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About Women's Initiative

In the spring of 1998, Microsoft challenged the MIT Chapter of HKN to propose methods of addressing the lack of women enrollment in EECS studies and industry. A committee of four HKN students investigated the issues and proposed two programs, one of which called for presentations at high schools across the country, and came to be known as the Women's Initiative. The Women's Initiative was proposed to address problem of low enrollment in EECS by women early their career decision making process -- when high school women are exploring potential majors and careers as they decide which universities to attend.

The rationale behind the Women's Initiative underscores the importance of creating personalized interaction between high school women and college women. By meeting female role modes in EECS, high school women will be more likely to seriously consider these fields as career options. High school women identify more closely with college students than with college recruiters and industry professionals. Showing enthusiasm MIT women have for their work and demonstrating their projects will help combat the notion that EECS are boring, and uninteresting fields.

During the month of January, enthusiastic women selected from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT make presentations nationwide with the goal of encouraging women to consider studies and careers in engineering. The presentations include activities to engage students in thinking about engineering concepts, demonstrations from projects the presenters work on at MIT and in summer internships, information about the breadth of fields in engineering and the life of an engineering student. The presenters also incorporate personal stories about how they chose their fields of study as well as anecdotal stories about women in engineering. The Women's Initiative is intended not to recruit for MIT, but to provide information and encourage high school women to consider the fields of EECS.

In the first year of the Women's Initiative, 18 MIT women studying EECS visited 42 high schools in ten states across the country. They held over 70 presentations and spoke with more than 1,800 students, of whom nearly 1,400 were female. In the second year of the Women's Initiative, 25 MIT women studying EECS held over 150 presentations and spoke with more than 4,000 students, over 60% of whom were female. After the presentations, surveys were completed by the majority of the high school students.

One girl in Texas taking advanced math classes wrote, "I am intimidated by the computer science field because of all the math and science involved…. I am much more informed now and definitely more interested. You make it seem much easier to accomplish!"

A freshman from Arizona wrote that before the presentations, she thought, "You have to be a genius, nerdy, and have to be good at all subjects." After the presentations, she wrote, "I see the two presenters and they seem cool and laid back. Not dorks. They are people you would normally be my friends."

A teacher at Glendale HS wrote "Thank you so much for coming to our school. The presenters were wonderful, energetic, creative, and willing to adapt their presentation to fit our situation. The prizes and software were great - the kids really appreciated them. These presenters truly did change our perceptions of engineers!"

For Schools

Two bright and enthusiastic women in the department of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT will come to your classroom, and speak to groups of 40 - 50 female students for 90 minutes. The first 70 minutes will include interactive engineering related activities, an explanation of engineering in general and information on the various fields of engineering. The presenters will explain one specific area of EECS, and have a demonstration of that technology. The last 20 minutes of the presentation will be a question and answer period. The presenters will need you to provide an overhead projector, and a TV and VCR.

In order to bring this presentation to your school, we need to fill a 4 or 5 day period with presentations in at least 7 high schools in your area. We need this information sheet (Word Document) (pdf version) back as soon as possible so that we can start making travel arrangements. And, we need your enthusiastic support!! If you have any questions, please contact us at wi_schools@mit.edu.

The Microsoft Corporation, and Texas Instruments, Incorprated fund the entire program. No cost is incurred by the schools visited.

Activities

• Encouraging the Exploration of Engineering: An MIT Women's Initiative
• Freshmen women's dinner series

Presenters

The presenters are the undergraduate students that will visit the schools, and give the actual demonstrations and activities. This is a group picture of all the presenters that will make their rounds during this comming Winter.

The presenters visit schools in pairs. The following are the pictures of pairs of presenters.

• Aline and Jeanette
• Alda and Becca
• Ellie and Irene
• Kristina and Kedra
• Pearlin and Rhadika
• Uttara and Laura

WI Committee Members

• Danielle A. Hinton

  Director

• Chiyu Ellie Liang

  Chairperson

• Cynthia Chow

• Toliver Jue

• Marcia Jung

• Brendan Kao

  WebMaster

• Paul H. Kim

• T. Jonathan Lu

• Emina Torlak

• Terri M. Yu