Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Valerie Taylor of Argonne National Laboratory On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
The top leadership lesson is that of active listening. That entails more than just giving each person a chance to speak at a meeting. It means considering the points presented and being willing to change your mind and act on someone else’s suggestions if those points are valid.
As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Valerie Taylor.
Valerie Taylor is the Director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division and a Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. She also serves as the CEO and President Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT). Her research is in the area of high-performance computing, with a focus on performance analysis, modeling and tuning of parallel, scientific applications. Prior to joining Argonne, she was the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering and a Regents Professor and the Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 2003, she joined Texas A&M University as the Department Head of CSE, where she remained in that position until 2011.
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?
My first major leadership position was that of department head of computer science at Texas A&M University; before that, I was a faculty member in the electrical and computer engineering department at Northwestern University. As a faculty member, I would express my opinions and views about topics. During my first few months as department head, I was doing the same. I soon realized that everyone considered my opinion to be the final decision and the discussion would stop. I learned that I should present the issues and then just listen, allowing the faculty to provide the input needed to reach a final decision. I still value the importance of active listening.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I am the director of the Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) division at Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne stands out because of the excellence of our research, the multidisciplinary work to advance DOE mission science, and the unique facilities, such as the Advanced Photon Source, the Leadership Computing Facility, and the Center for Nanoscale Materials. Argonne conducts leading-edge research in almost every discipline — from materials, chemistry, physics, and biology to energy systems, applied mathematics, computation, and analysis.
When I first became director of the MCS division, two new divisions had just been created from MCS, one in computational science and the other in data science and learning. I naturally wondered how these new divisions would affect MCS. Would they take away from our research funding? Would our staff transfer to these new divisions? Some of this did happen and it was for the best as the new divisions provided the needed focused research community. But it has motivated us to explore exciting new opportunities in emerging areas such as AI and quantum information science. And we are collaborating lab-wide more than ever before in addressing complex scientific and engineering problems.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am working on a new project in microelectronics, called Threadwork, which is an innovative co-design approach to transform how we conduct microelectronics research. In particular, we are connecting applications with materials research to dramatically increase the chances of a breakthrough.
Microelectronics are the core components that constitute the computing devices used in everyday items such as cell phones, computers, and cars. Hence, the new project can accelerate the process by which we design these core components to achieve better performance with respect to energy efficiency.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. 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?
While progress has been made in the past few years, changes still are needed to increase the engagement of women in STEM or tech careers. This is especially the case for women of color. One possibility might be to expand career development workshops, which currently are primarily for undergraduate and graduate students, to include high school and even middle school students: “Get them hooked young!” Argonne, for example, holds an annual CodeGirls summer camp for sixth graders, in which the emphasis is on coding for the real world, with real problems. We need more of these. We also need to show these young women by example — with role models like themselves, from backgrounds to which they can relate. Lastly, in the math and science classes, it is important to provide examples that are relevant and exciting to your girls.
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?
I am going to rephrase this question to talk about women of color in STEM. The biggest challenge faced by women of color is the lack of appreciation for intersectionality — the recognition that multiple factors combine and interact in creating unequal treatment. To truly appreciate intersectionality requires disaggregating data such as ethnicity and gender. For example, in addition to including data about women in STEM, it is important to have data about Black women, Hispanic women, Native American women, Asian women, and so on. Using the disaggregated data can help identify issues particular to different communities of women, say Black women in STEM and technology. Only when we are aware of the issues particular to communities, can those issues be addressed effectively.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech? Can you explain what you mean?
I think it is important to dispel the myth that women are not interested in pursuing careers in STEM or tech. We should take a deeper look at the encouragement that women receive to pursue careers in STEM or Tech. When we discuss math and science topics in K-12, do we present motivating examples that excite girls, or do we unconsciously steer girls away from the “hard” sciences and into humanities courses?
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.)
The top leadership lesson is that of active listening. That entails more than just giving each person a chance to speak at a meeting. It means considering the points presented and being willing to change your mind and act on someone else’s suggestions if those points are valid.
The second lesson is to facilitate an environment where each person in your organization can thrive, resulting in an organization that is collectively excelling.
The third leadership lesson is to provide others with the freedom to act. Remember that you are a leader, not a dictator. Offer encouragement, and then follow what is being done. Yes, you still have expectations, but they need not be demands!
The fourth lesson I have learned is to meet frequently with the whole group, to keep everyone informed of the accomplishments of the individuals, the “new faces” who have joined, and the new roles others have taken on.
And the fifth lesson is to allow yourself time to be yourself, not simply “the leader.” In my case, this means setting aside time to do my own research. I believe that in showing that I am passionate about a particular project or problem, my staff may see that I can also share their excitement about their work.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Bring your true self to your leadership of an organization, as others will do the same when they see that in a leader.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
When managing a large team, get to know the cultures of the small groups that make up the team. Know that different groups can have different cultures. It is important to work with the different cultures such that each is based on the principle of inclusivity.
None of us can 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?
My parents helped me achieve success along the way and continue to do so today. My mother is a schoolteacher who really instilled in our family the value of lifelong learning. My father is an entrepreneur who started a telecommunications company when I was young. My siblings and I grew up spending weekends accompanying my father at the company, learning from the ground up — that is, from sorting resistors and other components to actually building boards based upon schematics. I still remember with nostalgia the aroma — I won’t call it a smell — of soldering.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I used my success to work with four other colleagues to start the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT), a non-profit organization with programs focused on African Americans/Blacks, Native Americans/Indigenous People, Hispanics/Latinx, and People with Disabilities. The mission is to ensure that our target communities are fully engaged in computing and to promote innovation that enriches, enhances and enables these communities such that more equitable and sustainable contributions are possible by all communities. Our programs include the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference, Academic Careers Workshop, Student Professional Development Workshop, and the LEAP Alliance, which is focused on diversifying the computing professoriate.
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. 🙂
If I could inspire a movement, it would be around intersectionality. Though the concept has been around for more than two decades, much remains to be done. A major step needed in this direction is the disaggregation of data. It is often the case that data is broken out by ethnicity or gender, but rarely the combination of the two. For example, if a company is made up of 15% women and 10% Black, we do not know if the company has any Black women. Having disaggregated data, especially when looking at trends (such as hiring, retention, rate of progression, etc.), allows for issues to be addressed that are unique to Black women, Hispanic women, white women, and so on. Even with small numbers, it is important to consider the data. It is only when you track the data, do you know if progress is occurring.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff — this quote serves as a reminder to not get lost in the details and forget to focus on the major goal of having an impact.
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 enjoy having a private brunch with Michelle Obama since she is very successful but very down to earth in her interviews. Her accomplishments and her approach to life are inspiring. I was impressed by her program “Let’s Move!” because it raised awareness about a healthy lifestyle starting at a young age that can continue throughout life.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Valerie Taylor of Argonne National Laboratory On The 5… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.