2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Breaking Barriers: Empowering Girls in STEM with Hands-On Learning

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 4 - Hands-on Learning

Women currently represent only 34% of the workforce in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. This gender gap is particularly significant in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs, such as computer science and engineering. Multiple factors contribute to the underrepresentation of women in STEM such as lack of influential role models, gender stereotypes, and lack of self-confidence. To address this issue, various strategies have been implemented to increase female success in STEM education.

At our university, we have offered STEM outreach initiatives aimed at fostering female students’ interest, confidence, and active involvement in STEM fields, adopting the hands-on approach embraced in our curriculum. In 2021, our institution hosted an on-line STEM workshop for the first time, welcoming female students from grade 6-11 enrolled in the Ron Burton Training Village (RBTV) program. Encouraged by the success from the inaugural experience, we extended this program to have an in-person event in March 2023 with a remote option. A total of 63 female students participated in the in-person workshop.

The workshop consisted of five STEM modules, with each module dedicated to a specific field: Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Math, and Engineering Design Thinking. This paper details the implementation of the three Engineering Modules: “Building an ECG Circuit” for Electrical Engineering, “Building a Digital Water Temperature Thermometer” for Computer Engineering, and “Material Property Testing” for Mechanical Engineering.

At the conclusion of the event, attendees were invited to participate in a survey to assess their STEM experience and to offer suggestions for program enhancement. The overall rating of the STEM experience averaged 4.4 out of 5, indicating a highly successful event. In summary, this paper presents the findings from the survey and discusses the challenges encountered as well as the potential improvements for future STEM outreach events, taking into account the valuable insights gathered from the students’ feedback.

Authors

Dr. Federica Aveta Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Federica Aveta received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronic Engineering from La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, in 2012 and 2016, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Oklahoma (OU), Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2020. Before joining Wentworth Institute of Technology, Federica has worked as an Optical Engineer where she designed, built, and tested optical fiber lasers for medical applications. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Her research interests include Optical Communications and Signal Processing.
Dr. Marisha Rawlins Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Marisha Rawlins is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Program at Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT). Her research interests include computer architecture optimizations, embedded systems and devices used in teaching and healthcare, and methods and systems for improving teaching and learning. Dr. Rawlins received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of Florida. Prior to working at WIT, she was an Assistant Professor in Computer Engineering, and the Discipline Coordinator for the BASc in Computer Engineering and the MSc in Information and Communication Technology Programmes, at The University of Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Afsaneh Ghanavati http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-5262-6334 Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Afsaneh Ghanavati received her B.S. in electrical engineering from Shiraz University, Iran in 1998. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering as well, from Northeastern University, Boston, MA in 2012 and 2018 respectively. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering programs, School of Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA. She has been a member of the Eta Kappa Nu, Engineering Honor Society, a member of IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), and a member of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES).
Dr. Gloria Ma Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Gloria Ma is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering program at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She has been teaching robotics with Lego Mindstorm to ME freshmen for several years. She is actively involved in community services of offering robotics workshops to middle- and high-school girls. Her research interests includes dynamics and system modeling, geometry modeling, project based engineering design, and robotics in manufacturing, and engineering education.
Pilin Junsangsri Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dr. Anuja Kamat Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Anuja Kamat is an Associate Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston. Prof. Kamat received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson and MS in Civil Engineering from the Univ

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