Our Mission
The mission of the Seattle Area Chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) is to create a broad, interdisciplinary, welcoming environment to advance the careers of women in science and technology, and promote the participation of Girls in the sciences.
Our Vision
We envision a world where Seattle Women of all ages are actively supported in STEM hobbies, studies, and careers. We believe that the entire Seattle community will benefit when women are positively represented, compensated, and recognized for their achievements in all STEM pursuits.
2026-2027 Seattle AWIS Board Members
Contact Us
President Laura Szkolar Sienkiewicz, PhD, PMP, RAC president@seattleawis.org
Vice President Suzanne McDermott, PhD vicepresident@seattleawis.org
Secretary Monica Zapata Villegas, MS secretary@seatleawis.org
Treasurer Reitha Weeks, PhD treasurer@seattleawis.org
Events/Programs Miriam L. R. Meister, PhD events@seattleawis.org
Group Mentoring Olivia Lens, PhD mentoring@seattleawis.org
Membership OPEN (contact Laura Szkolar Sienkiewicz president@seattleawis.org for more info)
Scholarship Rian de Laat, PhD; Veronica Smith, MEE scholarship@seattleawis.org;
Awards & Banquet Reitha Weeks, PhD; Elisabeth Houeze, awards@seattleawis.org
Publicity OPEN (contact Laura Szkolar Sienkiewicz president@seattleawis.org for more info) publicity@seattleawis.org
Website Ijeoma (IJ) Kalu, MSc webmaster@seattleawis.org
Girls in Engineering Math & Science (GEMS) Sulagna Bharat, Jiang Shang, Claire Watts, PhD gems@seattleawis.org
Our History
Seattle AWIS was founded in 1985, through graduate students and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Washington (UW). Early days for Seattle AWIS focused on UW graduate students, postdocs, and faculty in the biological and health sciences with chapter meetings held at UW South Campus Center
Want to Learn more about AWIS?
AWIS Magazine is provided as a member benefit. Click the image below to log-in and access the latest issue (as well as past editions)
