March is Women‘s History Month, and that’s a big deal at Idaho National Laboratory, because women have played an important role in developing what would, in 2005, become the nation’s lead nuclear research and development laboratory.

In any walk of life, it’s important that we remember — and recognize — where we came from. At the INL of the 1950s and ’60s, female employees were mostly support staff, working in areas such as budgeting and accounting, and as secretaries.

Today, many capable women continue to fill those important roles. But women have expanded their reach and increasingly fill research, engineering and administrative positions. As I look around the laboratory today, I’m filled with pride as I see incredible women doing amazing things:

• Rita Baranwal running a multi-national laboratory initiative called Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), which is paving the way for the next generation of nuclear reactors by linking industry with government facilities, capabilities and expertise;
• Heather MacLean-Chichester, a nuclear engineer who is leading one of the world’s largest inert environment hot cell facilities at the Materials and Fuels Complex;
• Mary Schwem, the first female shift supervisor at the Advanced Test Reactor in charge of an operating crew;
• Noel Bakhtian, the brilliant young engineer running the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, a vital research consortium that includes Idaho’s three major universities and the University of Wyoming;
• Barbara Siciliano, who is blazing a trail for women in our National and Homeland Security directorate;
• Yoshiko Fujita, an environmental engineer who focuses on environmental sustainability and clean water;
• Toni Carter, INL’s inclusion and diversity strategy director, who is leading in an area vital to the laboratory’s future.

Why is a diversity of perspectives, ideas and ideals so important to a national laboratory?

Imagine five scientists pondering a complex question. If those five people come from the same background, hold the same beliefs, are the same age, ethnicity and gender, your potential solutions will be limited.

Introduce inclusive diversity into this scenario and magic begins to happen. A woman’s perspective, the experience of someone educated in a different country, and the fresh eyes of youth are invaluable to a national laboratory whose job is to help provide the clean energy needed to power the future, protect our troops, power NASA spacecraft and ensure national security by protecting our power grids and transportation systems from man-made and natural threats.

For INL, inclusive diversity is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

As a scientist, and president of INL’s Women in Leadership Council, I have seen progress. The laboratory, under the leadership of Director Mark Peters, emphasizes inclusive diversity, and is making a real effort to hire qualified and capable women for key positions.

But there is much more to be done.

Despite a growing need for qualified, STEM-educated workers, girls have for too long been tacitly discouraged from taking science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes and pursuing technical careers. We see it in the low numbers of girls graduating in STEM subjects, and the shortage of women who work in fields such as mine.

Please encourage your daughters, granddaughters and nieces to take science and math. Talk to them about career opportunities in technology fields. Tell them about the important and rewarding work being done by potential role models at INL and other places.

At INL, we’ll continue to bring eighth-grade girls to the lab for the annual My Amazing Future day. We’ll keep handing out STEM grants to our public schools and sending our scientists and engineers to those schools to inspire young students.

Achieving the scientific breakthroughs that will allow us to leave the world better than we found it is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just a job for the boys.

And so while this month is a time to recognize our past, let us focus also on the present and all we can do to ensure that the next generation has the knowledge, education and inspiration needed to continue this important work.

Dr. Donna O’Kelly is the Materials and Fuels Complex Chief Operating Officer and Analytical Laboratories Director. She is also president of the Women in Leadership Council at INL.