older, I became excited about understanding heat transfer and heat flow in nanomaterials. I started small with nanoscale materials, then took that interest to large-scale infrastructures, exploring how to manipulate energy and heat in buildings. Buildings and efficient energy technologies are a critical part of finding solutions to climate change.
I’m an extrovert, very people-oriented by nature, but science can be an isolating endeavor, especially when you are deep into research. Because of this, during my time as an assistant professor, I decided to also pursue projects outside of the typical academic realm. I worked on economic development projects for the U.S. Department of Energy and even spent one of my sabbaticals working at a venture capital firm. This kind of collaborative work with people from disciplines and backgrounds different from my own, led me to seek out leadership roles where I could work with others to affect positive change.
I have always been a firm believer in the integration of engineering and the liberal arts. As an undergrad, I studied engineering at a liberal arts college. People might wonder what liberal arts has to do with engineering, but it’s critical that we pair engineering with humanities, the social sciences, economics, and other disciplines to create the engineers who are truly prepared for challenges we find in the real world. Dartmouth embraces this philosophy wholeheartedly, and that’s what drove me here to my current role as engineering dean.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
I was eight months into the job when COVID hit. That remains one of my more interesting stories. Like every other engineering school at the time, we were asking ourselves, “How are we going to replicate hands-on learning, collaborative projects, and research for students at home? Is that even possible?” At the time, “remote, hands-on learning” seemed a bit like an oxymoron, but fortunately, Dartmouth engineers excel at solving these kinds of puzzles. We pivoted quickly, got creative, and got to work.
For example, for a computer-aided mechanical engineering design class, we found a way to have students work in remote teams to build accurate, marine chronometers, or “sea clocks” used by ships in the 1700s to understand time, direction and other metrics. We shipped relatively low-cost 3D printers and parts to all of our students to build a chronometer that actually works. In a mechatronics course, one of our professors designed an entirely hands-on, lab-based projects. She and a team of instructors assembled kits with all the parts for autonomous, self-balancing robots, shipped them all over the world, to wherever students had set up their remote classrooms. Over Zoom, students worked on the robots right in front of her.
All engineers have to learn how to work within design constraints, and everything about the pandemic was a significant constraint. Our faculty and students found ways to leverage both technology and their own creativity to make hands-on, project-based, interactive learning possible. I was really proud to watch all of this unfold during a very challenging time.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
That’s a tricky one — mistakes often aren’t funny when you’re an engineer! However, this one is funny. When I was a young assistant professor, I was invited to give a talk for a non-profit organization. I asked for the logistical details — time, location, etc. I found it a little strange, as they weren’t giving me much time to prepare — just a few weeks. I just knuckled down to get ready for my talk. Then I showed up … a whole year early! They actually wanted me to speak the following year! That taught me to ask a lot of questions, to be a clear communicator, and make sure I understand everything clearly.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Dartmouth Engineering is distinctive from other schools in that, as I mentioned earlier, we place great emphasis on both engineering and the liberal arts. If we want to tackle some of the daunting problems our society faces today, like climate change, healthcare inequality, and energy access — all of which could have a technical components — we need engineers who understand both technical and human aspects of both the problems and the solutions. At Dartmouth, we start with people first. We push our engineers to not just consider the science, but also human need, community impact, and potential unintended consequences. Our students take classes in disciplines ranging from economics and philosophy to studio art and government, alongside engineering and science courses. We don’t want students solving hypothetical problems — we want to bring in elements of the real world to help them understand the societal impact they can have. Our faculty are also committed to the application side of engineering, transferring ideas from the lab to the real world. As a result, our engineering students learn to see nuance, consider multiple perspectives, and uncover potential blind spots. They know how to collaborate across teams, and hopefully, this leads to fully realized human-centered solutions that serve society.
I worry we’re not seeing this human-centered approach to engineering leveraged more often in the broader world. Science alone won’t help us solve the dynamic challenges confronting our society.
We try to remove barriers and boundaries within our school and across our community. While most engineering schools are divided into departments — mechanical, electrical, etc. — Dartmouth Engineering is not. We find this encourages better integration and collaboration. Building a strong sense of community among faculty, students, and staff, across disciplines, departments, and schools, is a big part of our human-centered approach.
If the last two and a half years taught us anything, it’s that proximity matters, collaboration matters, and answers don’t come through silos. Our school is located in Dartmouth’s West End, alongside the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy & Society, the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Tuck School of Business. We share a home with the computer science department. The co-location alone helps energize and catalyze more integration and connectedness, but more importantly, our faculty and students embrace interdisciplinary collaboration. From developing AI tools with computer science faculty that can better detect fatal diseases to collaborating with experts at the Irving Institute to build solar water heaters for a Ugandan school, our students have opportunities to help solve real-world problems through interdisciplinary collaboration throughout their time at Dartmouth.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am always thinking about the future of higher education and what it will be like for a student attending university 10, 20, and 100 years from now, especially with the impact of COVID and remote learning. The pandemic is teaching us that while many learners benefit from hands-on, in-person experiences, online learning or more technology-assisted learning can better differentiate lessons for students who learn differently and also help universities reach underserved communities — people who may not otherwise have access to science and technology education.
At Dartmouth, we’re thinking beyond 2030, as we plan our future. Given what we have learned from the pandemic, we are exploring the role of technology in education and looking at ways to advance our curriculum in those ways. It’s a great discussion to have with faculty and peer institutions. We are very committed to making engineering accessible to as broad an audience as possible, which can be challenging given our campus’s rural location, and exploring how we can capture a broader audience and still teach engineering the distinctive Dartmouth way.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
As a society, we haven’t made the great strides I anticipated when I was a college student. My undergraduate engineering class at Tufts was about 15 to 20% female, which, at the time, was considered high. Right now, the national percentage is only slightly higher than that.
Part of the solution is making sure that engineering and all aspects of STEM are accessible to everyone, and that we are removing unnecessary barriers for people who we don’t typically see pursuing STEM. This is critical, because this is not just about diversity or representation, but about getting the best people to solve the very complex challenges we face. When you don’t have a necessary perspective to help solve issues facing women or communities of color, then no matter how skilled you are as an engineer, you will not find a solution that truly meets their need.
In addition to attracting more female STEM majors, we also need to consider building STEM skills across all majors. At Dartmouth, 70% of undergrads take at least one engineering or computer science class. I’d love to see that grow because these courses help humanities students exercise a different part of their brains, which will help them later in life. I’d be surprised if anyone goes through their career not having to think about technology.
I do feel fortunate to be at Dartmouth, which was the first university to achieve gender parity in engineering in 2016. This fall, Dartmouth will have more women who are declared engineering majors than men, and I am excited to continue building on that.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
When you look at the research, or even just anecdotally when you speak to female students, you will hear about “imposter syndrome.” They had it, they used to have it, or they’re struggling with it. Research shows that imposter syndrome disproportionately impacts high-achieving women and people of color. Women often think they’re the only ones in the room who don’t understand the material or can’t get an experiment to work. In conversations with women, I always address this and make sure they understand that they are not alone in feeling this way, that they have earned their place in the classroom, lab, or as a member of the faculty, and that they will push forward to be quite successful in their careers.
All students need good mentors — good mentors are key to helping students overcome self-doubt and build confidence, particularly if you are the only woman in the room. We like to think everybody is treated the same, but those of us with lived experiences know that this is not true. For example, research shows men often talk over women in meetings and are often credited, and even praised, for ideas initially presented by women. It takes both men and women to acknowledge this and work to address it.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
Perhaps a little less so today than in the past, but there is still concern about women’s ability to juggle family and work. Society pressures women, in some cases, not to take a demanding job because then, you won’t be able to raise children. That’s a myth to dispel. There’s a way to succeed at both home and work life. Like most things in life, it takes a lot of work, some luck, and a strong support network, but I don’t want women to rule out opportunities because of this. When my kids were young, we were fortunate to live in a place without a lot of traffic, which made it easier to get around. That gave us the ability to drop the kids off at preschool, go to work, pick them up, spend time with them in the afternoon, and finish work later in the evening. I do not want to minimize the juggle that this often takes, but today, my kids grew up seeing what’s possible for someone like me with a lot of perseverance and hard work. Today, they are proud of their mom.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Be a voracious learner. If you don’t know how to do something, always know that you have the power in you to figure it out. When I was a student working on nanomaterials in thermoelectric devices, I realized I actually wanted to do research in a more high-impact area. So, I went into building science, a field I didn’t know very much about. I kept learning and learning, and eventually worked for the Department of Energy, where I eventually became the chief scientist in the Building Technologies Office. It’s amazing where your path can lead when you become a voracious learner.
- Speak up. Your voice matters. If I don’t speak up in a meeting, I often regret it. Finding out a colleague was thinking the same thing and neither of us spoke up makes matters worse. It’s important to understand that your voice and perspective matter, especially if you’re the only woman in the room. Speak up in a respectful, responsible way, even if it means disagreeing with what others in the room are saying
- Don’t be afraid to push boundaries. Be respectful when you do. Embrace who you are and don’t be afraid to defy the status quo. When my son was born, I was an assistant professor at the time. I wanted to attend an important faculty, but the meeting fell around the time he would usually nap and eat. I decided to take him with me anyway. He was quiet and slept for most of the meeting, but then he woke up and needed to nurse. I went to the back of the room and didn’t think anything of it. The other women faculty in the room were so happy I did that. My son is now 17 and people still say, “I can’t believe you did that.” In the end, I wasn’t trying to hide being a woman or a mother — I was being myself and embracing work-life balance. Moments like this when women respectfully push boundaries help male colleagues understand women’s needs and see how valuable it is to have women in the room.
- Cultivate a positive, inclusive and welcoming community. Nobody wants to come to work and hate it. I believe in cultivating an inclusive environment by modeling respectful behavior and finding opportunities to make sure everyone feels valued. I’ve been in meetings where someone makes a disrespectful comment and I have to respond to make sure it’s addressed before we move on. That simple action go a long way in making sure we set the climate for how our community is supposed to behave and work together.
- Always think about strategy and impact. People spend time focusing on solving the present problem and not so much the future vision. We have a new Design Initiative at Dartmouth that aims to combat this. When talking to faculty and students about design, they often say they want funding to create new prototypes or an internship to solve specific problems. That’s all great, but I like to pull them back a bit and encourage them to think about the impact that will have on the world. As our school continues to grow, it’s important to think about not just teaching better, but about lives touched and the impact we can really have. It’s about making decisions about where to go and what to do and keeping that strategy and impact in mind.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
It’s related to something I already said. To model respect and what it means to have a strong community and a positive climate. If you do this well, then everyone will want to work with you and for you. This type of environment will inspire people to do their jobs well and ultimately enable the organization to be more successful in the long-run.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Since we don’t have specific departments here, I manage a large team of about 72 faculty members. While that can be challenging, it’s allowed me to have close one-on-one interactions with each faculty. This opportunity to build close relationships really pays off. People know they can come to me and ask a question, share their ideas, and feel involved. At our recent commencement ceremony, a faculty member reached out afterwards with suggestions for inspirational messages that we could use in future speeches. I was so proud that he felt he could come to me and share feedback.
When managing a large team, you also need to take the time to say thank you and show appreciation as often as you can. I write holiday cards to every faculty and staff member, so they know how much they’re valued. Even in July, people still come up to me and thank me for the Christmas card.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
When I became an assistant professor, I had a bit of imposter syndrome myself. It’s important to have people in your life who are there to support you and be your cheerleader. My cheerleader was Joe Prahl, who was then chair of the mechanical engineering department at Case Western Reserve, where I started my career. He ended up being my biggest cheerleader and mentor. I remember, one of the first times I taught thermodynamics, a student who was unhappy about his grade on an exam approached me. I explained why he lost points, but he continued to argue with me and eventually decided to take it to Joe, my department chair. Joe was very clear with the student, saying “She’s your your professor, she sets the rules, and that’s that.” Knowing that Joe had my back when I needed it was helpful in building my confidence for confronting other obstacles further down in my career.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
The future of our society really depends on the integration of the human-made world and human experience. We need to make sure every global citizen understands that as part of their foundational education. I hope I’ve been able to promote that and really help our students see the value in that, and take those views and go out into the world and solve some of the hardest problems that we’re facing.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
First of all, I’d say bringing more human centeredness to the world — the idea of starting with people first, considering human need, and societal impact. Being at Dartmouth, it’s the world I live in, but when I venture outside of this word, I see how much that doesn’t happen. I really feel that a human-centered approach to all things in life can really do a lot of good.
The other is critical thinking — how we can all become better critical thinkers in this world. I want to inspire a movement to help people adopt a simple approach to the scientific method and apply it to everyday things, like their Twitter feeds. Right now, I see people believing everything they see or read, without taking the time to consider what may be true and investigate further. I want them to ask themselves questions as they read, go back and check a reference to determine whether the piece of information they encounter is actually fact. I think that would have an even bigger impact on our world than almost anything else we do.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
This is tricky since I have a variety of different Alexis-isms. One I often tell people is to aim for A-, maybe even B+, in the things you do. I’m not talking about in school — I’m talking about in real life. The effort that it takes to get from an A- to an A is so big that you could have expended that energy, thought process, time, and money doing other things that could also have a significant benefit.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m an overachiever — but perfection isn’t the goal. For instance, when designing energy efficient buildings, it can cost twice as much to construct something achieves the top LEED certification than it would to build one that’s one or two levels below the top. I would much rather see 10 buildings have a LEED certification with energy efficient targets than just one that’s has “perfect” energy efficiency. I know that’s controversial for a building science person to say, but in the end, we save more energy overall by spreading it out and striving for A- instead of A’s.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would say Bill Gates. He actually spoke to my energy and sustainability class via Zoom not too long ago. He’s a fascinating person — I appreciate that he’s a lifelong learner, something I strive for myself. He understands tech, but his post-Microsoft life has been focused on solving some of the biggest challenges in our world. I think he would appreciate our human-centered approach at Dartmouth — combining engineering, liberal arts and human centeredness. If we were able to expand that message more and get other great engineering schools to think about how to better integrate liberal arts into their programs, I think Bill would understand it and maybe even help us reach more people.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Dartmouth College’s Alexis Abramson On The 5 Leadership… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.