Multiplying Curiosity, Technology, and Opportunity

Multiplying Curiosity, Technology, and Opportunity

https://today.uconn.edu/2026/04/multiplying-curiosity-technology-and-opportunity/

Publish Date: 2026-04-29 14:33:00

Source Domain: today.uconn.edu

At the 30th anniversary of the Vergnano Institute for Impact’s Multiply Your Options (MYO) conference, the room buzzes with the energy of 150 middle school girls. With all eyes on the stage, Teresa Boyd Cowles, founder of the MYO conference, takes the stage. 

The Multiple Your Options conference (Christopher LaRosa/UConn Photo).

“Let’s get loud,” she tells the crowd of young women. 

It isn’t just a call for volume. It is a call to redefine what leadership in science and technology looks like.  

That mindset, she explains, has powered generations of women in STEM—from the pioneers of Baby Boomers and Gen X to today’s purpose-driven Gen Z  and Gen Alpha. 

“You don’t have to know how to build it,” she says. “You just have to be ready to learn.” 

This year, the conference was held on March 27 and April 10 on the UConn Storrs campus.

Her keynote address centers a “multiplier” theme, highlighting just how far technology—and opportunity—has come. She points to trailblazers like Ann Tsukamoto and Radia Perlman as proof that women have long shaped the technological world, even if they weren’t always recognized. 

A proud graduate of the University of Connecticut, earning a B.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Boyd Cowles has built a career at the intersection of education and innovation. Her work spans the k-16 system, serving in roles starting at UConn and branching to public school, the state college system, and the State Department of Education before circling back to UConn again. Her path, as she describes, has always focused on one thing: empowering students. 

Throughout her talk, Boyd Cowles challenges students to think not just as learners but also as creators. Her message to the young women is crystal clear. Innovation doesn’t start in a lab. It starts with curiosity. And as technology accelerates, so do the questions surrounding it.  

Students participated in hands-on…

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