EngineerGirl

The purpose of the EngineerGirl website is to attract young girls to engineering at a time in their lives – middle school – when they are making important educational decisions that ultimately will impact their career options. The message that the site seeks to communicate is that students who become engineers can make a difference in society. The website which has been holding the number one spot on Google for “girls and engineering” since 2001 and has over 16,000 unique visitors per month, is a regular resource for educators, parents, and students alike.

Among the most popular resources on the site, the Gallery of Women Engineers features profiles of women from all walks of life and highlights their daily life in engineering. Women volunteers from across the world post a picture and personal comments about their lives, their inspiration, and their careers. These volunteers also answer questions for website visitors in the “Ask an Engineer” feature which attracts questions from girls and young women from elementary school all the way through college and masters degree programs. 

In addition to the regular features, the popular annual EngineerGirl Essay Contest engages students (male and female students in grades K-12) in writing about some aspect of engineering, and is used by teachers of math, science, and even English as a writing assignment in their classrooms. Responses to the contest have been remarkably favorable, and in a 2009 survey of contest participants, 88% of female student respondents said participation in the contest changed their views about engineering. 85% of those students also indicated that they might consider studying engineering in college. You can access the web site at www.engineergirl.org.

Thousands of weekly visitors stop by to find interesting links, games, facts, teaching resources and career guidance. Here are some quotes from our visitors:

 “I am so glad that I found your website. I am a sophomore at Itawamba Community College in Mississippi. I am currently a ‘Pre-engineering’ major, but I hope go on and receive a degree in Civil Engineering. But before viewing your website I was not 100% sure that this was the career path that I wanted to go into. But now I am certain…”

“…I am writing to you because I found your website and wanted to thank you for having a website up for young girls to see that being an engineer is not all about factories and desk jobs…”

“…Thanks for maintaining the Engineer Girl website. It gives [my daughter] a glimpse of how high she can reach with her engineering aspirations.”