68. Anna Sannö - PhD, Innovation & Design; Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering

Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM

Anna Sannö is a Research Strategy Manager at Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) in Sweden. In addition to her technical role, Anna works within Volvo and the Vera program, a series of innovation workshops dedicated to encourage girls to explore careers in technology and engineering. The Vera program is named after Sweden's first female engineer, Vera Sandberg.

Anna holds a PhD in Innovation and Design and a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering. She is also a senior lecturer at Örebro University.
Episode Notes

Anna shares Volvo CE's Vera program and its goal of encouraging girls to continue their interest in engineering and technology which has a tendency to decrease around middle school. She discusses what she does at her job as a Research Strategy Manager and what got her interested in engineering.

We dive into a discussion about why girls' interest in technology and engineering seems to decrease in middle school and the importance to bringing women in STEM fields into our daily lives.

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

Volve CE Vera Program - https://www.volvoce.com/global/en/news-and-events/press-releases/2021/innovation-has-no-gender-volvo-ce-inspiring-tomorrows-female-engineers/

I was unable to find a study about the long term effects of same sex education. However, I did find an interesting article about the debate. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-never-ending-controversy-over-all-girls-education/284508/

Women leave STEM fields at a disproportionately higher rates than men. This article has one of the most comprehensive data sets I've seen on women in STEM in different fields in different countries. https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem/

Women make up 34% of engineering majors in Sweden. (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/countries-with-less-gender-equity-have-more-women-in-stem-huh/)