The world and the ways of networking and collaborating on scientific projects have changed dramatically, even in the past decade. The opportunities available to women, the pathways to success, and the heights that they can reach are unlike those of previous generations. As well, today it is better recognized that there are opportunities and demands to use gender and sex in an advantageous manner for scientific discovery and engineering innovations.  Unfortunately, extra challenges, including implicit bias and poor workplace climates, impede women from reaching their true potential and contributing fully to society. International variations are significant; some hinder progress while others help. For example, many Scandinavian countries have superb parental care and leave policies, and yet women have not reached equity. In the U.S., despite the limited support in this area, non-hierarchical structures have helped some women to succeed but nearly half of trained engineers find the workplace culture a deterrent. Many countries have a long way to go before an equitable framework is in place; for example, some developed nations have job advertisements specifying being male as a requirement. In this session, we will examine advances arising from gender and sex differences essential for serving everyone’s needs, effective measures for improving workplace climate for greater retention, and thoughts about how to help ensure women received the recognition and promotions they are due. How can we analyze sex and gender from the start can serve as a resource to stimulate new knowledge and technologies and what can we do to get women (at all points in their careers) to reach their full potential?