Top 10 Women in Tech Groups and Resources in Palau in 2026

Table of Contents

• The best taro isn’t the one on top of the pile
• Women in Tech® Global Network
• Girl Up STEM Scholarship
• SWE Scholarships
• TechWomen Fellowship
• International Girls in ICT Day Palau
• Australia Awards Scholarships
• PICRC Ocean Explorers Program & Internships
• PCC Scholarships & Female-Majority Tech Programs
• Rooted & Rising Mentorship Program
• PNCC Women in Technical Roles
• Frequently Asked Questions

Women in Tech® Global Network

For Palauan women who may be the only technical professional in their department, the Women in Tech® Global Network offers a lifeline across the Pacific. This international movement, with a dedicated Asia-Pacific regional arm, provides free membership, virtual mentorship, and online summits covering AI ethics, cloud computing, and leadership. The 2026 Women in Tech Global Summit is hosted in Cape Town, but most sessions remain accessible virtually—a crucial feature for island residents with limited travel budgets.

The network directly addresses the isolation that comes with Palau’s small labor market. Through its online platform, members connect with thousands of peers across the Pacific and Asia, exchanging strategies for career growth in markets far larger than Koror. The annual Women in Tech APAC Forum and Awards, typically held in Kuala Lumpur, serves as the primary regional recognition platform for Pacific-based tech talent. Several Palauan women have been recognized at these awards in recent years, particularly in the Rising Star category—a testament to the growing visibility of local expertise on the global stage.

Getting involved requires no travel. Simply register on the organization’s website for free membership, then attend virtual workshops and mentorship sessions. What you gain is a global professional network and mentorship from women in similar roles in larger markets—resources that would otherwise be inaccessible from Palau. For a woman building a career in AI or machine learning on a remote island, this network transforms geographical distance into a strategic advantage.

Girl Up STEM Scholarship

For a Palauan high school senior dreaming of a computer science degree, the gap between local tuition at Palau Community College and the cost of a four-year program in Guam or Hawaii can feel insurmountable. The Girl Up STEM Scholarship, administered by the UN Foundation, offers a targeted solution: $1,000 specifically for high school seniors pursuing STEM degrees. Applications open annually in early spring, and the award is designed to bridge exactly that financial gap.

The scholarship is more than a check. Recipients gain membership in a global community of young women in STEM—a network that stretches from the Pacific Islands to North America and beyond. According to the official Girl Up STEM Scholarship listing on Unigo, eligible students must demonstrate leadership potential and a commitment to pursuing a STEM career. For Palauan applicants, who qualify as U.S.-affiliated citizens, the scholarship represents one of the most accessible national-level funding opportunities available without leaving the region.

The impact is already tangible. In 2025, a Palauan student from Koror was awarded the scholarship to study computer science at the University of Guam—a pathway that allows her to stay within the Pacific while accessing a four-year degree. For young women in Palau who want to build careers in AI, marine data science, or network engineering, this $1,000 award is not just tuition support; it is proof that their ambitions are recognized on a global stage.

SWE Scholarships

The $1,000 to $15,000 range of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Scholarships can mean the difference between staying in Palau and leaving for good. These annual awards target women pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in engineering, computer science, and information technology—exactly the fields where Palau needs homegrown talent. For a student at Palau Community College dreaming of a four-year degree, a SWE scholarship transforms an abstract possibility into a funded pathway.

The scholarships solve a problem every Palauan family knows: the brain drain. To study electrical engineering or data science, students often must leave the islands for Guam, Hawaii, or the U.S. mainland. SWE scholarships make that leap financially viable, and critically, they come with a built-in incentive to return. Several PCC graduates have used SWE funding to complete degrees in electrical engineering and then come back to work at the Palau National Communications Corporation—a direct pipeline from study abroad to local employment. As U.S.-affiliated citizens, Palauan applicants are eligible for these awards, and the Palau Community College scholarship office can help students navigate the application process.

The application period runs from December to March each year, and winners also gain a mentor from the SWE network plus access to the annual SWE conference—an event that connects them with thousands of women engineers globally. For a Palauan woman in tech, that network is more than professional development; it is proof that she belongs in a field where island voices are too often missing.

TechWomen Fellowship

The most isolating challenge for a Palauan woman in AI is not the code—it is never seeing how global tech companies actually operate. The TechWomen Fellowship, a prestigious exchange program by the U.S. Department of State, shatters that isolation completely. Emerging women leaders from eligible countries—including Palau—spend five fully funded weeks in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, receiving hands-on professional mentorship at major U.S. tech companies. The program covers airfare, accommodation, and a daily stipend, removing every financial barrier to entry.

Palau is explicitly listed as a program country on the TechWomen eligibility and application page, making Palauan women eligible alongside participants from over 20 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The impact on local tech capacity has been measurable. Palauan fellows have gone on to lead ICT policy initiatives at the Ministry of Justice and launch community-based AI literacy programs—translating Silicon Valley exposure into concrete improvements for Palau’s digital infrastructure.

What you gain is more than mentorship. It is a credential that opens doors in government, NGO, and private-sector tech roles back home. Fellows join an alumni network spanning 20+ countries, a resource that continues paying dividends long after the five weeks end. For a Palauan woman who wants to see what is possible before building it in her own beluu, this fellowship is the closest thing to a direct flight into the future of tech.

International Girls in ICT Day Palau

Every April 23rd, the Palau National Communications Corporation and the Ministry of Education transform a classroom into a workshop where Palauan girls build circuits, drive underwater robots, and train simple machine learning models. International Girls in ICT Day Palau is not a lecture—it is a hands-on invitation. In 2026, the theme was AI for Development, and students used basic machine learning tools to identify coral species from images, directly connecting tech skills to the conservation work that defines Palau’s identity.

The event solves a quiet problem: Palauan girls often do not see technology as a career path because they rarely encounter local role models doing that work. Girls in ICT Day makes it tangible. They meet a woman who works in network engineering at PNCC, drive a remotely operated vehicle built with their own hands, and realize that the skills they are learning apply directly to protecting the reefs they grew up swimming in. As PNCC noted in a Facebook announcement for the 2026 event, the goal is to encourage Palauan girls to pursue technology careers and "shape the digital future" of their islands.

Schools across Koror, Airai, and Melekeok participate annually. Students leave not just with a certificate but with a network of peers and mentors from PNCC and the Palau International Coral Reef Center. For a young woman wondering whether tech belongs in her future, one afternoon of building a robot that explores a reef can answer that question more powerfully than any career brochure. Follow the International Girls in ICT Day 2026 recap video to see what that looks like in action.

Australia Awards Scholarships

The highest-quality tech education within reach of Palauan students is in Australia—and the Australia Awards Scholarships remove every financial barrier to getting there. These fully funded awards cover tuition, round-trip airfare, living expenses, and health insurance for Palauan citizens pursuing degrees in priority fields: Information and Communications Technology, Engineering, Surveying, and Mapping. For the 2027 intake, applications close in June 2026, with a selection process that includes in-person interviews in Koror.

What makes these scholarships transformative for Palau is the two-year return-to-service obligation. Recipients commit to working in Palau after graduation, directly combating the brain drain that sees too many skilled graduates remain abroad. In recent years, Palauan women have used these awards to study cybersecurity, AI for marine conservation, and data science—fields that directly support Palau’s digital transformation and environmental stewardship. Many return to technical roles at the Palau National Communications Corporation or the Palau International Coral Reef Center, bringing world-class training back to local institutions. For students exploring their options, the Palau Community College scholarship office can provide guidance on the application process and eligibility requirements.

The value extends beyond the degree itself. Scholars join the Australia Awards alumni network, a lifelong professional community across the Pacific. For a Palauan woman in AI or machine learning, this scholarship is not just a ticket to study abroad—it is a contract with her own community, ensuring that the expertise she gains overseas comes home to strengthen Palau’s digital future.

PICRC Ocean Explorers Program & Internships

For a Palauan student who loves the ocean and loves technology, the Palau International Coral Reef Center offers a rare synthesis: the Ocean Explorers Program teaches middle and high school students to build and drive underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), while summer internships for college students apply AI, sensors, and robotics directly to reef conservation. This is not a classroom exercise—interns collect real data, publish findings, and present at regional conferences. According to the PICRC Intersession and Summer Programs page, the program is designed to show young Palauans that technology careers do not require leaving the islands.

The program solves a specific dilemma: tech careers in Palau often mean moving abroad, but conservation tech is deeply local. PICRC interns work on large-scale data projects in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the UNDP, applying machine learning to coral identification, sensor data to water quality monitoring, and robotics to reef health assessment. For a young woman in AI, this is proof that cutting-edge technology can serve the place she calls home.

The center’s female staff, including Outreach Director Adeeshia Imade Tellei—selected for the prestigious 2026 Italy-AOSIS Fellowship representing Palau at the UN—serve as visible, accessible role models. They demonstrate that a career in tech and a life rooted in Palau’s marine environment are not opposites but complements. For any student wondering whether technology can matter in Palau, PICRC answers with a robot swimming through a reef.

PCC Scholarships & Female-Majority Tech Programs

Palau Community College is not just an educational institution—it is the primary engine driving women into Palau’s tech workforce. The numbers are striking: female participation in technical programs consistently runs between 54% and 57%, higher than male enrollment. This is not accidental. PCC has built a scholarship ecosystem that actively lowers the financial barriers that keep Palauan women out of technology careers, with tuition at approximately $150 per credit hour.

The PNCC Scholarship is the most direct pipeline from classroom to career. According to the Island Times report on the 2025 awardees, four female students received the scholarship, gaining not just funding but also paid summer internships at Palau’s national telecom provider and potential two-year job contracts upon graduation. The Pierantozzi Scholarship and Federal Pell Grant, detailed on the PCC Financial Aid page, provide additional layers of support for students who need help covering basic tuition costs.

For a Palauan woman pursuing AI or machine learning, PCC offers something more valuable than a degree: a supportive environment where she is not a minority in her own classroom, and a direct pathway to a local employer who is actively looking for her skills.

Rooted & Rising Mentorship Program

The most innovative resource on this list did not come from Silicon Valley or a government ministry. It was co-designed by Palauan women, for Palauan women, in a living room in Koror. Rooted & Rising is a mentorship program that refuses to separate professional ambition from cultural identity. Instead of importing corporate leadership frameworks, it asks participants to build their careers through their connection to Palau’s traditions, family structures, and community expectations. As program organizer Summer told Island Times, "Rooted & Rising is different because it is deeply grounded in place, culture and lived experience. Mentorship is not one-directional; it is relational, reflective and rooted in who we are."

The program solves a tension that no imported framework addresses: Palauan women in tech often face a conflict between traditional cultural expectations and modern professional demands. Rooted & Rising helps them navigate both worlds without sacrificing either. Mentees report gaining what Summer calls "unshakeable clarity and confidence"—a foundation that has enabled participants to transition into technical roles at PNCC, government ICT positions, and leadership in conservation tech at the Palau International Coral Reef Center. Spaces are limited, and the program runs annually with enrollment announced through social media and the Palau National Women’s Forum.

What you gain is not a credential or a certification. You gain a cohort of peers who understand the specific weight of being a Palauan woman in a global industry, and a mentor who knows your beluu as well as your career goals. In a landscape of scholarships and global networks, this program offers something rarer: the feeling of being seen fully, not just as a tech professional, but as a daughter of these islands.

PNCC Women in Technical Roles

This is the one that matters most because it is not a scholarship, a fellowship, or a mentorship program. It is a job. The Palau National Communications Corporation is Palau’s national telecom provider, and it has quietly built something rare: a workforce where women hold a significantly higher percentage of technical and innovation roles than the global telecom average. As PNCC stated in March 2026, the company "stands out with a notably high percentage of women across our workforce compared to the global norm for telecom companies, proudly leading with technical expertise and innovation." This is not a diversity initiative—it is a cultural choice that has become an institutional norm.

Female technical staff like Christie Sisang (Switch Tech I) and Prozert Ngiralmau (Switch Tech II) are prominently recognized for their roles in nationwide network modernization, proving that career progression to senior technical roles is not just possible but expected. Entry-level technical roles at PNCC start around $25,000 to $30,000 per year—competitive salaries by Palauan standards—with clear pathways for advancement. For a Palauan woman in AI or machine learning, PNCC offers something no external program can: the ability to stay in Palau, raise a family, and work on cutting-edge technology that connects the entire nation. The best entry point is the PNCC Scholarship program, which includes paid summer internships and potential two-year job contracts upon graduation.

Job postings appear regularly on the PNCC Facebook page. For a woman who wants to build a career in technology without leaving her islands, this is not just the best resource on the list. It is the destination that makes every other resource meaningful.

Frequently Asked Questions