Lab Design Conference 2024: Day Two
Day two of the 2024 Lab Design Conference boasted a busy day of insightful speaker presentations, coffee & social breaks, a networking lunch, and three exclusive panels: women in lab design, elevating diverse voices, and a closing lab of the future panel.
The women in lab design panel was one of the highlights of the day and featured Burcin Moehring, Lynne Cooper, Ardis Clinton, and Eva Baker, sharing their experiences in the industry, mentorship opportunities, and advice on how to support those who are entering the field or aspire to a management role.
In anticipation of the panel, Burcin shared, “hiring women in the AEC industry has recently outpaced men, however, retention continues to be a challenge. I solve for this via a coaching approach that strengthens the team, while helping individual contributors realize their potential. I’m also part of a firm, DLR Group, that resources women leaders, for example, by funding a grant for two female employees to explore the stories of women leaders and the data behind gender demographics for our firm and industry. Our collective goal is to elevate the voices of women within our profession. I look forward to exploring this further in our upcoming ‘women in lab design’ panel discussion.”
Another popular panel was supporting and elevating diverse voices in the lab design/ build Industry panel featuring Kassandra Garza, Altair Galgana-Wood, and Regal Leftwich. In this interactive panel, the experts also shared their personal experiences, the resources that have been (or should have been) available to them throughout their careers, and insight into how to support other members of the lab design/build community. The audience discussed ways to recruit, encourage, and elevate diverse voices in their professional networks, and the benefits of integrating different ideas and strategies into the lab design/build process.
Prior to the panel, panelist Altair Galgana-Wood said, “I look forward to engaging in this dialogue about the work that we must do - for each other, as well as within ourselves - to truly empower and elevate diverse voices in the industry and move towards a promising, shared future.”
Other presentation highlights from the day included BIM, Bam, Boom! Leveraging New Technologies in Laboratory Design by RS&H architect Brandon Pourch, and The Engineer's Perspective on Efficient Lab Design for Generic Users by Affiliated Engineers principal and electrical engineer Jeremey Barette and Parth Berde.
