Spring Break
Female engineers on the rise
Groups forming on campus are aiding women engineers, but the numbers are still low
Aleks Cherednichenko
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: News
OSU is one of the few universities in the country where women are the head of the mechanical and electrical engineering departments.
One of the resources on campus available to women in engineering majors is the Women and Minorities in Engineering program.
"We try to communicate to women how vast the engineering field is and how much good can be done," Momson said. "At the Women and Minorities in Engineering program we do a lot of outreach, especially to middle school and high school students."
The program offers two all-female orientation Odyssey classes in engineering.
"This fall we had 37 women enrolled in the classes, which are funded through the Tektronix scholarship project," Momson said.
The Tektronix scholarship project puts freshman women in various departments doing research under the guidance of professors.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for mentorship. All the faculty are very supportive of all these women, and most of the faculty are men," said Erin Biddlecombe, graduate teaching assistant at the College of Engineering.
"I think that engineering gets pretty bad PR, and that's why it gets overlooked by a lot of talented women, and some just lack encouragement," said America Leavenworth, OSU's Society of Women Engineers pre-college outreach coordinator.
Society of Women Engineers is a nationwide organization with chapters on various university campuses.
"Our chapter has 15 full time members, all women," Leavenworth said. "This organization connects women to their peers and tries to send out the message that careers in engineering can be personally enriching."
Eta Kappa Nu, OSU's Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor Society, is headed by six member executives, one of which is Monica Kempsell.
"My experience as a woman engineer has actually been good; true, there are some professors who may think that I'm not as good as a man, but I prove them wrong by being at the top of my class," Kempsell, a student of electrical and electronics engineering, said.
One of the resources on campus available to women in engineering majors is the Women and Minorities in Engineering program.
"We try to communicate to women how vast the engineering field is and how much good can be done," Momson said. "At the Women and Minorities in Engineering program we do a lot of outreach, especially to middle school and high school students."
The program offers two all-female orientation Odyssey classes in engineering.
"This fall we had 37 women enrolled in the classes, which are funded through the Tektronix scholarship project," Momson said.
The Tektronix scholarship project puts freshman women in various departments doing research under the guidance of professors.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for mentorship. All the faculty are very supportive of all these women, and most of the faculty are men," said Erin Biddlecombe, graduate teaching assistant at the College of Engineering.
"I think that engineering gets pretty bad PR, and that's why it gets overlooked by a lot of talented women, and some just lack encouragement," said America Leavenworth, OSU's Society of Women Engineers pre-college outreach coordinator.
Society of Women Engineers is a nationwide organization with chapters on various university campuses.
"Our chapter has 15 full time members, all women," Leavenworth said. "This organization connects women to their peers and tries to send out the message that careers in engineering can be personally enriching."
Eta Kappa Nu, OSU's Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor Society, is headed by six member executives, one of which is Monica Kempsell.
"My experience as a woman engineer has actually been good; true, there are some professors who may think that I'm not as good as a man, but I prove them wrong by being at the top of my class," Kempsell, a student of electrical and electronics engineering, said.
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