It used to be that a group of engineers was always a bunch of guys with slide rules.
But slide rules have been replaced by calculators and computers, and more women are joining the fraternity, thanks to programs like Women in Engineering at Georgia Tech.
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| Sandra Song Hayes (from left), associate director of the Women in Engineering program; Mahera "Mimi" Philobos, director of the program; and Paige Carpentier, a student assistant in the office who is pursuing a master's degree in aerospace engineering, say that Georgia Tech's efforts to recruit and retain women in engineering studies are paying off. |
"We try to attract top students who didn't consider engineering because they don't know much about it," said Mahera "Mimi" Philobos, director of the Tech program.
And once women have chosen engineering at Tech, the program works to retain them through mentoring, support and guidance, she added.
Her pitch to prospective students — most of whom already have shown they have the ability to attempt Tech's rigorous academics — is simple yet profound: Engineers change the world.
Engineers, she noted, are involved in combating global warming, creating lifesaving medical devices and making sure hot water comes out of the faucet every morning.
"Everything involves engineering," she said. "If women let men design everything for us, it will be completely different."
Diversity, she said, gathers many creative minds and results in better products.
Philobos is an example of a multidisciplinary engineer. She has three degrees: a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, a master's degree in aeronautical engineering and a doctorate in civil engineering.
Annie Gillespie, a roadway engineer and environmental planner at Wilbur Smith Associates in Atlanta, "didn't even know what engineers did" before she enrolled at Georgia Tech. She said she was good at math, and Tech was the "math college."
Environmental engineering attracted her attention. "I wanted to save the world," she said.
The Women in Engineering program starts recruiting early, with special events such as Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, during which middle school girls spend a day on campus and learn about engineering through hands-on activities and contact with students and professionals.
The program also runs a summer camp that is "very hands-on," Philobos said. "They design a robot, a Web page, a 6-foot hot-air balloon and nanotechnology" to acquaint them with different aspects of engineering.
Philobos and program associate director Sandra Song Hayes said there's a nationwide waiting list of rising seventh- and eighth-grade girls for the highly selective camp.
A one-day introduction to engineering camp draws 250 to 300 girls and their parents each year, they said. Both camps show that engineering can be fun.
As young women get closer to enrolling in college, the program focuses on "attracting students who are qualified to attend Tech," Philobos said.
Women who already are considering engineering get direction from faculty, students and professionals on which fields they might enter after college graduation.
"I'm not here to change your path, just give you an option," Philobos tells prospective students.
For those who enroll at Tech, the program pairs each freshman with a junior as a mentor. The relationships continue as they become sophomores and seniors.
Paige Carpentier, 23, earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and is working on a master's degree in aerospace engineering.
She acknowledged that being the only woman in a class means "the professor knows who I am. . . . I don't think it's really that different" for women in school, she said.
Gillespie, 25, a 2005 Georgia Tech graduate, agreed. In the workplace, she said, gender doesn't matter.
"They don't care, as long as you can do the work," she said.
Carpentier said she originally intended to major in pre-med but switched to bioengineering, which is part of the electrical engineering division. After she completes her master's degree, she may go to medical school or pursue a doctorate in engineering.
Greater numbers of women go into chemical, industrial and biomedical engineering than into mechanical, electrical or aerospace engineering, Philobos said.
Women aren't as attracted as men are to "building military radar systems," noted Gary S. May, chairman of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Civil engineering also draws women, because, at Tech, the major includes environmental engineering.
"They see a direct impact" of their work on people's lives, Philobos said. "Women want to see the impact of benefits directly. We're impatient."
Leyla Conrad, the outreach director for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, also has a role in attracting women to the field.
ECE engineers, she said, "save humans" with biomedical advances and make life easier with gadgets like cellphones. "That's what engineers do," she said.
Philobos said she tries hardest to direct women toward the more-male-dominated fields.
About 1,600 women are engineering students at Tech, about 22 percent of the total. The numbers of women in all the engineering majors at Tech grew until the 1990s, when enrollments started to plateau because other universities started similar programs to attract women to engineering.
Still, Philobos and Hayes pointed out, Tech has had the highest number of female engineering graduates in the nation for the last seven years.
They attribute the school's high graduation rate to the mentoring and other programs designed to retain students. One example is Tech's co-op program, in which about half of all students gain experience in research or industry.
For some, the co-op experience confirms their choices of majors, but for others it might bring a change of direction, Philobos said.
"It's also good experience for potential employers," she added.
Students can judge the corporate culture of possible employers and even convince companies that being family-friendly can attract top female graduates.
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