Women’s Initiative Training Manual

 During a specified time period, enthusiastic women selected from the School ofEngineering make local/national presentations with the goal of encouraging women toconsider studies and ca

Women’s Initiative Training Manual

Last Updated 12/8/08

AS INTERPRETED BY THE UWWI

Table of Contents

Training Session 1: Introduction to the Program & Logistics 5

Outline 6

Directors 7

Presenters 8

Sponsors 9

What are we About? 10

Website 10

Inception and Purpose 10

Calendar 11

October 11

November 11

December 12

January/February 12

Travel Logistics & Reimbursements 13

Sample Presentations & Activities 18

How to make the talk 18

1 How to give an effective talk 19

2 Statistics 20

3 Sections to include in your talk 21

a Sponsor logos! 21

b What do engineers do? 21

c Stereotypes 21

d Types of Engineers 21

e Should I become an engineer? 21

f The benefits of engineering 22

g The Engineering Design Process 24

h How do I prepare to be an engineer? 24

Websites 24

Designing Activities 26

Homework Day 1 27

Training Session 2: Travel Logistics & Activity 28

Outline 29

School Contacts and Schedules 30

Sample Schedule 31

Practice Activities 32

Training Session 1:

Introduction to the Program

and Travel Logistics

a Introductions of directors and presenters

b What are we about?

c Timeline and logistical introduction

d Resources available

e Meeting partner and learn about schools

f Homework

(*Also presenting this year!)

Name*

email addresscell phone numberClass year, Major

 During a specified time period, enthusiastic women selected from the School ofEngineering make local/national presentations with the goal of encouraging women toconsider studies and careers in engineering The presentations include activities toengage students in thinking about engineering concepts, demonstrations from projects thepresenters work on at school and in summer internships, information about the breadth offields in engineering, and the life of an engineering student The presenters alsoincorporate personal stories about how they chose their fields of study as well asanecdotal stories about women in engineering The Women's Initiative is intended not torecruit for any particular school but to provide information and encourage high schoolwomen to consider the field of engineering

 2008-2009 Presenters (excluding directors)

What are we about?

Women’s Initiative is a student group dedicated to encouraging young women to pursue degreesand careers in engineering Enthusiastic women from the School of Engineering are selected tospeak with middle and high school girls locally about the excitement of careers in engineering.The presentations include activities to engage students in thinking about engineering concepts,demonstrations of projects on which the presenters have worked, and information about thedifferent engineering fields and the life of an engineering woman

Materials Check Out

How to check out materials and activity kits (if you are using them)

Sample Presentations, Activities, Handouts

At the end of each presentation, give the girls handouts, including the following information:

Presenter information (name, major, grad/undergrad, email)

List of national AND local (varies between states) programs for engineering, with websites listed

 MIT Women’s Technology Program: http://wtp.mit.edu/index.html

 CalTech Young Engineering and Science Scholar Program:

http://www.y.caltech.edu/yess.html

 Research Science Institute: http://www.cee.org

 MIT Minority Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Science:

http://web.mit.edu/mites/www/

 FIRST Robotics: www.usfirst.org

List of local colleges with engineering programs

Any other important take home messages (types of engineering disciplines, classes

to take, etc)

How to make the presentation

1 How to give an effective talk to pre-college women

 Make it fun!

 Speak clearly

 Use large fonts

 Use a fun font!

 Use lots of pictures!

 Use examples and pictures of things that are relevant to their lives! (ie Cell phones,iPods, etc)

 Don’t try to cram too much into the talk

 Use props

 Use color

 Make the presentation hands-on and interactive Get students to speak up during thepresentation and ask questions Give interesting anecdotes and try to bring props orpictures from your projects

 Reward students who participate with sponsor giveaways and/or small candies

 Remember…We are not recruiting for our school When students ask, “what if my

GPA isn’t perfect?” or “what SAT score do I need to get into college?” - Answer with themindset that there are lots of universities

 In addition to an overview of the engineering field, it is sometimes helpful to focus

on one specific issue as an example For example, students will remember the

conversation better if you explore how a fire hydrant works rather than generally describeengineers as problem-solvers Usually personal experiences are most effective andinteresting

 Talk about projects that you think are cool and try to think of a simple way to explain

the principles and motivation behind the project Give examples of skills that someoneworking on the project needs and where you might learn those skills

2 Basic Statistics to Include

 Less than 20% of undergrads in engineering are women

 At MIT, the engineering school is 33% female

 Even less, 17% continue on to graduate school

 Women constitute about 11% of the engineering workforce

Engineering Degrees Awarded to Women

Source: Engineering Workforce Commission,

2001

Gender of Engineers Earning Bachelor’s Degrees by Discipline

Source: Engineering Workforce Commission, 2001

3 Sections to include in your talk

a What do engineers do?

For example:

Engineers apply the theories and principles of science and mathematics to the economicalsolution of practical technical problems Often their work is the link between a scientificdiscovery and its application In addition to design and development, many engineers work intesting, production or maintenance They supervise production in factories, determine the causes

of breakdowns, and test manufactured products to maintain quality They also estimate the timeand cost to complete projects Some work in management or sales where an engineeringbackground enables them to discuss technical aspects of a product and assist in planning itsinstallation or use (http://www.teachingtools.com/Slinky/engineers.html)

"Engineering is the invisible profession… It's not in the media; it's not in the K-12 curriculum.”Well over half of the U.S public, including almost three-quarters of women, don't know whatengineers are, what engineers do, or how engineers make an impact in the real world, unlikedoctors, lawyers, dentists, and veterinarians

Engineering accomplishments are largely invisible and often taken for granted Members of thepublic don't know how they get clean water, what it takes to run the Internet, or the engineeringwizardry behind the automobile People grumble about flight delays without appreciating themeteorological, communications, and navigation systems that protect them and enable them totravel safely

They work in laboratories, industrial plants, or construction sites where they inspect, supervise orsolve on-site problems; others work in an office most of the time, and a few travel extensively toplants or construction sites Engineers in branches such as civil engineering may work outdoorspart of the time

Engineers in each branch have knowledge and training that can be applied to many fields, andbecause there are numerous separate problems to solve in a large engineering project, engineers

in one field often work closely with specialists in scientific, other engineering, and businessoccupations

Most specialized engineering we know today developed during the last 200 years Before then,engineering dealt mostly with the construction of roads, bridges, canals, or military structuresand devices As mankind gained more knowledge of science and technology, engineers began tospecialize in certain kinds of work

Specialized engineering fields are numerous and include aerospace • agricultural • architectural •automotive • biomedical • ceramic • chemical • civil • computer science • electrical • engineeringphysics • environmental health and sanitary • geological • marine • mechanical • metallurgicaland materials • mining • nuclear • ocean • petroleum • systems • textile • and transportation

(http://www.teachingtools.com/Slinky/engineers.html)

d Should I become an engineer?

Do you have…

Curiosity: searching for the "how" and "why" of natural and mechanical things.

Imagination: Picturing situations and suggesting new ideas or ways of approaching problems

that arise

Creativity: Bringing new facts and methods together to solve problems.

Responsibility: Completing assignments in a dependable way with a minimum of supervision Communication: Sharing ideas with customers and getting along with people.

Perseverance: Trying again and again to get something right.

Motivation: Taking risks and challenging accepted principles.

e The benefits of engineering

Challenging jobs:

 An engineer is a person who solves problems, which means that engineers work on allsorts of project in all sorts of jobs Engineers can work in: Sales, Production, Research,Design, Product Management, Consulting, and more

 Engineers solve problems that are complex and can affect the lives and fortunes of manyothers They use all their knowledge of math, science, technology, and people to developoptions and implement solutions

 Characteristics of an engineering job:

o Applying scientific knowledge to create new and better things and ways of doing

o Developing elegant solutions with limited time, resources, and technology

o Accomplishing a specific task within a given set of constraints

Good pay and benefits:

 Other professionals, such as veterinarians and architects, earn less at entry level thanengineers do.

Lasting and tangible products:

 Engineering can be rewarding because you are encouraged to be creative in designing anew product, building machines, optimizing the operation of a company, or testingcomputer software An engineering education together with your innate creative abilitycan create or design things that never existed Engineering is associated with othercreative fields, particularly the fine arts The originators of engineering were craft people,such as flint knappers, whose understanding of different types of materials and itsintrinsic properties allowed them to refine nature and create weapons and tools

Help to humankind:

 Engineering is a rewarding career option that will make you feel a sense of personalworth from their contribution to a healthier, safer and more enjoyable life for your fellowcitizens In ten years, with an engineering education you might be designing a spacecraft

to explore the Milky Way, building nuclear engines to power cities, saving lives throughnew laser applications or applying computer technology to solving problems in the 21stcentury

 Engineers combine creativity with technology to "build the quality of life" Withoutengineers, we would still be riding horses to work and school; we would read bycandlelight; we would be missing the cool “toys” we have today It is difficult to think ofanything that we use that has not been influenced in some way by an engineer

Practical skills for other career paths:

 Besides preparing you for a job, an engineering degree gives you a good background forseveral types of further education Having a bachelor's degree in certain types ofengineering can give you a technical background that can help you continue youreducation at Law School, Medical School, Business School, or Graduate school inanother technical major

 Engineers, because of their practical knowledge and training, have an excellentunderstanding of how things work and why they are the way that they are Thus, they areable to understand and contribute knowledgeably to discussions on many of the vitalissues that will occupy political debate in coming years

Engineers can work on specific steps or might even have to do all of these things for a project ortask

 Identify the problem: What do people need or want?

 Create criteria: Criteria are guidelines or specifications that you decide on before youdesign something Criteria are generally written as: "the , the better" For example,some common criteria might be "the simpler, the better", or "the cheaper, the better"

 Design your product: This is the main step What will your product look like? How will it

 Optimization: Optimization is an engineering term that just means improving your design

so that it better meets your criteria Engineers have to watch out for something called optimization This means improving one factor, but making the entire design worse

sub- Build a prototype: A prototype is a model of your design This lets the customers knowexactly what they're getting Engineers also often draw blueprints of their design for thesame reason

g How do I prepare to be an engineer?

High School background:

The beauty is that you go to college for four years and learn how best to approach suchproblems - you're not expected to know it all before you go Explain how your first year subjectsgave you foundations in math, physics, chemistry, and biology so that even if you did not have agood background before, you can acquire it in college Getting good grades is important,however colleges also look at how much you challenged yourself Even if your GPA isn’t great,you can really impress colleges by taking challenging classes, doing extracurricular activities,and attending summer internship and camps

 Four years of English

 Two years of history and/or social sciences

Extracurricular Activities:

What makes an application memorable to colleges is you – academics come first, butyour activities also reveal a great deal Colleges want to know:

 What your non-academic interests are

 Whether you can manage your time and priorities

 Whether you can maintain a long-term commitment

 What diversity you'd bring to the student body

 How you've made a meaningful contribution to something

Look for opportunities to shine in school activities, after-school jobs, and communityservice

Summer Programs:

Summer programs are a great opportunity to explore interesting topics and get a littletaste of college life Check out schools in your area for programs or venture to another part ofthe country See list below (we’ll post these on the website so that you can just direct students tothe website if they want more info)

Pictures and profile of women engineers:

 http://www.eng.fiu.edu/MWIE/mentors.html - pictures of engineers at Motorola (please e-mail webmaster for permission to use images)

 http://www.nae.edu/nae/cwe/egdir.nsf?OpenDatabase - profiles of women engineers (including Missy Cummings professor of aero-astro at MIT)

 Nerd Girls is a group of women engineers who built a solar car and did a documentary of the process to encourage other girls to go into engineering There official website is here:

http://nerdgirls.eecs.tufts.edu/ , and this is a video clip of them talking about engineering:

http://www.wepan.org/ec_activities.html

Engineering Activities:

 http://www.nae.edu/nae/cwe/egcars.nsf/weblinks/CTON-4THVDV?Opendocument – Aninteresting activity about engineering in chocolates Yum ^^

 http://www.swe.org/iac/LP/index.html - A SWE page with engineering activities Theslime and balloon rocket one looks rather promising

 http://collections.ic.gc.ca/science/english/eng/index.html - The motor boat project ispossible

http://www.wepan.org/ec_activities.html - More activities

Summer Programs:

 MIT Women’s Technology Program (WTP): http://wtp.mit.edu/index.html

 Boston University's Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS):

http://math.bu.edu/people/promys/

 Caltech Young Engineering and Science Scholar Program (YESS):