Vandi Verma, who has been driving rovers on Mars since 2008, says the latest mission will help answer questions ‘that change what we know about our place in the universe’
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LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With “one of the coolest jobs in the world”, NASA rover operator Vandi Verma hopes women’s high profile in the latest Mars mission will inspire a new generation to pursue careers in a sector traditionally dominated by men.
Verma’s colleague Swati Mohan made headlines around the world when she narrated the nail-biting landing of the Perseverance rover on the Red Planet following its perilous descent through the Martian atmosphere.
“It’s definitely inspired girls everywhere. It’s opened people’s perceptions of who can be a space engineer,” Verma told the Thomson Reuters Foundation ahead of International Women’s Day on Monday.
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Women continue to be woefully underrepresented in the UK s technology workforce – figures from WISE, the campaign for greater diversity in STEM, show that women account for just 17% of IT professionals. To better understand the current landscape, including what qualifications tech employees hold as well as employers training requirements and best practices, the organisation is inviting people working at all levels of the technology sector to tell them about their experiences in a new survey.
According to its Communications Director Ruth Blanco, the proportion of tech roles filled by women has flatlined in the last ten years, and given how fast technology is moving, and that technology roles currently account for over a quarter of core science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) roles, we cannot afford another lost decade.