Women in Engineering

Posted on by Richard Gordon
Prof. Jennifer Buckley, Mechanical Engineering; Program Coordinator Melissa Jurist, COE Dean's Office; Prof. Heather Doty, Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Jenni Buckley, Mechanical Engineering; Melissa Jurist, COE Dean’s Office; Prof. Heather Doty, Mechanical Engineering (l-r)

One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent … that is not being encouraged….
President Barack Obama February 2013

On this episode of Campus Voices, we had a panel of guests who are trying to increase the opportunities for women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields: Assistant Professors Jenni Buckley and Heather Doty, both from Mechanical Engineering, and Melissa Jurist, Academic Program Manager for UD K-12 Engineering, College of Engineering.

We talked about some of the reasons only 14% of entering engineering majors are women, even though over 60% of the high school students who pass one of the AP Calculus exams are young women. We had a fascinating conversation about the ways that young women are steered away from STEM fields, either overtly or more subtly, and what the US is losing as a result.

It was such a great interview that we’ve already invited them back to continue the discussion this spring.

Listen to the interview

Jenni Buckley, Heather Doty, and Mel Jurist, UD College of Engineering
29:25
27.5 MB

About our guests

Today’s panel cover the spectrum of educational opportunities for girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields.

  • Ms. Jurist focuses on programs to support STEM K-12 education, with a special emphasis on grades K-8. Her UD K-12 Engineering programs focus on making STEM fields accessible to all students, regardless of gender, income, or ethnicity. (UD K-12 Engineering)

  • Prof. Buckley spends a lot of her time encouraging high school students, particularly young women, to consider engineering in college, then mentors young women who enter engineering majors at UD. She is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering with research interests in the development and mechanical evaluation of medical devices, particularly orthopaedic, neurosurgical, and pediatric devices. (Dr. Jenni Buckley)

  • Prof. Doty mentors women about to graduate from UD with an engineering degree and mentors female graduate students in STEM fields. She is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, having done advanced research with semiconductor response to extreme temperatures. At UD she also performs research on women’s representation in the academic science and engineering workforce. She has a part-time appointment in the Office of the Provost, where she works to increase the participation and advancement of diverse faculty in STEM fields at UD. (Dr. Heather Doty)

Learn more