This summer, we are celebrating women leaders in engineering with insightful Q&As featuring prominent figures from the College of Engineering. These trailblazing women are transforming engineering culture, significantly impacting students and paving the way for a brighter future. This week, we highlight Zoë Wood, associate dean for diversity and student success.
How does your leadership approach help engineering students understand the societal impact of their work, and how is this shaping the culture at Cal Poly?
From wildlife freeway crossings to using IoT devices to track and manage energy use, new technologies and ethical engineering significantly enhance the world around us. My leadership is rooted in helping engineering students understand how their work can be applied for communal good, primarily through my role as the principal investigator on a grant focused on integrating socially responsible computing into programming courses. This grant is based on research showing that students, especially those from historically marginalized communities, feel a greater sense of belonging in the field when they see their goals – including community benefit – aligned with their studies. It is important to create educational opportunities that highlight not only the economic benefits of an engineering career but also the communal benefits of addressing engineering challenges that impact our world.
Can you share a moment or project where you felt particularly proud of the accomplishments of female students or faculty under your leadership?
After teaching at Cal Poly for over 20 years, I am proud of hundreds of female alumni. Whether presenting their work at Apple’s WWDC or completing training as a yoga instructor, I love seeing alumna posts on LinkedIn or Instagram about their impactful contributions at work and in their personal lives. One recent master’s student completed her thesis on computer science education, which included teaching programming to students in our local juvenile hall. She later became a faculty member in our Computer Science and Software Engineering Department, inspiring many Cal Poly students with the joy of programming.
As associate dean, I am consistently impressed by the accomplishments of our female faculty. They take on leadership roles in designing curriculum for the semester conversion, conducting research into applying AI to computer security and using network analysis to understand our students’ sense of belonging. They are an amazing group of scholars.
How do you envision the future of women in engineering, both at Cal Poly and in the broader industry, and what steps are you taking to help realize that vision?
I hope that as we continue to create more equitable and inclusive environments in engineering, we will see an increasing number of women choosing engineering majors. In my role as the associate dean for diversity and student success, I align with the college’s strategic plan to support our rapidly diversifying student population. I work with new tenure-track faculty to integrate diversity, equity, inclusion and justice into their scholarship, and collaborate with Engineering Student Services to examine student success. By using data, I strive to understand our successes and identify ongoing areas for growth, all with the goal of fostering a more inclusive engineering community.
How do you balance the demands of leadership with your passion for engineering, and what advice do you have for female engineers aspiring to leadership roles?
In my current role, I love using programming to merge datasets and create visualizations to understand student success. While I wish I could program more often, I am glad to use my engineering skills synergistically with my administrative duties. I have learned so much in this role. Although I have been part of the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department for 20 years and love it, seeing the college-level work has opened my eyes to both the positive differences and deficiencies among our programs – insights only apparent from a leadership perspective. I continue to learn about communicating with various stakeholders and appreciate the growth opportunities that leadership has offered me. My advice is not to be afraid to apply for positions that interest you!
