364 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 42, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 1999

Attracting Women into Engineering:A Case Study

Malgorzata S. Zywno,Member, IEEE, Kimberley A. Gilbride, Peter D. Hiscocks,Judith K. Waalen, and Diane C. Kennedy,Member, IEEE

Index Terms— Engineering, high school, recruitment, women.

I. SUMMARY

Women make up 52% of the population and 55% (1996) of all undergraduate students in CanadianUniversities, yet only 21% of students enrolled in applied science and engineering programs are women.In 1991, Ryerson Polytechnic University initiated the “Discover Engineering” Summer Camp for highschool girls. The objectives of the project are to educate young women about the challenges and rewardsof engineering, and to motivate them to choose engineering as a career option. This paper presents anoverview of the “Discover Engineering” project as an example of a successful recruitment strategy to attractmore women into engineering. Follow-up surveys indicate that of the 760 students who have attended thecamp, approximately 400 women are now studying engineering. Survey results and factors that contributedto the camp success are discussed. Camp attendance patterns and high school programs suggest that socialclass and cultural perceptions may still constitute barriers to women’s entry into the engineering profession.

Malgorzata Zywno (M’90) received the Magister degree from Technical University of Lodz, Poland, in 1977 and the M.Eng. degreefrom the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1990.

She is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto. Herresearch interests include intelligent control and technology mediated engineering education.

Prof. Zywno is a Professional Engineer, with industrial experience including power system stabilizers design. She has been involvedwith WIE Committee projects since 1992 and is also its webmaster.

Kimberley Gilbride received the B.Sc. degree from Concordia University, Montreal, Candada, in 1980, the M.Sc. degree fromUniversity of Guelph, Ont., Canada, in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in microbiology from the University of Toronto in 1989.

She is a Professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry and Biological Sciences at Ryerson Polytechnic University. Her researchinterests include microbial genetics, DNA hybridization, and genetic fingerprinting.

Dr. Gilbride currently holds an NSERC grant to study microbial populations of wastewater effluents. She has been involved withWIE Committee projects since its inception in 1989.

Peter Hiscocksreceived the B.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada.He is a Professor at Ryerson Polytechnic University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Professional

Engineer. His teaching and research interests include electronics and mechatronics. In 1989 he cofounded the Women in EngineeringCommittee at Ryerson and has been a major driving force behind the “Discover Engineering” Summer Camp project. His daughter,Jessica, attended the camp in 1996 and is currently studying mechanical engineering.

Judith Waalen received the B.A. degree in biology and psychology from Assumption University, Windsor, Ont., Canada, in 1962,the M.A. degree in psychology from University of Windsor in 1964, and the Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Wayne State University,Detroit, MI, in 1982.

She is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson Polytechnic University and the Director of the RyersonQuality/Service Research Group in Faculty of Business. Her reseach interests include surrounding quality service, statistics, andvalidation of measurement instruments.

Dr. Waaalen has been involved with WIE Committee projects since 1996.

Diane C. Kennedy (S’92–M’95) received the B.A.Sc. degree in systems engineering in 1985 and the Ph.D. degree in electricalengineering in 1995 from the University of Waterloo, Ont., Canada. She is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson Polytechnic Universityin the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her research interests include nonlinear geometric control, power systems,and multimedia in engineering education.

Dr. Kennedy currently holds an NSERC grant to study the nonlinear geometric control of synchronous generators. She is aProfessional Engineer and has been involved with WIE Committee projects since 1996.

Manuscript received February 1, 1998; revised September 22, 1999.The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2k3 Canada.Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9359(99)09803-9.

0018–9359/99$10.00 1999 IEEE