Katia Adams spent Saturday’s 32nd annual Engineering Career Day for Girls touring laboratories, discussing future jobs in the field and attending panel discussions with experts. But as she left Northwestern’s Technological Institute, Adams was focused on one aspect of her day in particular.
“It was really cool because I got to make slime and silly putty,” said Adams, 11, a sixth grader at Evanston’s Chute Middle School. “I don’t want to be an engineer, but I got a head start in seeing what career to begin.”
Adams, along with more than 250 other middle and high school girls from the Midwest, spent the day learning about engineering career options. The event was organized by NU’s Society of Women Engineers and the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Although the percentage of women in the engineering field has increased from 5.8 percent in 1983 to 10.6 percent in 2000 according to the Society of Women Engineers, event organizers and speakers said there’s still work to be done.
“There are so many things working against girls at this age to keep them from getting into math and science,” said Heidi Nagel, McCormick ’96 and the event’s keynote speaker. “It’s important for girls to be exposed to men and women who make it okay to be smart.”
Nagel said it’s necessary to continue to expose girls to engineering as a career.”We have a lot to offer that’s different,” said Nagel, a human resources director at Texas Instruments. “Other generations have paved the way for women. These girls need to keep advancing.”
The girls participated in various hands-on activities and information sessions from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. After a design competition where groups created self-propelled cars using household items, participants chose to view three Tech labs, including the new nanotechnology center.
Adams said she was impressed by the size of the chemistry laboratory.
“(The lab) fit at least 50 to 100 kids,” she said. “I liked it because I can’t fit that many people in my room at home.”
Later in the day, panels of alumni and students answered questions about academics and job opportunities.
Ellen Worsdall, McCormick’s assistant dean of student affairs, has headed the career day for three consecutive years and said the sessions help shed light on the many options available to future engineers.
“Engineering is a hard discipline for students to have exposure to,” Worsdall said. “They think it’s one major. They can’t understand the breadth of it.”
Alicia Bozyk, a junior at Chicago’s St. Ignatius School, said her experience Saturday helped her decide to examine engineering as a possible career.
“I knew I wanted to go into something with math and science, but I didn’t know what specific field,” Bozyk said. “After this program, (I’ve) pretty much decided I want to go into engineering.”
