2016 Issue

R adia Perlman, who some refer to as the “mother of the Internet,” gave what many engineering students called an amazing and inspiring lecture to current and budding engineers at Weber State University. WSU’s Society of Women Engineers and the school’s Technol- ogy Outreach Center sponsored Perlman’s visit Thursday in honor of National Engineers Week. Perlman is known for work in networking and engineering with the Internet and played a key role in the development of the modern Internet. She told the crowd that if it weren’t for her books she would not be as well-known as she is today in the technology and engineering community. “Writing books absolutely changed my career,” Perlman said. She added that it has been easier to talk about the things she has learned and accomplished through her book writing. “I would talk to sneeringly condescending people that wouldn’t take an extra look at me but when they realized I wrote a book and they had read the book it made a difference,” she said with a laugh. She added that today people may not find as much success with writing a book because of all the information now available on the Internet. Perlman joked with the audience and gave tips on how engi- neers can work better with others. “Engineers ought to meet humans,” she joked. She said that much confusion with simple computer lingo could be diverted if engineers tried to think of talking with humans instead of computers. She spoke to the issue of bullies and advised on how to handle them. She said she has run into a lot in her field. “Standing up to them is hard because they are so used to being worshipped for every syllable that comes out of their mouth,” she said. She told the group it is important to stand up to them and to realize that they often don’t really know what they are talking about and to remember that. She told people that being nice in any career field is the best possible way to go. “We will have better technology if we simply discuss things,” she said. ‘MOTHER OF THE INTERNET’ OFFERS ADVICE By Rachel J. Trotter ADVICE | continued on page 58 57