Girls Make Waves at SMU's Engineering Summer Camp
--Campers Make Radio Waves, Lego Robotics…and Career Connections --

Dallas, Texas – June 12, 2008 – This summer, girls entering grades 8-12 will use their creativity, math and science skills, and collaborative talents in hands-on team projects and experiments during the SMU School of Engineering’s Summer Engineering Camp for Girls, which kicks off June 16-20 with Lego Robotics.

Students form teams to collaborate on hands-on projects and learn from SMU Engineering faculty, as well as female professionals from Raytheon (June 19), Lopez Garcia Group (June 26), and Texas Instruments (July 10). A fourth team, to be announced, leads the July 24 roundtable.

“This is a great opportunity for girls interested in math, science, engineering, environmentalism, and technology to meet both peers and professionals who share the same passion,” said Tammy Richards, Associate Dean for School of Engineering.

The audience for the report of this task force includes Members of Congress and key officials at other agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation.

During the week, the girls take on the role of engineer to design and build Lego robotics (week 1) and sound speakers (weeks 2-4) as they explore how math relates to sounds, structure, and images. Student teams will tour the environmentally acclaimed Embrey Building, learn about career opportunities, and present engineering designs on the final day of the camp.

Former camper and current SMU engineering student Natalie Davies said that her camp experience influenced her decision to enroll in the degree program, which can lead to a career in diverse areas such as law, medicine, business, and environmental sciences.

“Attending the SMU Engineering Camp for Girls helped me to understand that as engineers, the world of technology is in our hands, and some of the wildest ideas are the greatest,” Davies said.

SMU’s School of Engineering currently has 600 undergraduates enrolled; the percentage of SMU’s enrolled females is 50 percent higher than the national average. Nationwide, only 20 percent of engineering graduates are female and only one other Texas school—Rice University—has as high a percentage of enrolled females. SMU Engineering's goal is to reach gender parity in the next five years.

That can be attributed to The Gender Parity Initiative, a project of The Caruth Institute for Engineering Education at SMU, created to help fill the projected shortage of engineers by tapping into an under tapped source of engineering talent – women.

“We want women to look at an engineering degree as not something that pigeon-holes them into being engineers of old, but rather as something that opens doors of opportunity
for them," said Betsy Willis, PhD, who spearheads the Gender Parity Initiative for the school. “That includes our new Sustainable Design certificate which empowers students to engineer solutions for an urban planet in crisis.”

School of Engineering

SMU’s School of Engineering, founded in 1925, is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest. The school offers 20 undergraduate and 29 graduate programs, including both master’s and doctorate levels.

A private university located in the heart of Dallas, SMU is building on the vision of its founders, who imagined a distinguished center for learning emerging from the spirit of the city. Today, 11,000 students benefit from the national opportunities and international reach afforded by the quality of SMU’s seven degree-granting schools.