On May 20, 2017, KWiSE Texas Chapter held its 2nd Annual Regional Conference at Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) in Houston, Texas. This conference was successfully held with around 60 people. Attendees were from several institutions in Texas including University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Texas A&M University (TAMU), UT Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), and Rice University. Texas Chapter President Dr. Jean J. Kim (BCM) welcomed everyone and gave a brief overview of the missions and major activities of KWiSE Texas. Dr. Sukjoo Choi, Engineer at Genesis and President-Elect of the KSEA-South Texas Chapter, and Mr. Hyung Gil Kim, Consul General of the the Republic of Korea in Houston, each gave Opening Remarks to inaugurate this important annual event for KWiSE Texas.

The first scientific session of the morning, Scientific Session I: Life Sciences, was chaired by Dr. Nayun Kim (UTHealth). Talks by Dr. Amina Qutub (Rice University), Dr. Josephine Ferreon (BCM), and Jiha Kim (MD Anderson) covered a wide range of topics in biology and biomedical sciences, including neural networking, intrinsically disordered proteins, and metastatic cancer. This was followed by a Career Development Series seminar chaired by Dr. Yangjin Bae (BCM). This series is sponsored in part by Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WISET) and aims to provide mentoring for women scientists and engineers at various stages in their careers. Our chapter is the first organization outside of Korea to participate in this program, and we have been successful in winning grant support for a second year. Ms. Catherine Gillespie, Senior Editor at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (CAGT, BCM) gave a talk on tips to improve clarity in scientific writing such as journal articles and grant proposals.

During lunch time, members were able to network with others in smaller groups. Dr. Nayun Kim (UTHealth) provided each table with questions to stimulate discussions around the table, such as “What is your next career move?” Each table had at least 1-2 faculty-level members to lead the discussions.

The Invited keynote speaker, Dr. Hee-Yong Kim (National Institutes of Health, NIAAA), who is the current President of KWiSE headquarters, gave an interesting scientific talk entitled “Translational Research in Nutritional Neuroscience: from Molecular Mechanism to Neuroprotection”. Dr. Kim’s career as Laboratory Chief at the NIH spans 3 decades and she leads an active research program looking into the role of omega-3 fatty acids and other molecules that act on neuronal physiology.

This year, we organized Scientific Session II: Engineering, chaired by Dr. Doeun Choe (Prairie View Texas A&M), who had talked about her work in structural safety and hazard mitigation in last year’s conference. This year, we had a chance to hear about new topics related to improvements in structural elements of buildings and bridges and public transportation systems from Civil Engineering majors, Dr. Debbie Kim (TAMU-Commerce), Ms. Dahye Lee (TAMU), and Ms. Sun Hee Park (TAMU).

Refreshments were served during the Poster Presentation session. Members interacted freely one-on-one with poster presenters. At the final Awards and Closing ceremony, poster presenters received small gifts. Finally, the KWiSE Texas Appreciation Award was presented to Dr. Sukyeong Lee, to acknowledge her contribution and dedication to our chapter. She first founded the Korean Women in Science at the Texas Medical Center (KWiS@TMC), which eventually became KWiSE Texas in 2015.

All in all, our 2nd annual regional conference was a great success and set the bar higher for future meetings. A link to a post-conference online survey has been emailed to attendees to provide feedback for future KWiSE Texas Chapter activities. We hope to further extend our networking among scientists in basic science, translational science, and the business sector. We will also strive to become a more inclusive group and expand to other majors such as Engineering and Mathematics, which are traditionally male-dominated fields. In this collaborative intellectual environment, we will strive for excellence in our work and hope to contribute to the Texas community and beyond.

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