Participants

There is no difference between the terms TechWomen “Emerging Leader” and “participant.” We use both of these terms to refer to the women selected to participate in the TechWomen program.

To be eligible for the program, prospective TechWomen Emerging Leaders must fulfill all of the eligibility criteria and submit an online application by the deadline.

The 2017 TechWomen application will be open November 15, 2016, through January 17, 2017. Semifinalists will be contacted via email in/around March 2017. Final decisions will be made no later than early May 2017. All applicants will be notified of the results of their application.

TechWomen strives to identify emerging women leaders in all fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. The scope of fields in STEM, which the program encompasses, is broad.

Each participant is asked to choose one of the following tracks based on her area of expertise and interest: biotechnology, green/clean technology, information technology, internet, science and telecommunications. This track becomes the basis for the professional programming that the Emerging Leader will participate in throughout the program. For details, please see Professional Development.

TechWomen participants are women who are rising in their professional careers in STEM fields and who already are – or show promise of being – role models for others in their countries, particularly for women and girls.

TechWomen is a competitive program, and participants must have least two years of full-time professional experience in careers requiring significant knowledge of technology and/or innovative application of these skills.

The TechWomen initiative will identify 100 women in STEM fields from countries in Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East to participate in the 2017 program.

All applications are reviewed by independent selection panels consisting of industry experts and country specialists. Semifinalists are contacted via email or phone for in-country interviews, after which final decisions will be made.

Semifinalists will be contacted in/around April 2017. Final decisions will announced in May 2016.

Applicants may check the status of their application at any time throughout the selection process by logging into their application and visiting the “Application Status” page.

The 2017 TechWomen program will occur over five weeks from September – October 2017. Due to the fast-paced nature of the program, arrival and departure dates are not flexible. For more information, please see Program Details.

The 2017 TechWomen program will begin with four weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley for project-based mentorships at host companies. It will conclude in Washington, D.C. with one week of meetings and special events. For more information, please see Program Details.

Prior to arriving in the United States, each Emerging Leader and Professional Mentor pair designs a collaborative project based on the Emerging Leader’s learning goals and the expertise of the mentor. Four days per week, over a period of four weeks, the Emerging Leader and her Professional Mentor work together on the project at the Mentor’s company. For details, please see Professional Development.

International travel, housing, meals and incidentals, local transportation and transportation to official TechWomen events are covered by the TechWomen program. Participants are responsible for the cost of any non-program activities in which they wish to partake, such as independent sightseeing and non-program-related travel. For more information, please see Award Details.

Each participant will share a two-bedroom apartment with a fellow Emerging Leader in either San Francisco or Mountain View, California, depending on the location of her mentorship host company. Each participant will have her own private bedroom and bathroom. Common spaces such as a living room and kitchen will be shared.

No. The TechWomen program is unable to accommodate participants’ spouses, children or other dependents.

Yes! Women with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

No, you must be both a resident and a citizen of a program country in order to be eligible.

No. You may list internships and part-time work on your application, but you cannot use these positions to calculate your years of full-time experience.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
• to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

The Institute of International Education will be checking all applications for plagiarism. Applicants must use their own original ideas and words to complete the application. Any applicant found to be plagiarizing, including using the written application content or ideas of a previous applicant as their own, will be disqualified immediately.

For more information about plagiarism, please visit www.plagiarism.org.