>> Welcome to Microsoft Unboxed.
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>> Every week, we're bringing you stories of
Microsoft technology and about the people behind that technology.
I'm one of your hosts Sonia Dara and I'm joined by my
co-host and colleague Colleen O'Brien.
>> Hello.
>> I have a secret story to
share and Colleen has a secret story to share.
Today's theme is International Women's Day.
Happy International Women's Day eve.
>> Happy International Women's Day eve.
>> It's on March 8th which is tomorrow.
>> I have some very important things that we need to
celebrate on this very special International Women's Day.
>> Straight to the facts.
>> Number one, Beyonce made
history this year as the first African-American woman to
headline at Coachella and set the all-time record
for live stream views, 43 million.
>> Oh my God.
>> Janet Mock became
the first transgender woman of color to write and
direct an episode of television.
>> That's awesome.
>> In Saudi Arabia,
women are now able to drive and attend soccer matches and there's
historic representation of women in the U.S. government right now.
>> AOC, if you're watching this, I love you.
Colleen, what are the chances we can get 43 million views on
this episode or 44 million and
beat Beyonce. That's never going to happen.
>> That's not going to happen.
>> Beyonce, if you're watching this,
I love you too.
>> I first want to talk about
this campaign that Microsoft has been
working on called #makewhatsnext.
So, the goal is to basically drive action
to close this gender gap in STEM.
>> Excellent, I love it.
>> 28 percent of the world's researchers are women. Very low.
There is a 79 percent decline in the number of
first year undergraduate women
interested in CS majors from 2000 -2011.
>> No.
>> A decrease. Then across 35 European countries,
fewer than one in five computer science grads are women.
We got some work to do.
>> We got to change that.
>> We got to change this. For Microsoft,
at least what we think about is there's
a future for everyone and understanding
that maybe there are
some misperceptions about what a career in tech can mean,
so we had a couple of studies done.
Microsoft joined with KRC Research,
found that despite high priority being placed on STEM,
girls are losing interest in STEM as they get older,
the lack of female role models,
they're thinking also peer pressure,
and the lack of support from parents,
all has been leading to unfortunately this trail
off of women actually pursuing these careers.
>> This really makes me sad.
>> What did you want to be when you grow up?
Like we're growing up, we're not grown ups yet.
>> We're not grown ups yet. Actually, I
wanted to be a marine biologist.
>> We're not marine biologist right now.
>> There's still time.
>> I like that. They're still time.
I wanted to be an astrologer.
>> An astrologer?
>> I wanted to be an astronomer.
Very different things.
>> So, we had some STEM ambition.
>> We had STEM ambitions. It was intimidating.
Fortunately, Microsoft is helping pull together
strategies to help keep girls in STEM.
One is providing teachers with
more engaging and relatable STEM curriculum.
So, number two is increasing the number of
STEM mentors and role models including parents.
If a parent is to support their child who's interested in STEM,
they are twice as likely to actually stay in STEM.
Three, creating inclusive classrooms and
workplaces that actually value female opinions.
Which brings me to this amazing story about
this awesome woman named Abril Vela.
She actually attended Microsoft DigiGirlz.
DigiGirlz is this awesome program where basically it's
an opportunity for girls in grade school to explore.
Basically, they're growing interest in technology.
>> Yeah, we went to the camp this summer.
>> We went to the camp.
There are these hands-on exercises.
There's also career planning opportunities
and mentorship that they provide.
Then basically face-to-face contact with
women who are already in tech.
Abril realizes that she was fortunate
to have had access to this tech.
She was also frustrated as some of her peers didn't.
When she was out of high school,
she created the Chicago Girls in Computing society,
bringing girls together who have this interest,
fostering some of those conversations.
Really invested and she thought she was
going to do computer science.
She went to U of M. Go Blue.
>> Go blue.
>> She have this reckoning where
she wasn't doing well in her classes and she's like,
"Oh my God, is this the end of
my STEM career, I don't know what to do."
She ended up going actually towards
pivoting to Information Sciences.
She realized that information sciences actually taught
her how to use design thinking to help others.
So, Abril now works at AnitaB.org.
>> That is so cool.
>> My favorite. Yeah, as a senior innovations analyst.
She realizes being a failed engineer,
her terms, was now just a part of her story.
She kept moving forward and I love it.
>> I bet Abril would actually be very interested in the story
that I'm going to tell today about the patent gap.
You know how much I like talking about patenting.
>> Me too. My dad writes patents. It's so cool.
>> I'm going to hit you with a problem statement.
Currently, women hold only 7.5 percent of all patents.
Women also represented no more than 15 percent of inventors.
At the current rate,
it will take another 140 years for women to
obtain parody with their male inventor counterparts.
>> That's too many years. We need to do something about it.
>> As Microsoft, we are challenging these trends
and jumping over these hurdles with the Microsoft patent program.
We invite amazing female inventors from around
the globe who have these world-changing ideas to come share them.
This is a first of its kind program and it
provides pro bono legal support from Microsoft patent lawyers.
>> I didn't know that existed.
>> I had no idea that existed.
>> That's so cool.
>> One of our patent program participants
that I wanted to tell you about
today is Michigan's Stockbridge High School InvenTeam,
a group of nine young women who are changing the world.
They've created the underwater camera and
water quality monitoring system.
This is a low-cost,
remote underwater camera that takes
time-lapse photography and can last underwater up to 36 hours.
It can be placed to up to 100 meters
underwater and you can mount it
to various objects including cement blocks.
This is really speaking to my Marine Biology yesteryears.
>> That's still valid.
>> The InvenTeam is using the underwater camera to investigate
the larval sea lamprey in the St. Clair River.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission uses this method of applying
lampricide to the tributaries
that feed into the Great Lakes. Are you're with me?
>> I am with you. Lampricide got me a little, keep going.
>> Then, this lampricide can reduce the amount
of sea lamprey that evade into the lakes.
The underwater camera is this aid that
helps the Great Lakes Fishery Commission because they need
a really cost-effective device that could collect
video evidence of how the lampricide is affecting the environment.
Because they've had such great success in the Great Lakes,
the Stockbridge InvenTeam has actually been invited to
American Samoa to conduct more research there.
Is there anything better than curious and ambitious young women?
Spoiler alert, the answer is no.
>> Hopefully, these stories of the InvenTeam and
Abril have totally inspired more girls to get into STEM.
Look at all the lamprey we can lampricide.
>> We are going to get after those lamprey.
>> We're going to move on to the final segment of
our show, Outside the box.
I'm going to ask Colleen a question.
She has 30 seconds to answer and then she'll ask me one.
>> Let go.
>> What cartoon character were you
inexplicably afraid of as a kid?
>> Stimpy of Ren & Stimpy.
My brother and I were not allowed to watch the show.
So, I was nervous about what it was.
I now know that he was meant to be a cat but at the time,
I didn't really understand what he was.
>> I would I think Jafar.
>> Know it's weird, I know. Okay Colleen.
>> If you had to choose between
pizza or tacos, what would you choose?
>> That's not fair. Okay, I love both so much. I love food.
>> Ticktock.
>> I want to keep tacos but
my Domino's loyalty cards says otherwise.
Because then you could do just hard tacos.
There were so many things. I guess you can do a dessert pizza.
>> Definitively tacos.
>> No. I'm questioning my decisions.
>> I would too.
>> But you also make a pizza taco.
>> You should patent that idea.
>> So, if there's any question that you're interested
for us to answer submit it
to the e-mail address here
or comment below and we'll add it to box.
>> If you don't want to miss any Microsoft content
including this show,
please remember to subscribe.
Hit that button right over there and
Happy International Women's Day.
>> We both didn't say it the same way. I sang it.
>> We harmonized.
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I would highly recommend subscribing to our podcast,
Women in Business and Technology available right here.
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