{"id":7029,"date":"2021-10-21T13:48:08","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T18:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=7029"},"modified":"2021-10-21T13:48:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T18:48:08","slug":"uw-eau-claire-college-of-business-alumna-honored-for-national-leadership-in-stem","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-eau-claire-college-of-business-alumna-honored-for-national-leadership-in-stem\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Eau Claire College of Business alumna honored for national leadership in STEM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Posing for her 3D statue image with the tools of her trade at Microsoft, Beatris Mendez Gandica is honored to have been selected as a STEM ambassador in the “IF\/THEN” campaign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for Blugold alumni around the U.S. and the globe to be recognized for major accomplishments in their fields. Yet some alumni success stories stand out \u2014 literally, like a big orange statue.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
The life-sized statue of Beatris Mendez Gandica of Microsoft and the Nuevo Foundation, one of 125 women in STEM honored by the “IF\/THEN” campaign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beatris Mendez Gandica, a 2013 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire information systems and international business graduate, is a security program manager at Microsoft and CEO and founder of the Nuevo Foundation. She recently was chosen as one of 125 women ambassadors of STEM in the U.S. to be immortalized in a display of life-sized 3D statues for the \u201cIF\/THEN\u201d campaign from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<\/p>\n

Currently on display in Dallas, Texas, the \u201cIF\/THEN\u201d exhibit<\/a> is the largest-ever collection of women\u2019s statues assembled in one location at one time. The 3D orange statues represent contemporary role models in STEM from a wide range of industries including business, education, entertainment and engineering.<\/p>\n

Mendez Gandica, who received an Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award from the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association in 2019, established the Nuevo Foundation<\/a> in 2018 with a mission to prepare underrepresented minority youth to become leaders through discovering STEM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered computers at age 10 and coding as a freshman in college,\u201d she says. \u201cRealizing that underrepresented students weren\u2019t being exposed to STEM or coding role models, I started Nuevo Foundation to teach young students to code. I want more kids to have opportunities in technology and follow their passions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of late summer 2021, the Nuevo Foundation has offered coding and other tech classes to more than 10,000 children in 31 countries and Puerto Rico. In reflection of this work, Mendez Gandica received the 2019 Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility\u2019s Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers\u2019 40 under 40 Award<\/a>, each recognized for leadership in their communities and their corporations.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
The process of creating the life-sized “IF\/THEN” statues involved each model posing in this special photo booth which captured their 3D likeness for the printer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Visiting her statue during Latinx Heritage Month<\/h3>\n

Mendez Gandica is based in Seattle and is currently working remotely from Berlin, Germany. She will be traveling to Dallas later this month to visit the \u201cIF\/THEN\u201d exhibit before it concludes at the end of October, at which time the statues will be off to various smaller-scale installations around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have many plans this month in recognition of Latinx Heritage Month, and it will be wonderful to visit the exhibit at this special time. Out of all 125 statue models, seven of us are Latinas, and 20 of us are in computer science,\u201d she says, adding her hopes that everyone who visits the \u201cIF\/THEN\u201d statues in Dallas or somewhere else will seize the moment to honor women role models.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you happen to see one of the orange statues, please take a picture with it. It\u2019s not often that you will stumble across a statue of a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendez Gandica stays in contact with several UW-Eau Claire faculty members, keeping them updated on her career and exciting news like the statue exhibit. One of her former professors, Dr. Judy Ren\u00e9 Sims, professor emerita of communication and journalism, was thrilled and not at all surprised when Mendez Gandica shared this honor with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cBea has been using her education and voice to empower young women to change the world through achievements in STEM,\u201d Sims says. \u201cShe is a leader and an unstoppable force who believes that young women can and will create great things in the future through science and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her own interpretation of being seen as a national role model, Mendez Gandica is humbled and fulfilled by seeing that her work is bringing impressive results.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think that someone like me could become a model for an exhibit honoring women in STEM, but it\u2019s proof that STEM is for everyone, not just a few. I am passionate about teaching coding to kids and showing them that anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image Download of Beatris Mendez Gandica<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

By Denise Olson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for Blugold alumni around the U.S. and the globe to be recognized for major accomplishments in their fields. Yet some alumni success stories stand out \u2014 literally, like a big orange statue. Beatris Mendez Gandica, a 2013 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire information systems and international business graduate, is a security program manager […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":7030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[96],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-7029","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-eau-claire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/7029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=7029"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=7029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}