Women in STEM (WiSTEM) Staff
Pooja Desai (She/Her)
Director
Pooja Desai is the Director of Women in STEM (WiSTEM) at UT Austin. With over 15 years of global industry experience across Oil & Gas, Technology, and Consulting, Pooja brings a wealth of strategic and results-driven operations leadership to the team. Her career has spanned many different industries and functions: from process engineering at ConocoPhillips to mergers & acquisitions, deal strategy, and integration at Google Cloud. Her focus is primarily on building relationships with sponsors, foundations, and grantors in order to raise funds for STEM education and design research-based programs that have an impact on helping expand access to STEM pathways for all.
She is a proud “Double Longhorn” with both a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Texas at Austin. Back in undergrad, Pooja was also a Girl Day volunteer and participated in several of the WiSTEM events on campus. In her own words, “the support I received from these programs while at UT have had an immeasurable impact to my life and career to this day, and I am so excited to pay it forward for the next generation of STEM students and leaders on campus.”
When not on campus, Pooja enjoys spending time with her family (“my life goal is to be the coolest aunt for my nieces and nephews”), hiking, reading, and trying new crafty hobbies. She loves to travel and recently achieved a life goal: visiting all 7 continents!
Mary Conovan (She/Her)
Outreach Program Manager
Mary Conovan is our Outreach Program Manager, leading pre-college outreach and recruitment efforts. Mary is a proud Longhorn, always looking for ways to enhance and promote the work of all UT students. With over a decade of experience at UTeach and UTeach Outreach at UT Austin, she is passionate about helping students of all ages develop a strong STEM identity, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging. In her role, Mary also collaborates with the university and external partners to create impactful programs.
When she is not on campus, Mary enjoys cheering for all things UT sports and spending weekends at the lake. She also loves to travel, meet new people, and try new foods.
Ally Ameel (She/Her)
Outreach Program Coordinator
Ally Ameel, born and raised in Austin, Texas, has grown up on UT Austin’s campus and has seen the university’s wide-reaching impact on the community and the city at large. She’s very excited to have the opportunity to work at UT Austin and looks forward to being involved in CEO Summer Camps and the famous STEM Girl Day as WiSTEM’s Outreach Program Coordinator.
Ally attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and graduated in May of 2021 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. Throughout college and after graduation, she has embraced her lifelong passion for STEM education, outreach, and making connections with students and youth through various volunteer and paid positions, most notably as an Instructor for iD Tech Camps hosted at UT Austin, as an academic tutor and coach at Austin Learning Center in the Westlake area, and as the Program Director for National Student Leadership Conference’s high school summer engineering program hosted at Yale University. Being WiSTEM’s Outreach Program Coordinator is a perfect next step and a dream come true.
Outside of her job, you may find her writing poetry, watching movies, reading books, attending live music performances, spending time with family and friends, and exploring the city she calls home.