Dr. Betsy Willis, with the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, uses her passion for engineering to Recruit students, Retain students, and most importantly Educate the community on the opportunities in engineering. Through all of her work, she has a special focus on women in engineering. Dr. Willis holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from Purdue University.
Dr. Willis is known for her energy, enthusiasm, and love for engineering which is the perfect recipe for her engaging, enlightening presentations. She mixes personal stories with hard core facts and a dash of humor as she cooks up excitement among her audiences about the opportunities in engineering, especially for women.
Of course, being a food engineer, frequently means her presentations
involve eating!
Dr. Willis has many television appearances and film performances to her credit. She is a frequent contributor to books including Giving Much, Gaining More: Mentoring for Success and High Tech Hot Shots, Careers in Sports Engineering. She directs Visioneering, a LIVE event and award winning TV show in which students explore engineering in a MTV-style atmosphere, and the Gender Parity Initiative at SMU, an initiative directed at reaching 50% female enrollment in engineering.
Topics For Students:
How to Bake 7 Billion Chocolate Chip Cookies
Did you know that the U.S. consumes 7,000,000,000 chocolate chip cookies per year! Learn how engineering makes it possible to enjoy America’s favorite cookie anytime, anywhere.
Turn Your Passion Into a Career
Engineers create things – everything around us, in fact! Learn how your passion and interests can turn into an exciting career.
Like Math? Like Science? Now What?
Math and science are the key to the future – the technological future. Everything around us is related to math and science. Learn how engineers make math and science useful.
Beauty Queens Are Engineers Too
Engineer – another term for nerd, geek, rocket scientist? In reality, all kinds of people are engineers – including beauty queens. Learn about what it takes to be an engineer and who really is an engineer.
Dr. Betsy Willis, with the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, uses her passion for engineering to Recruit students, Retain students, and most importantly Educate the community on the opportunities in engineering. Through all of her work, she has a special focus on women in engineering. Dr. Willis holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from Purdue University. 
