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Attracting Women into Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ying Tang, Head M. Linda, Shreekanth Mandayam, and Kauser Jahan Rowan University College of Engineering 201 Mullica Hill Road Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701

ABSTRACT Engineering is currently absent in most K-12 schools, which poses a large obstacle to the recruitment of students, particularly underrepresented groups, such as women, into engineering programs. Reaching back into middle schools and/or high school has been identified as one of the effective ways to recruit undergraduates. This paper describes such efforts at Rowan University to introduce young women into engineering and technology through a summer program titled “Attracting Women into Engineering”. Particularly, this paper focuses on two Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) modules that were developed in exposing middle school girls to ECE as a viable, exciting career option.

1. INTRODUCTION

Although engineering is gaining popularity at all degree levels, according to the results of ASEE’s recent survey [4], the data continues to show that women remain underrepresented in engineering academia. Only 19.9% of the B.S. degrees and 16.9% of the Ph.D. degrees in engineering were awarded to women in 2001 [4]. Engineering careers are seldom exposed to students in most K-12 schools [3]. Students, especially women, sometimes do not see the necessity of focusing on their science and math courses. This poses a large obstacle to the recruitment of students, particularly underrepresented groups, into engineering programs. Mentoring middle/high school students has been identified as one of the effective ways to encourage and eventually recruit undergraduates. The College of Engineering at Rowan University has been hosting a summer program titled “Attracting Women into Engineering (AWE)” for

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Tang, Y., & Head, L. (2005, June), Attracting Women Into Electrical And Computer Engineering Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15566