STEM Like a Girl Board of Directors
Sarah Foster – Founder and Executive Director
While leading a hands-on engineering project in her son’s elementary school, Sarah noticed less girls raising their hands or jumping into the activities than the boys. She was surprised to see a gender gap at such a young age and decided she needed to do something to change this! Sarah founded STEM Like a Girl in 2017 with the goal to introduce young girls to exciting, fun, and rewarding activities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). An East Coast native, Sarah has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Bucknell University and a masters in biomedical engineering from Boston University. She worked as a Research and Development Engineer in the biotech field before taking on her biggest experiment in 2011, becoming a mom! She quickly learned there is no scientific method or protocol for raising two energetic boys! While not currently using her engineering expertise in a traditional sense, Sarah is passionate about educating youth, specifically girls, and their families in STEM activities and hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. She is also the author of the book STEM Like a Girl: Empowering Knowledge and Confidence to Lead, Innovate, and Create that profiles 35 girls expressing their love of all things STEM as well as providing 15 experiments girls can do at home. Sarah lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two young boys and loves being outside enjoying the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Courtney Davis – Secretary
Courtney has wanted to design bridges since she was a little girl. She was inspired by Portland’s beautiful skyline and is now working her dream job as a bridge engineer for DOWL. Courtney received her undergraduate and masters in Civil Engineering from Washington State University. Go Cougs! During her career, she has had the privilege of working on some awesome projects like the new Panama Canal and the longest cable ferry in the world! Courtney also worked in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to protect the city from future hurricanes. When she is not designing steel and concrete structures at work, she enjoys visiting classrooms, building popsicle stick bridges and gummy bear domes. Courtney is excited to be a part of the STEM Like a Girl to inspire the next generation of problem solvers!
Jamie Gibbs – Treasurer
Jamie is a Technology Product Director at Nike and has developed a passion for Technology and Analytics over the course of her career. She studied Marketing at the University of Washington while also competing on the cross country and track teams and holds an MBA from the University of Portland. Over the course of her career Jamie has worked in a variety of roles across the Technology and Analytics functions and has appreciated the diverse range of opportunities afforded to her in these fields. She considers herself an “accidental Technology and Analytics professional”, always assuming she would pursue a career in Sports Marketing, and feels fortunate to have had wonderful leaders and mentors that helped shape her career. Jamie is excited to be a part of the STEM Like a Girl to empower girls through mentorship and early exposure to careers in the STEM fields. Outside of work, you can find Jamie running, hiking, participating in the occasional CrossFit workout or reading a good book.
Aurae Beidler
Although Aurae’s love for STEM didn’t develop until later in life, she’s always been curious and apt at solving problems. After receiving her Masters in Healthcare Administration, she earned a Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Informatics from Oregon Health and Sciences University in order to better understand electronic health record systems and data analysis. She enjoys teaching and mentoring the next generation at both the undergraduate and graduate level, most recently building adult degree completion programs in cybersecurity and data analytics at George Fox University. She’s also active in the healthcare compliance and health information and informatics profession. Aurae is eager to help spark an interest in STEM in young girls through hands on activities and exploring their curiosity. She’s excited to have her daughter involved in STEM Like a Girl as well. She lives in Albany, OR, with her husband and daughter, and in her free time she enjoys watercolor painting, playing in the gardens and exploring the outdoors.
Rachelle Cheung
Rachelle is a Product Manager at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. She studied Mechatronic Systems Engineering and Computer Science at Western University, and has chaired the largest Canadian all-female hackathon, SheHacks! When Rachelle was younger, she never thought she would be working in the tech industry, let alone study engineering or computer science. Now as a product manager, she loves tackling a unique set of problems and finding creative ways to solve them! Rachelle is incredibly excited to be on the board for STEM Like A Girl because she strongly believes that sustainable systemic changes to the STEM industry starts by exposing girls to STEM opportunities early on, and teaching them the tools they need to succeed in whatever they choose to do. In her free time, Rachelle enjoys skiing, cooking and planning her next travel adventure!
Jeena Mathew
Jeena is Program Manager at Intel, Portland. She completed her Electronics Engineering at Mumbai University, India. Her engineering background has helped her to have a problem solving approach towards life. She constantly looks for improvement opportunities to increase productivity and make solutions seamless. In her free time, she enjoys camping in the pacific north-west, watching movies, and doing outdoor activities with her family. Jeena is super excited to be on the board for STEM Like a Girl. She strongly concurs with the belief in early STEM exposure by enabling young girls and their families with the right tools like providing hands-on activities, thinking out of the box. She believes every kid’s a genius at something, our job is to encourage it.
Stephanie Peck
Stephanie is a Program Manager on the Automation Deployment Engineering team at Amazon. She graduated from Lake Superior State University with her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and minors in robotics and mathematics. Stephanie has previously held roles in the aviation, healthcare, consumer goods, and robotics integration fields. The diverse possibilities that engineering has offered has allowed her endless opportunities and challenges both inside and out of work. She is extremely excited to be a part of STEM Like a Girl and help bring those fun and challenging opportunities to a new generation of girls! In her free time, Stephanie enjoys hiking, reading and experimenting in the kitchen.
STEM Like a Girl Staff
Jamie Elden – Program Coordinator
Jamie loved all things science from a young age. With a passion and interest in the environment, she earned a degree in Environmental Chemistry from Oregon State University. After college, she decided to pursue a Masters and career in Education with the goal of improving the experience of women in STEM degree programs. Jamie is excited to join the STEM Like a Girl team because she wants to help young girls realize their passion and endless possibilities in STEM! In her free time, Jamie loves to ski, read, and BBQ.