Engineer Your Life a Success!
Program Closes Gender Divide in Engineering
Engineer Your Life Program a Success
(Boston, MA)– A study released proves the Engineer Your Life.org web site and campaign, spearheaded by WGBH and the National Academy of Engineering, is breaking down stereotypes in engineering, increasing high school girls’ interest in engineering, and inspiring young women to explore engineering courses in college. The campaign aims to reposition engineering as a creative, lucrative, team-oriented profession that allows people to make a difference.
Engineer Your Life is also supported by National Engineers Week, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association of Engineering Societies, and a coalition of over 100 partners.
Results of the study come at an opportune time, as the National Science Foundation recently suggested that the US is not currently training enough engineers to meet national needs. Women currently make up only 20.4% of engineering majors in universities (National Science Board 2008) and 11.1% of practicing engineers in the field (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2007).
The importance of the campaign is also underlined by the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that four of the thirty fastest growing occupations through the year 2014 will be in engineering-related fields. In addition, CNN recently reported that the top two careers that will have the most growth through 2016 are in engineering.
“Engineer Your Life is providing powerful tools and ideas for the engineering community, and opening girls’ eyes to the vast possibilities in the world of engineering. The EYL campaign is changing the conversation by breaking down stereotypes, challenging norms and converting negative misconceptions to enlightened understanding. This success has been a long time coming, and is oh so well done,” noted Jackie Sullivan, Associate Dean of Engineering, the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study, which was conducted by Veridian Insight LLC and American Institutes for Research, was done over a two-year period. High school aged girls, guidance counselors, and practicing engineers were surveyed in relation to both cultural perceptions of engineering and its feasibility as a career choice.
The results were overwhelmingly positive and confirmed a shift toward greater interest in engineering as a career.
For example, girls familiar with EYL listed engineering as their number one career choice, they have a broader definition of what engineering is, and leave the site armed with the steps involved in pursuing an engineering related career path. Girls who visited the site also better understood that engineers use their imagination and creativity, need good people skills, writing skills, and public speaking skills.
Key survey findings include:
For girls:
- 95.3% of the girls who explored the site indicated that the web site helped them learn about engineering; nearly 88 % said the web site made them more interested in engineering as a career and over 75% indicated the site inspired them to take an engineering course in college.
- Nearly 80% of girls, after exploring the EYL web site, listed engineering as their number one career choice.
- 79% of girls had a better understanding of how to pursue an engineering degree after visiting the site.
For adult influencers:
- 97% of engineers reported that the site helped students learn about engineering and that it worked well to introduce the field to high school girls.
- Overall, 99% of counselors remarked that they “learned something about engineering” from the site.
- The majority of counselors who used EYL as a resource (86%) were from schools that did not offer specific engineering classes.
- Most of the counselors (96%) also reported that the EYL website did a good job of helping them understand what they should do to prepare high school girls to become engineers (e.g., what classes to take and how to prepare for college).
To access the study in its entirety visit
http://engineeryourlife.org/cms/engineers.aspx?subpage=8775
About EYL: Engineeryourlife.org is a guide to engineering careers for high school girls and their parents, counselors, and teachers. Engineeryourlife.org offers various resources including: streaming video of inspiring female engineers, descriptions of dream engineering jobs, and information adults can use to advise girls about this career choice. The site also acts as a communications tool for current engineers. Engineeryourlife.org is produced by WGBH Boston and the National Academy of Engineering, in partnership with a coalition of 100+ engineering and education organizations. Major funding for Engineer Your Life is provided by The National Science Foundation and Northrop Grumman Foundation. Additional funding is provided by Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the United Engineering Foundation (ASCE, ASME, AICHE, IEEE, and AIME).
About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster, producing such celebrated national PBS series as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. Boston’s last remaining independent TV station, WGBH produces local TV productions (among them, Greater Boston, Basic Black and María Hinojosa: One-on-One) that focus on the region’s diverse community, while WGBH 89.7 FM is Boston’s NPR Arts & Culture station, offering a rich menu of classical, jazz, blues, news programming and more. WGBH is the leading producer of online content for pbs.org—one of the most-visited dot-org sites on the Internet—a major producer for public radio and a pioneer in developing educational multimedia and new technologies that make media accessible for people with disabilities. For its efforts, WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors, including Oscars, Emmys, Peabodys and duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards. Visit WGBH on the Web at www.wgbh.org.
About the National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is an independent, nonprofit institution. Its members consist of the nation’s premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for seminal contributions to engineering. The academy provides leadership and guidance to government on the application of engineering resources to social, economic, and security problems. Established in 1964, NAE operates under the congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.
Contacts:
Kerry Emberley
National Marketing. WGBH
617-300-2593
kerry_emberley@wgbh.org
Randy Atkins
Senior Media Relations Officer
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academies
202-334-1508
atkins@nae.edu
February 1st, 2011 at 10:19 am
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