Funny how certain things come back around. I remember vividly participating in University of Memphiss Girls Experiencing Engineering program. I even wrote about its impact on my trajectory in my application to UC Berkeley, well here we are, 6 odd years later, and Berkeley Engineering decides to host their own GEE program and asked if I would teach the coding module. I was happy to do it and share with the girls Googles Made with Code campaign. What goes around really does come around. youtu.be/2WVnfg-5-5M I was once asked to address a group of middle-schoolers in a program called “Girls Experiencing Engineering (GEE).” GEE, a program set up by the University of Memphis and the Women’s foundation for a greater Memphis. It is targeted to middle school and high school girls with the goal of getting them interested in engineering careers. The gentleman who had spoken before me was an electrical engineering professor. He spoke about transistors, circuits and chips. The girls listened dutifully, although it was obvious that they were only being courteous. It was now my turn to address these impressionable girls and I knew that I had to address them from a place of familiarity. So, I decided to use fashion. I told the girls about Lycra. How a chemist at Dupont created it, and how it has revolutionized the clothing industry. How, many of the clothing (Jeans and so on) items the girls were wearing had improved because of Lycra, and how a chemical engineers career can include the creation of synthetic fibers just like Lycra. At this point, I had piqued their interest. This is one of several examples of how women bring a different perspective to a conversation on engineering. - Omoju Miller
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 05:17:06 +0000
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