Blending the Concrete and the Creative: Keeping up with the Bekeys [Pipelining: Attractive Programs for Women]

It's becoming more common, though still far from standard, to see women following their fathers' paths in the corporate world. Think of Abigail Johnson, now chief executive of vast Fidelity Investments, which her father founded, or film director Sophia Coppola, who followed her father Francis Ford Coppola to Hollywood. That path may be even more narrow in technology research but not in the case of renowned roboticist George Bekey and his daughter Michelle. The pair authored an engaging history-of-engineering book together, and Michelle-a communications consultant specializing in technology-worked for a decade with the University of Southern California's (USC's) Information Sciences Institute to boost