Celebrating Women in Engineering: A Response

Dr. Heather F Driscoll, Centre for Sports Engineering Research, Sheffield Hallam University (IMechE Journal of Sports Engineering & Technology board member)

My career advice is to simply find an area that you enjoy and pursue it as far as you can, without worrying about who else is doing it or whether you fit the stereotype. Engineering is a great way to combine a love for maths and science and for me this seemed a logical career path to take. The cautions I received when deciding on a degree, such as 'was I aware this was a very male dominated area', actually motivated me to prove them wrong and show that I could do it too. I undertook a degree in Sports Engineering at the University of Bath and am now working in the academic industry, specialising in this area. I think it's important to see that engineering is so much more than the traditional mechanical, electrical and civil branches. Within each discipline there are a range of exciting areas such as sport, biological or materials and it is subjects like these that need to be explored at school level to demonstrate the diversity of paths a career in engineering can take.

Prof. Ille C. Gebeshuber, Institute of Applied Physics, Vienna University of Technology (IMechE Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science board member)

Extract from a full interview – read the whole piece here >

I think in many engineering fields there are still prejudices against female engineers, and girls might also think it is a job where you get your hands dirty. Actually, it is great fun to get your hands dirty. To play, to experience, to refine approaches, to – at times – break things, to understand mechanisms and processes, to be a playful and inquisitive mind, designing, assembling, refining the devices people reply on. It is a job with responsibility. A job where you can contribute. Where you create. We have creative inquisitive minds in both boys and girls. The school system needs to support them, and empower them – and then, they will see no obstacles for embarking on a career in engineering – be they male, or female.

Gemma Hatton, Data Engineer for Paras Racing, Race Car Engineering

Extract from a full interview – read the whole piece here >

From a technical understanding point of view then yes, engineering is very difficult and to succeed you really need a solid grounding of maths and physics. But I believe that this just takes hard work and many hours to learn!

Prof. Simone Hochgreb, Professor of Combustion, University of Cambridge (IMechE Journal of Aerospace Engineering board member)

I got into engineering because I loved the reassurance that questions have an answer. Maths and physics were ever so precise in comparison with everything else, and required no studying, just playing puzzles. Engineering was a choice over physics and maths, because at that time I naively thought that you could only teach those subjects rather than practice them. I took to engineering with gusto, soaking up most subjects like a sponge, especially the more analytical ones, as I was afraid of dipping into any practical things. However, in graduate school a classmate challenged me to try to do experiments, and 30 years on, I am still mostly an experimentalist in practice, an analyst at heart.

Many women grow up with a taste for maths, puzzles and analysis, but not necessarily for noisy machines. They are often told that engineering is about fast cars and planes, and that often gives them a big yawn, and we lose them to more attractive and profitable analytical careers. I would like to see more of the girls attracted to puzzles and games to see themselves as career problem solvers, where they can do something they like. Every time you show a picture of an engineer in a hard hat and overalls you may lose one. I have nothing against safety equipment, but engineering and science is so much more than that. We should show them the thrill of creative problem solving, clean answers reproducing an experiment, algorithms producing a video game, a cool solution making a difference in somebody’s life. The biggest challenge for women starting out in engineering — as well as in many other careers —  is that the pervasive doubt from peers regarding their competence seeps into women’s confidence, and it slowly seeps in until they can no longer be bothered. By the time they have a first child, all bets are off, and many drop off their chosen career. How to keep going? Keep in mind what put you in the mind set of engineering in the first place: a fun job solving puzzles, with many rewards for being useful in so many ways. 

Abbie Hutty, Senior Structures Engineer, Spacecraft Structures Engineering Group

Engineering was a great career fit for me as it combined my enjoyment of creating and designing with my desire to be challenged technically. I was inspired to find out more about engineering when I saw a mission to Mars on the news- and that British engineers had built it! I think a lot of women are put off engineering by a common misunderstanding of what professional engineering is- a lot of people don’t realise that to invent, design and develop technology and infrastructure, is to be an engineer. My advice for young people would be to find out for yourself what engineering projects are going on and see if you’d like to work on them. Engineering is a well-paid, stable, social job, and there is a nationwide shortage, so your career prospects are great! You will also get a stimulating, challenging job while working in a normal office 9-5, so you get a good work-life balance too. What’s not to love?

Dr. Helen Meese, Head of Engineering in Society, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)

Extract from a full interview – read the whole piece here >

I think the lack of good role models for young female engineers is a major challenge; we need more women who are already in the industry to step up and guide the next generation through if we are to attract and retain them in the industry.

However, I think we are on the cusp of a real change in the way women see engineering as a profession.  There is much more awareness of STEM and women are much more vocal about stating their case then ever they were when I started my career.   I don’t think Women need to be singled out with complicated and expensive initiatives, they just want to be listened to and for employers to act on their requests.  The challenge for the next generation is to not just ‘lean in’ but to raise their voices even louder.

Philippa Oldham, Head of transport and manufacturing, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)

Extract from the full response – read the whole piece here >

My advice if you want to become an engineer is to get hands on experience in a sector or industry that excites you.  There is no point going to work in an F1 factory if you are not interested in F1 or cars!  Ask to move around the business, shadowing designers, production engineers, safety and testing engineers; this will give you an overview of how an engineering company works.  Engineering is great career choice as it gives you the ability to make a difference to the society within which we live.  I believe that the UK has only a small percentage (5.5%) of female engineers due to the lack of understanding as to what this profession can offer.  It is a career that can take you in a multitude of directions from helping to reduce our impact on the climate, to developing the next high speed train, to producing the special effects on the next Bond movie or designing a children's playground using sustainable materials.

Jenny Smith, Senior Product Definition Engineer, MBDA UK

I started thinking about a career in Engineering when I was about 14 years old; it was offered as a subject choice for GCSEs. It interested me because I liked Maths and Science and had thoroughly enjoyed a term of learning about pneumatics in technology. I didn’t really understand what engineering was at the time, as it was quite hard to gain any information on what engineering was and what kind of careers it offered, so I decided a GCSE in the subject would give me a better idea of whether it would be the job for me.

During my GCSE’s I had work experience at MBDA (UK) and Marshalls Aerospace, as well as attending engineering shows such as Farnborough Air Show. I was also an Air Cadet and had a keen interest in how aircraft worked. These experiences showed me the wide variety of jobs available to engineers and the different routes into engineering. I chose to pursue an engineering apprenticeship as I wanted to gain experience with academic study, while avoiding tuition fees.

Dr Irina Trendafilova, Reader, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of Strathclyde

Engineering and especially Mechanics have always appealed to me because since my childhood I have been particularly fascinated by the physics of natural events and mechanisms, and the way these and their behaviour can be described mathematically. I graduated in Engineering Mechanics and then embarked on an academic career, doing my PhD in mathematical modelling of material mechanical behaviour. I have taught Engineering and worked on research projects in different countries and Universities, including the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL, Belgium), The University of Chicago (USA), The University of Osaka (Japan) and Strathclyde University (UK). I have more than 20 years’ experience working as an academic and a teacher in the areas of material and mechanical engineering and I have enjoyed this experience tremendously.  So my advice towards young female engineering students is to try this very challenging and exhilarating career to make sure and to prove that in a lot of engineering areas women can be even better than men in jobs that have been considered particularly appropriate for males.

Prof. Kathryn Uhrich, Dept. of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Rutgers University (Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers Editor-in-Chief)

Although my education is in chemistry, my friends call me an “engineer wannabe” because of my strong predilection to apply knowledge quickly and to solve today's challenges.  After receiving my PhD in organic chemistry, I worked in a chemical engineering lab at Bell Labs and then in a biomedical engineering lab at MIT.  As far back as I can remember, I needed to figure out how things worked; taking the vacuum cleaner apart and then putting it back together gave me hours of entertainment – and puzzled my parents.  A career in science/engineering has meant that I can fulfil my curiosity and pursue problems that impact people’s lives – such as making materials that mimic bone and help diabetics recover more quickly from fractures, and making smart food packaging that prevents bacterial growth. With training in the STEM field, I use my skills to make the world a better place. 

Ya Wang, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook

In my opinion, encouraging more and more women to consider Engineer as a career should start with a concept change from previous generations: to moderate gender differentiation, which also serves the best interest of the society. I think a practical way to realize this concept change is to start with high school female students by stirring up their interest in engineering, such as initiating them to meet with female engineering professionals via seminars, lab visits as well as summer research internship. Additionally, raising the successful profile, celebrating the achievements of women in engineering and raising awareness of young females in society, are critical factors in getting more women to consider a career in engineering.