Asee peer logo

Retaining Women in Engineering: Finding the Perfect Job

Download Paper |

Conference

2021 CoNECD

Location

Virtual - 1pm to 5pm Eastern Time Each Day

Publication Date

January 24, 2021

Start Date

January 24, 2021

End Date

January 28, 2021

Conference Session

CoNECD Session : Day 1 Slot 2 Technical Session 2

Tagged Topics

Diversity and CoNECD Paper Submissions

Page Count

61

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36118

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36118

Download Count

457

Paper Authors

biography

Lynn Mayo P.E. RePicture Engineering

visit author page

Lynn Mayo holds a M.S. in civil engineering from Stanford University and a B.S in civil engineering from Bucknell University. After working for over 30 years as a civil engineer, she became CEO of RePicture Engineering, PBC. RePicture is dedicated to increasing interest and diversity in engineering by telling the stories of engineering projects, engineers, and organizations. Through the RePicture.com site, we are helping students discover careers shaping the future and helping companies attract innovators.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Forty percent of women engineering graduates leave engineering within two years of graduating. A study by Nadya Fouad found that the most common reason given by women engineers that never entered the field was they were not interested in engineering.

If we can help women keep their interest in engineering, we may be able to retain more women engineers. Luckily engineering is very broad. For example, civil engineers can design skyscrapers in New York City or work with African villagers on sanitation issues.

This presentation will demonstrate a new tool designed to help students find early career jobs that align with their interests. RePicture.com is a free website where students and professionals can find careers and jobs based on their interests and discover how these jobs contribute to the wellbeing of society (often a career priority for women). RePicture.com uses the stories of actual engineering projects (that are all around us) and engineering professionals to help students and professionals understand different engineering jobs and careers. The website is based on existing research regarding how to attract and retain women and other underrepresented groups in engineering. The RePicture Program allows students to compete in contests based on their interest. At this time, no formal research has been conducted regarding the tool's effectiveness. When funding becomes available, we will evaluate the potential impact of the tool on students and professionals.

Mayo, L. (2021, January), Retaining Women in Engineering: Finding the Perfect Job Paper presented at 2021 CoNECD, Virtual - 1pm to 5pm Eastern Time Each Day . 10.18260/1-2--36118

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015