{"id":244982,"date":"2026-04-29T13:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=244982"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:54:43","slug":"multiplying-curiosity-technology-and-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/04\/multiplying-curiosity-technology-and-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiplying Curiosity, Technology, and Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the 30th anniversary of the Vergnano Institute for Impact\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Multiply Your Options (MYO)<\/a> conference, the room buzzes with the energy of 150 middle school girls. With all eyes on the stage, Teresa Boyd Cowles, founder of the MYO conference, takes the stage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
The Multiple Your Options conference (Christopher LaRosa\/UConn Photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get loud,\u201d she tells the crowd of young women.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0just a call for volume. It is a call\u00a0to\u00a0redefine what\u00a0leadership in science and technology\u00a0looks like.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That mindset, she explains, has powered generations\u00a0of women in STEM\u2014from the pioneers of Baby\u00a0Boomers and Gen X to today\u2019s purpose-driven Gen Z\u00a0<\/span> and Gen Alpha.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to know how to build it,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cYou just have to be ready to learn.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the conference was held on March 27 and April 10 on the UConn Storrs campus.<\/p>\n

Her keynote address centers a \u201cmultiplier\u201d theme, highlighting just how far technology\u2014and opportunity\u2014has come. She points to trailblazers like\u00a0<\/span>Ann Tsukamoto<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Radia Perlman<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as proof that women have long shaped the technological world, even if they\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0always recognized.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A proud graduate of the University of Connecticut, earning a B.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Boyd Cowles has built a career at the intersection of education and innovation. Her work spans the k-16 system, serving in roles starting at UConn and branching to public school, the state college system, and the State Department of Education before circling back to UConn again. Her path, as she describes, has always focused on one thing: empowering students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout her talk, Boyd Cowles challenges students to think not just as learners but also as creators. Her message to the young women is crystal clear. Innovation doesn\u2019t start in a lab. It starts with curiosity. And as technology accelerates, so do the questions surrounding it. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Middle
Students participated in hands-on activities facilitated by UConn Engineering students, a majority of them from the Society of Women Engineers (Christopher LaRosa\/UConn Photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYour generation doesn\u2019t just accept what is\u2014you challenge it,\u201d she emphasizes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the talk, Boyd Cowles speaks candidly about her own journey\u2014from a girl who grew up believing she could do anything her brothers could, to an educator who discovered her \u201csuperpower\u201d in making complex ideas simple. It was during her time as director of the Engineering Diversity Program in 1995 that she and her team created the Multiply Your Options conferences to confront and close the gap in engineering opportunities for girls. Grounded in her work as an educator, she designed the conference to nurture curiosity, build confidence, and empower students to see themselves as the future of engineering.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can only see myself as an educator,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery<\/span>\u00a0opportunity I\u2019ve had weaved in that part of me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thirty years later, Boyd Cowles\u2019 impact is undeniable. And if she has her way, the next three decades will be even louder.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook what 30 years can do,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir options aren\u2019t just multiplied, they are limitless.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vergnano Institute for Impact (VII) is committed to carrying the MYO legacy. MYO is a conference that celebrates Women in Engineering. We welcome anyone to attend, and are proud to showcase and celebrate the incredible women in our community and in our state. For more information, please visit the Vergnano website.<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proud graduate of UConn, earning a B.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Boyd Cowles has built a career at the intersection of education and innovation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":244986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2445],"class_list":["post-244982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 12:39:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244991,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244982\/revisions\/244991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/244986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244982"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=244982"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=244982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}