The lives and careers of six innovative women in engineering are the focus of three short videos and a short-form documentary that will premiere on Broadway next month.
The 1970s has been viewed as a crucial decade for women in engineering, yet the stories of those pioneering women’s careers, lives and the lessons they learned about career persistence were never fully studied. Until now. The lives and careers of six innovative women in engineering are the focus of three short videos and a short-form documentary that will premiere on Broadway next month.
Based on Clarkson University Associate Professor of History Dr. Laura Ettinger’s game-changing work for the National Science Foundation that captures the DNA of pioneering American women in engineering, this empowering event will unveil three short videos to inspire middle school and early high school girls and premiere a short form documentary for all ages that shares the stories of six trailblazing professional women engineers who inspire the next generation.
These women are:
- Joanie Banks-Hunt
- Debra Dibble Boone
- Sheree Gibson
- Suzanne Hardie
- Kate Harper
- Susan Suhr
The event will also feature a panel of women engineers and aspiring engineers featured in the videos, along with a network with corporate partners. Ettinger and Zac Miller, founder of Uncommon Image Studios and creator of the videos and documentary, will also be there. The “Inspire! Six Trailblazing Women Engineers Inspire the Next Generation” Broadway Premiere will be held in The Great Hall at The Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003, on Sunday, April 5 at 2:00 p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m. with a reception afterward.
In the United States, engineering reportedly remains one of the undergraduate majors with the smallest percentage of women. The percentage of women engineers in the workplace is even smaller. This three-part educational video series, with accompanying instructional modules, is designed to empower middle school and early high school girls to overcome obstacles facing girls and women in STEM fields, such as a lack of confidence and discouragement from others.
Each video features inspiring, real stories told by accomplished women engineers that contextualize and examine hurdles that girls and young women may face in the engineering field, and offer strategies to overcome those hurdles. As the audience hears these stories, they see the same trailblazing women engineers serving as mentors and role models for the next generation of girls as they embrace the excitement of engineering education within the context of a STEAM summer camp at Clarkson University.
The videos, and the accompanying instructional modules, acknowledge structural challenges while encouraging middle school and early high school girls (at a time when their interest and confidence in the STEM fields often decreases) to develop resilience and understand potential obstacles they may face during their education and careers. The result is uplifting, relatable, authentic educational content that offers meaningful strategies to eliminate barriers for girls and women to enter and persist in engineering and related fields:
- Encourage! Leading Women Engineers Encourage the Next Generation: Leading women engineers encourage girls to do what they love, defy stereotypes, push through setbacks, and pursue engineering.
- Motivate! Motivational Messages from Accomplished Women Engineers: Accomplished women engineers inspire young women and give them advice about their future careers and lives.
- Educate! What is an Engineer? Perspectives of Trailblazing Women Engineers: Trailblazing women engineers explain what engineering is and debunk myths about the field.
- Trailblazers: The Untold Stories of Six Women Engineers (documentary)
For more information, visit: www.clarkson.edu
