Women need to be proud of their STEM degrees

Women who focus their time on studying engineering tend to feel different – even ostracized – because of their gender. They are focusing on a STEM career path that traditionally was built around a predominately male audience. However, there are two professors here at UF who have made me, and I’m sure countless other women, believe women can take part in engineering and not be scared off because of their gender.

After interviewing these two wonderful engineering role-models, I came to the conclusion that all of the differences and struggles women face in engineering make us stronger people, better problem solvers, and overall, better engineers.

And I do not mean better than men, I mean better than our unchallenged selves, and better than we would have been without that adversity.

It’s not to say some things are not due for changing. There are still a lack of women’s restrooms in some of the engineering buildings and people still feel the need to ask, “What is it like to be a woman in engineering?” But the truth is, everyone faces some obstacle.

Current obstacle: trying not to fall apart with four exams in one week

For some it is a language barrier, others gender, religion, or sometimes self-imposed limitations. A common fear is that as a woman, you will have to outperform and try harder to get the same point across more than a man would in the same situation. I spoke with Dr. Andrew and Dr. Dickrell to ask what their experiences as women in STEM have been like.

Dr. Jennifer Andrew was raised in Georgia and earned her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, and her Ph.D. in Materials from UC Santa Barbara.

Dr. Andrew told The Tab : “I think you’ll always hear these undertones of people saying ‘Oh, they are only going to succeed in that field because of ‘insert diverse descriptor.’ Whether it is a woman, or any other underrepresented minority in that field. You can only control the controllable, so maybe women do have to outperform. At the end of the day, If you are a faculty member, you’re almost building a brand, and that brand is your lab.

“If men have to do less to build a brand, who knows. But your goal is to build the best brand possible and you are going to do that by doing the best science possible. I don’t think because you are some gender in academia, or any area, that you are going to work any less hard or present yourself any less well. The goal is always going to be do the best you can.”

Dr. Dickrell agreed with her colleague saying, “I think you do your work, you do it well. Female or male it doesn’t matter. You are there, you are an engineer and you’re doing your job great. Females have a lot to bring to the table. There is no reason they should be treated any different, and in fact, they bring different experiences. Diversity in gender, experience, and thought are all good for the field.”

Dr. Pamela L. Dickrell earned her BS, masters, and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UF. She is director of CORE (Center of Research on Engineering Education), as well as a professor at the University. Her research works with an institute for excellence in engineering education and focuses on ways to improve the teaching of engineers and making it more effective.

Society of Women Engineers 

As women and as Gators, we have so many resources available to us: Society of Women Engineers, design teams, professional societies, engineering co-ed fraternities, and not to mention, the amazing faculty that are always willing to help. There is still plenty of work to be done as far as increasing the amount of women and diversity in STEM, but this particular woman is hopeful.

The answer to “how can we encourage more women to join STEM” exists, and it is more obvious than we think. It is with our teachers and our parents or guardians. It is a reoccurring theme among the successful people I know and have asked about their influence in choosing their path to engineering.

Regardless of your gender, engineering is going to be tough. Calculus does not care about your gender and the laws of physics do not change depending on whether you have X and/or Y chromosomes. So encouraging and supporting the idea that any person can be an engineer or a mathematician or whatever they want is the key.

When you show equal confidence in young boys and girl’s abilities, the equality we want to see in our laboratories, classrooms, hospitals, senates, EVEYRWHERE will come naturally.

Future Gator Engineers

And for all you fellow Gator engineers in the midst of your exam week ready to pull your hair out, I’ll leave you with some advice from Dr. Andrew: “Find something that you are passionate about, whatever you do or whatever your goals are, do something you care about because it is a lot easier to get up in the morning if you are excited about it. Find something where your passion and your skill set overlap and you’ll have a successful future and career.”