Published By: Allon Sinai, CTech – Calcalist
Date Published: July 14, 2020
Senior MoD researcher Neta Blum founded an empowerment program for girls after getting tired of being the only woman in the room
After the umpteenth time in which she entered a room to discover that once more she was the only woman in attendance, Neta Blum realized that she must act. The result, the At (Hebrew for “you,” feminine) program which encourages young girls all over Israel to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Blum, and some 250 of the country’s female tech leaders, including representatives from Google, Microsoft and Cybereason, visit high schools across the country explaining to young girls why a successful career in tech is open to them just as it is to the boys in their classroom, and at the same time serving as role models and living proof to their claims.
Young girls would be hard-pressed to find a more impressive role model than Blum, who at 27 has not only founded At, but also heads the Ministry of Defence’s Flight Technologies Department at the Directorate of Defence Research and Development, the first woman and youngest person ever in this position. In fact, Blum is the only female employee among the dozens working in the Flight Technologies Department. She is simultaneously carving out a career in academia as a Technion Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Born here, Blum grew up in Maryland, the daughter of a professor father and doctor mother, before returning to Israel at age 17 and attending the Brakim excellence program, a joint initiative of the Technion and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that combines a condensed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering in only four years, with military service. She was the only woman in a class of 20 to begin the Brakim program, with only half of the class, including Blum, ultimately completing the arduous course.
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