Summer Program Combines Engineering and Cross-Cultural Experience

May 21, 2001

University Park, Pa. This summer at Penn State, young women seeking to explore careers in engineering and technology will also have a cross-cultural encounter when students from South Africa join them for a week-long experience.

Penn State’s Venture in Engineering Camp, sponsored by the Women in Engineering Program in the College of Engineering and the Diversity Enhancement Programs in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, will bring together American women beginning their junior and senior years of high school with young South African women in the same age group and expose them to engineering in an interactive and engaging way.

The South African women will be recruited by Dr. Nomsa Diamini, director, Upward-Bound University-Wide Academic Enrichment Program, University of Durban-Westville, South Africa. The program, which will run from July 22 to 28, aims to provide a basic skill set of engineering math and self efficacy skills, encourage participants to consider engineering careers and introduce them to Penn State and the 17 engineering majors available at the University.

The summer program will focus on bioengineering, materials, environmental and acoustical engineering, but will provide a taste of all engineering disciplines in a hands-on, exciting way. Plans for the participants include constructing a thermoacoustical refrigerator, light-emitting diode flashlights and visiting Marconi, a global IT company based in Pittsburgh.

Counselors for the program will be recruited from current female engineering undergraduate and graduate students. "Attracting women into engineering, where they are a minority, is a priority of the university," says Barbara Bogue, director, Penn State Women in Engineering Program. "Nationally, only 20 percent of our engineering students are women and 9 percent of engineers in the workplace are women."

Venture in Engineering Camp will provide role models for prospective future engineers, hands on activities and cross-cultural experiences while potentially recruiting African women as well as American women into the Penn State engineering departments. The program also includes activities to promote creativity, team building and communication, the skills that often make the difference between a competent professional and a standout.

Unique to this camp experience is a pre-camp boot camp intended to acclimate the South African women to the campus and American life, and to aid any of the women who need additional experience in math or computer use. The boot camp will occur the weekend before the camp is scheduled and will include addition al math and computer sessions. The application deadline for Venture in Engineering Camp 2001 is May 30.

For more information visit the web site at http://www.engr.psu.edu/wep/vectour/Publish/index.html or contact Barbara Bogue at (814) 863-1080 or Cyndi Freeman Fail at (814) 863-2751.

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Contacts:

A'ndrea Elyse Messer (814) 865-9481 (o) aem1@psu.edu

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o) vfong@psu.edu