FCC Hosts Women in Engineering Day
Women in Engineering Day Introduces High School Girls to the Profession on February 21
Encouraging more women and girls to go into the engineering field is the purpose of the Inaugural Women in Engineering Day at Fresno City College on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. The event will be held in the FCC Science Building from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The event is sponsored through a generous grant from Chevron for three years. The $75,000 grant will also be used to purchase surveying equipment, sterolithohgraphy 3D printers and carts, Lego Mindstorms robots and more.
A check presentation from Chevron at 11:30 a.m. in the Science Building lower courtyard will be part of the Women in Engineering Day. The media is invited.
Fresno City College engineering instructors Ms. Nell Papavasiliou and Dr. Liz Adams are organizing Women in Engineering Day. Fifty-nine freshmen and sophomore female students enrolled in advanced math from Fresno High School will attend. This outreach addresses gender diversity in engineering careers and STEM programs and exposes high school girls to career opportunities in the industry.
"Girls are outperforming boys in math but only a small percentage of engineering students are female. It's time to show them that they are capable of anything, especially engineering,"shared Papavasiliou.
The Fresno High students are in for a unique experience with two hands-on workshops in geomatics and programming robotics through an obstacle course. These workshops will run concurrently in the morning and again after lunch. Dr. Adams and Papavasiliou will lead the workshops along with 60 college student volunteers who are majoring in the sciences or engineering. In addition, the girls will have lunch with female engineers from Chevron and local engineering firms.
"During my career, the percentage of American women with a bachelor's degree in engineering has stayed at 20 percent. I hope our program helps increase this number at FCC and in Fresno," explained Dr. Adams.
Women in Engineering Day Schedule
9:15 am - 9:25 am Students walk from Fresno High to FCC
9:30 am - 11:00 am Workshop 1: Robotics S260 and Geomatics S20
11: am - 11:30 am Lunch on campus
11:30 am - 12:00 pm Chevron Check Presentation
12:15 pm - 1:45 pm Workshop 2: Robotics S260 and Geomatics S20
1:45 pm - 1:55 pm Students walk back to Fresno High