Out To Innovate Summit 2010: An Inaugural Success

On October 9, 2010 a new era in LGBTQ+ visibility commenced. Nearly 200 students, academic faculty, career professionals, and employers participated in the inaugural “Out to Innovate™ Summit”. Sponsored by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and hosted by the LGBTQ+ Community at the University of Southern California, Out to Innovate provided a day of education, diversity, mentoring, and career learning opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Out to Innovate Summit 2010 featured such notable openly gay speakers as Kei Koizumi, the Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (Obama Administration), and Dr. Dean Hamer, then Chief of the Gene Structure and Regulation Program at The National Cancer Institute at NIH. Workshop topics included: Being Out in the STEM World: Panel Discussion and Open Forum; Leadership and Activism; Gender Identity and Expression in the STEM Workplace; Mentoring in the Classroom and Workplace; STEM Careers in Government; Careers in IT/Entertainment; Careers in Healthcare; STEM Careers in Government; Careers in Research and Engineering; and Being a Minority within a Minority.

Workshop presenters ranged from out medical students, to post-doctoral fellows, to senior university faculty to accomplished professionals in industry. Summit sponsors included: Harvey Mudd College, California Institute of Technology, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Center for Diversity, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Careers, Raytheon, Boeing, Intuit, Genentech, Texas Instruments, Northrop Grumman, Battelle, and Dow Chemical among others.

Click on the following links for program book, photos, program highlight video, and keynote address video of the 2010 Out to Innovate™ Summit:

 

Out to Innovate Summit 2010 Exhibitors/Sponsors

Founding Sponsors: Harvey Mudd College; NOGLSTP; Northrop Grumman PrIDA; Raytheon

Event Sponsors: Battelle; Booz Allen Hamilton; Caltech Center for Diversity; Genentech; Intuit; Texas Instruments; USC Viterbi School of Engineering — Center for Engineering Diversity

Event Supporters: Chevron; Dow Chemical Company; Fortify Software; Generous Individuals; Los Angeles Frontrunners; Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Scientists

Event Partners: American Association for Advancement of Science; Cell Signalling; Creative Brokers; MentorNet; MinorityPostdoc.org; National Postdoctoral Association; Out and Equal Workplace Summit; Point Foundation; sciencecareers.org; USC Lambda Alumni Association; USC LGBT Resource Center

Endorsing Organizations: American Chemical Society Division of Professional Relations; CampusPride.org; Models of Pride; National Engineers Week Foundation; National Science Foundation; Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists; Society for Women Engineers; Stanford University Pride; UCLA LGBT Resource Center