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It’s not easy for some women to find their voices among the cacophonous male-dominated chatter of the technology world, much less getting it heard by others—especially leaders. AFCEA tackled the issue of problems women face when trying to get into and remain in certain fields at its first Women in STEM panel held this week at TechNet Augusta in Georgia.

AFCEA hosts its first panel addressing the issue at TechNet Augusta next week.

At TechNet Augusta, AFCEA hosts its first panel addressing the issue of why women are leaving STEM.

Turns out, intelligence isn’t cool. At least not in the opinions of some middle school students, especially girls. Implicit biases—such as girls aren't as good as boys in science and math—have hampered advancements in work force diversity for decades. But what does it mean when girls themselves perpetuate the damaging erroneous stereotype? What can be done to entice girls to pursue classes in STEM before they lose interest?

For some women, following the dream of a computer-programming career takes a pretty indirect route. Consider Mylene Frances Lee, who landed at ASM Research despite earning a seemingly unrelated degree in family life and child development.

It begins with improving education for girls.

It’s not too late to redeem certain educational shortcomings that contributed to today's massive skilled-labor gap that leaves the United States ill positioned in the global competition for 21st-century high-tech jobs.

There is a noticeable distinction between women in STEM in the military and women in STEM in the civilian world, says Rear. Adm. Nancy Norton, USN, director of warfare integration and deputy director for cybersecurity. For a while, jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics were just about all that were open to women seeking a career in the armed forces. Times have changed.

Space agency creates programs that offer safe, inclusionary environment to entice women and minorities.

The world needs at least 1.5 million cybersecurity professionals who do not exist—a labor shortage created by the increase in frequency and severity of cyber attacks and employers all fishing from the same pond, said Michael Cameron, vice president for business development, cyber and cybersecurity at Leidos, during the NITEC 2016 cyber conference.