Innovations in educational methodologies for attracting more women into engineering

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in engineering is a very serious national problem for the United States. Women constitute approximately 17% of the bachelor graduates in engineering and a disproportionate number of these take jobs after graduating rather than pursuing graduate degrees. The Nation cannot afford the continued loss of talented human resources in engineering if it is to be highly competitive internationally. Integrating academic and experiential learning is deemed to be a viable approach to increasing the number of women graduates. Working women constitute a large pool of candidates and this papers focuses on ways and means for attracting and retaining them for degrees.