Despite decades of effort, there is a persistent gender gap in engineering at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. Underrepresentation of women is particularly acute in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering disciplines, which both fall far short of achieving the critical mass (30%) of women needed to make diversification efforts self-sustaining. Efforts to close this gender gap have been somewhat scattershot, ranging from intra and extra-curricular K12 programming to social supports at the college level. While locally effective, the impact of these interventions globally – that is, on the field as a whole – is infrequently considered. This talk will focus on applying engineering thinking to evaluating and prioritizing interventions that aim to close the gender gap in Mechanical Engineering, which is the largest and least diverse engineering discipline. The talk will cover root causes of the gender gap between engineering and other STEM disciplines, as well as identifying and quantifying the “leaks” in the talent pipeline for women engineers. Potential interventions by UD COE faculty and others will be featured, and it will conclude with concrete actions that we can all take in our classrooms and communities to close the gender gap in engineering.

Presented by Jenni Buckley, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

A reception will follow at 4-4:30 p.m. Du Pont Hall Lobby

Registration is requested by November 30