Allison Kalva

For this project, I researched women in engineering. In the United States, engineering is a field dominated by men. I learned about countries that have a high representation of women engineers and about why that is the case. What are these countries doing to recruit women engineers and support them? I researched the roles society, culture, and learning environment have on women becoming engineers.

 

My research paper, The Impact of Society, Culture, and Academic Learning Environment Have on Women Pursuing Engineering Careers, is one of three of my products. Society, culture, and academic learning environment play important roles in determining how many women want to become engineers and continue along the career path. Whether or not some strategies are effective in addressing gender inequality in engineering is largely dependent upon the society and culture women live in. This paper looks into these factors in the United States, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. It also discusses solutions that can be implemented to address the gender disparity in engineering and support women in the field. The annotated bibliography I completed in 2020 can be found here.

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For my second product, I have created a website geared towards aspiring women engineers. It is a place where they can visit to feel inspired and supported. I have interviewed women engineers and I shared their stories on the website (to the extent that they’re comfortable with). I hope that those who read their stories will feel inspired and know that women can succeed in the engineering field. Learning about women in engineering and reading the stories of current women engineers can be very helpful; I know it is for me. This website also contains an advice blog for aspiring women engineers in a friendly blog post format. While my research paper was very formal and driven by facts, this website is formatted in a friendly manner meant to inspire and support aspiring women engineers. 

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My third product is an interactive photo gallery of a mix of women engineers from the past and present. I created this in Weebly and it's on my AWE website. Visitors can hover over a photo to read a quick summary and then click on the photo to be brought to an article to learn more about the woman engineer. Similar to sharing the stories of the women engineers I interviewed, I hope those who visit this gallery find it helpful and inspirational.

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