Campus Event Inspires High School Girls to Study Electrical Engineering
NJIT's electrical and computer engineering department hosted 65 girls representing 40 high schools in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania last week, teaching the students about opportunities in technical fields where females are historically overlooked.
The day-long conference, SHE in ECE, included a panel discussion by female faculty in Newark College of Engineering, instruction using hands-on electronics kits to teach future engineers about household technology, tours of the NJIT makerspace and opportunities to meet current female undergraduates.
"The idea of this event is to bring women into electrical engineering. Normally what happens is something goes around that chemical engineering is very good for women and biomedical engineering is very good for women. The [high school] counselors talk about it and I have no idea why," observed NJIT's Durga Misra, professor and chairman of the electrical and computer engineering department. "The same girls can do fantastic in electrical engineering and computer engineering, but nobody tells them."
Marie Aloia, a teacher in the Bayonne school district, brought 13 students to the event. "The girls today, I want them to just come away and enjoy this, have a good exposure to electrical engineering. Some of them are going to go back and wire the robot for next year's [FIRST Robotics] season." Aloia understands the value of a Highlander education better than most — she earned her B.S. in chemical engineering here in 1985.
Adrianna Hernandez, a rising junior at Leonia High School, and Mikee Lopez, a rising senior at Kearny High School, both said they enjoyed the day's activities which began in the Campus Center atrium and spread throughout the campus.
"I like to get in there and build stuff. I did a summer program and I built a robot. I'm excited and I can't wait to continue," Hernandez said. "I was curious about it and wanted to see if [engineering] is interesting … Of course I'm having fun," Lopez added. Both girls said they're considering NJIT for college.
Misra noted that despite wide availability of information online about successful women in electrical engineering, some of the old misinformation remains. An example is the myth that math is intimidating — but it's largely the same math as in biomedical, chemical and civil engineering, along with computer science, where many NJIT undergraduates are female, while women thrive in such fields.
"So we are giving them the best start to change their mindset," Misra said, "to say that you could do well in electrical engineering and nothing could stop you."
