Conference Session

Climate Issues for Women Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Litzler, University of Washington; Sheila Edwards Lange, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

graduatelevels. At the undergraduate level, students spend most of their time in classrooms completingdegree requirements as needed for their individual programs. Although undergraduates maydevelop meaningful relationships with a few key faculty members, those faculty have littleinfluence over student completion of degree requirements.At the graduate level, contact with faculty is more intense and relevant to degree completion. Afaculty member serves as the supervisory chair, helps students develop their own researchagendas, and provides critical introductions to the discipline. Much of a student’s professionaldevelopment and career trajectory depend on positive relationships with faculty in theirdepartment. While graduate students are required to take

Conference Session

Women & New Faculty Development

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eve Riskin, University of Washington; Kate Quinn, University of Washington; Joyce Yen, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Foundation Young Investigator Award and a Sloan Research Fellowship.Joyce Yen, University of Washington Joyce W. Yen received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include decision-making and resource allocation under uncertainty (stochastic programming), faculty and graduate student professional development, and women in science and engineering issues. She was awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s 2004 Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Dr. Yen was previously an assistant professor in Industrial Engineering at the University

Conference Session

Women Faculty Issues and NSF's ADVANCE program

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Pieronek, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

. For example, an educationalinstitution may routinely recruit junior engineering faculty from a core group of researchuniversities that produce good numbers of qualified graduates whose research interests align wellwith the research programs of the hiring university. But if the research universities in that coregroup have a poor record of graduating female Ph.D.s in engineering, then the hiring institutionshould either broaden its recruiting activities to encompass more female-friendly graduateprograms or risk a Title IX violation. As with students, an educational institution may not useemployment tests or other criteria that have a disproportionately adverse effect on members ofone gender, unless such tests or other criteria validly predict

Conference Session

Climate Issues for Women Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rose Mary Cordova-Wentling, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign; Cristina Camacho, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

engineering careers, 40 (45%); Feeling like an outsider in advancedmath/science/technology classes, 21 (24%); Low self-esteem/confidence related tomath/science/technology courses, 20 (22%); Lack of understanding of courses needed for gettingaccepted into engineering program, 11 (12%); and Lack of interest in engineering field, 9 (10%).Once again, this finding reveals that the study participants consider that their lack of knowledgeregarding engineering careers was a hindrance to their academic decision process, and that theydid not receive sufficient information regarding engineering careers while in high school. Inaddition, the findings may reveal that feeling like an outsider in advanced technical classes couldhave affected the students’ self

Conference Session

Climate Issues for Women Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Creamer, Virginia Tech; Soyoung Lee, Virginia Tech; Peggy Meszaros

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

knowledge. It is only after achieving a full measure of self-authorshipthat an individual can be genuinely open to the input of others, without allowing the exchange toerode a sense of self. A self-authored career decision is one that is made with the internalcompass of a clear sense of self, an openness to the input of others, and a sense of the matchbetween the demands of a field and personal interests, values, and skills. Developmental theorists, like Baxter Magolda, provide a framework that is at odds withthe assumption that high school and college students automatically accept the word of learnedauthorities. They offer developmental reasons for why many college students may not be in aposition to genuinely engage diverse viewpoints from

Conference Session

Using Teams, Seminars & Research Opportunities for Retention

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Hailey, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

survival strategies. ‚ Move the presentation about the WECE study to later in the semester after the students have more university experiences. McLoughlin’s points will be included as well so the students can discuss their feelings about being spotlighted and share any discomfort they may feel about this.ConclusionsEnrollment and graduation of female students in the College of Engineering at USU is less thanthe national average. To address this issue, we developed a pilot test of a “Women inEngineering Seminar” that included many of the components of the seminars offered across thecountry including external guest speakers, introductions to the female faculty members, andpresentations by Career Services. Regional attitudes

Conference Session

K-12 Programs for Recruiting Women

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jan DeWaters, Clarkson University; Susan Powers, Clarkson University; Mary Graham, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Engineering Education, 2006 Partners in Engineering: Outreach efforts provide holistic engineering education for middle school girlsAbstractThe Partners in Engineering (PIE) program brings together 8th grade girls and female engineeringstudents from Clarkson University to experience mentoring, leadership, and real-life engineeringproblem solving. The program aims to empower young women to make informed and educatedchoices for advanced coursework and careers in engineering and technology-related fields. Ateam of female engineering student mentors teaches a three-week long engineering problemsolving unit to 8th grade technology classes, in which students apply an engineering