University of Maryland Honored with National Engineers Week “Girl Day” Award

University of Maryland’s Women in Engineering Program, Girl Scout Engineering Saturday, recognized at WEPAN 2008 National Conference for significant contributions to “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day”.

Denver, July 23, 2008 – WEPAN and “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day”, a program of National Engineers Week, work together to recognize major contributions of WEPAN Institutional Members to the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day”. “Girl Day” as it is commonly known, is a national program aimed at encouraging young girls in their pursuit of science, math, and engineering. The award was presented June 10 at the WEPAN National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

For years the engineering community has recognized the need to bring more women into its ranks. Currently, only one out of ten engineers in America is a woman. Engineers Week launched “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” in 2001 – assisted by WEPAN and other diversity organizations – to provide girls and young women with a firsthand experience in the engineering arena. An estimated one million girls have been involved annually in what is considered to be the first outreach program targeting girls ever established by a single profession.

The University of Maryland’s Women in Engineering Program, Girl Scout Engineering Saturday, directed by Dr. Paige Smith, Women in Engineering Program Director for the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, was honored with WEPAN’s 2008 National Engineers Week “Girl Day” Award.

The University of Maryland’s Women in Engineering Program has a variety of pre-college outreach programs, and Girl Scout Engineering Saturday (GSES) is tied to “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” and Engineers Week.  GSES reaches out to an audience that may not self-identify with STEM.  Additionally, the participating undergraduates who develop and implement GSES activities improve their leadership and communication skills while serving as role models.  Role models are critical to engaging pre-college interest in engineering.  Since GSES began in February 2003, it has doubled in size.

About WEPAN

WEPAN, Women in Engineering ProActive Network, is the nation’s leading organization and catalyst for transforming culture in engineering education to promote the success of all women.

WEPAN works to improve the education experience for aspiring women engineers by:

• Mobilizing diverse, inclusive, and collaborative stakeholders.
• Fostering diversity in engineering graduates, our innovators of tomorrow.
• Inspiring a network of advocates to empower and advance the education of women pursuing engineering and related disciplines.
• Translating research into practice and develops national models to attract and retain women in engineering.
• A nonprofit educational organization founded in 1990, WEPAN’s network includes:
• Over 175 women in engineering programs and initiatives at American colleges and universities serve 42,890 female engineering students
• Over 600 members, including Women in Engineering professionals, faculty, department chairs, and deans, leading campus-based initiatives to retain women in engineering
• 60 executives from corporate, government, and non-profit sectors
• WEPAN membership spans the nation and crosses international borders and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

National Engineers Week Foundation
1420 King Street   Alexandria, VA 22314
tel. 703.684.2852   email: eweek@nspe.org