W MEN in STEM Building a Million Girls Moonshot hopes to boost girls in STEM by supporting their ambitions and their families BY BETH WARD Movement 30 Diversity in Action | MARCH/APRIL 2021 PHOTOS: TOP LEFT: © VENIMO-STOCK.ADOBE.COM; TOP: © ALPHASPIRIT -STOCK.ADOBE.COM; LEFT COURTESY OF GABRIELA GONZÁLEZ W hen Gabriela González immigrated to the United States as a teenager, she had no idea that STEM would be her gateway to a bright, successful future — one not only spent at some of the world’s top tech companies, but one that would also become a guiding light allowing other girls to follow in her footsteps. González came to the U.S. at 13, working to overcome the challenges of navigating the American school system while also learning English. She earned good grades through-out middle school and high school but had little in the way of financial means. When it came time to graduate, González resigned herself to the knowledge that she would either have to Gabriela join the Armed Forces González as a path to higher education or go to work full time, saving up her money to attend college later. “Fortunately, I was also participating in a youth group through my church at the time,” González says, “and the leader of the youth group just so happened to be the first Native American to graduate from the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering.” He asked González what her post-high school plans were. When she said she wasn’t quite sure, he asked if she might be interested in engineering. “I said, ‘Well, I don’t even know what engineering is.’” González’s youth group leader offered to take her on a trip to the campus of the University of Washington, where she was introduced to a woman serving as the head of the minority engineering program. “They happened to have some fund-ing for scholarships for women who were interested in engineering,” González says. “She asked me, too, [if I would be interested in engineering], and I said, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ Then she said, ‘The reason I’m ask-ing is because, if you are interested, we have scholarships.’ I basically said, ‘Sign me up. I’ll get interested.’” Earning her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a post-graduate degree in manufacturing and engineering management was the doorway for González, now a near 30-year veteran of the engi-neering manufacturing field. As of 2020, González was also pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree, studying the human and social dimensions of science and technology. González worked for Xerox from 1993 to 2000 before leaving to join Intel Corpora-tion. Today, she serves as deputy director of the Intel Foundation, managing Intel’s U.S. social responsibility programs, driving the strategy work around STEM programs
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