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K-State Today

December 14, 2022

Maria Capello to lead workshop for women in STEM and seminar on Jan. 26, 2023

Submitted by Karin Goldberg

Maria Angela Capello headshot

The geology department, in partnership with the K-State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering, or KAWSE, is bringing Maria Angela Capello "MAC", a renowned leader in the energy sector, to the Manhattan campus on Jan. 26, 2023.

Capello is a relentless fighter for sustainability and equity across the industry and an active collaborator of the United Nations. She has worked in the energy industry in Latin America, the Middle East and the U.S. Her passion lies in promoting the juxtaposition of the geosciences and the future of the energy industry through training, mentoring, corporate resilience and diversity, equity and  inclusion, or DEI, initiatives. Her work has been recognized by the Italian government through the Star of Italy honor (knighthood), and by the UNESCO endorsing her work leading the "Geosciences Sustainable Development Atlas" to advance the Sustainable Development Goals across the Geosciences.

MAC will lead the workshop "Women and DEI: a Fire-Talk" from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Jan. 26 at the Bluemont Room of the K-State Student Union. She will discuss gaps, opportunities and tips for Women in STEM careers, including highlights of her own resilience and incursion in DEI topics. She will share how to overcome the natural hurdle of being a member of an underrepresented group pertinent to participation, meetings, courage, leadership, mentoring, sponsoring, attitude and support. The workshop will be followed by an exercise on networking for women's empowerment. RSVP to the workshop

From 4-5 p.m., MAC will give a talk, "My Beautiful Career in the Geosciences" at 213 Thompson Hall, aiming to ignite the enthusiasm of students regarding the multiple options of the geosciences in energy, environmental, civil engineering, societal preparedness, new renewable energies, research, biomedical, legislation, water, and resources consumption, planning and more. She will share her own rich journey in geosciences developed in three continents: from supervising seismic crews in the Venezuelan jungle, to testing new geo-technologies in North Dakota, to leading the creation of geologic models for a super-giant oil field in Kuwait, to then leading the creation of an Atlas of Sustainability for all the Geosciences, endorsed by UNESCO.

Attendees will have the option to participate in person or virtually, including the geology departments of both the University of Kansas and Wichita State University.