My OperaBest online colleges Women Encouraged to Pursue Engineering Studies
Saturday, October 2, 2010 8:56:34 PM
Women are being encouraged to pursue their civil engineering degree and enter diverse, high paying fields where job growth is expected. From computers to chemicals, engineering majors cover a wide array of subject specialties. Engineering graduates also are among the highest paid of their peers, and future employment opportunities for some engineers are expected to be good.
Four of the five highest paying starting salaries for 2010 college graduates went to petroleum, chemical, computer and electrical engineering majors, with salaries of between $49,381 and $74,799, a National Association of Colleges and Employers 2010 Salary Survey shows. In 2008, civil engineers held the most engineering jobs, and this same group is expected to enjoy the largest employment increases into 2020-21, Bureau of Labor Statistics information shows. Biomedical engineers, on the other hand, are expected to experience the fastest employment growth into 2020-21, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Different agencies, along with colleges, universities and technical schools, have been developing ways to lure women to these fields and keep them engaged in their studies. Some might offer gender and minority-specific scholarships. Others might offer classroom materials that accommodate diverse learning styles. Still, fewer than 21 percent of graduates with bachelor's of science degrees in engineering are women, according to the Foundation Coalition that works to create a culture of engineering education that, in part, addresses societal needs, its web site reports.
Different people have different learning style, some contend. The Foundation Coalition, according to its web site, has found that women prefer "cooperative" learning and projects that involve what's known as "spacial reasoning" or visualization. These types of instruction have been incorporated into engineering education at colleges, universities and technical schools, according to the coalition.
Diversity can enhance the classroom experience and improve workplace production, experts say. In diverse classrooms, students might develop conflict resolution skills, according to the Foundation Coalition web site. Products that a larger, international customer base finds appealing could be developed when employees in the workplace are diverse, the web site notes. There's also been a greater demand for engineers than there is a supply of candidates, a representative of the National Association of Colleges and Employers has suggested. Women could be among those who help fill the gap, the Foundation Coalition web site suggests.
Science and math classes are part of engineering degrees. Mentoring has been seen by some as a means of encouraging women to pursue their engineering degree. The College of Engineering at Oregon State University boasts that it's ranked fourth in the number of women professors at PhD-granting institutions, according to its web site. Through an e-mentoring network known as MentorNet, female engineering students and others can be paired in one-on-one e-mail based relationships with industries from industry, government and higher education, its web site shows.
There was some growth in women in engineering in the 1970s, a time when colleges and universities followed affirmative action guidelines, a Women in Science & Engineering report notes. By 2006, however, only 1.6 percent of all bachelor's degrees that women earned and 8.8 percent of those awarded to men were in engineering, according to the report. In terms of faculty members, the report suggested that those of the future are likely to be from outside of the United States.
Women in Science & Engineering offers scholarships for college tailored to women taking online classes. The organization in 2009 provided more than 180 scholarships of $1,000 to $10,000 each, for a total of $470,000. The Engineering Service Center on its web site also lists an array of scholarships, fellowships and grants that might help offset the cost of college degrees online.best online colleges: Top Colleges Online
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