Draper Fosters Diversity in Engineering with STEM Talks

June 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Draper Laboratory engineers spoke to students in Lynn on June 8 as part of an effort to encourage young women to become involved with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

The SMART Girls Summit was sponsored by Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that promotes female empowerment and education through informal programs. Girls Inc. hosted the event at its Lynn facility.

Linda Fuhrman, Draper’s education director, said she participated in the event as part of her personal mission of encouraging young people to pursue high-tech careers, “particularly those who might not otherwise ever hear about science and engineering or consider these as viable careers for themselves.”

After hearing Fuhrman speak at the SMART Girls Summit, the girls went home with paper models of the Mars Airplane, feathers to see how birds fly, a gyro wheel to understand gyroscopes, and advice from a female engineer role model.

“I want to be sure all young kids today have those opportunities to hear about and explore engineering that I never had when I was their age,” said Fuhrman.

The Draper employees spoke and led workshops at the SMART Girls Summit through their involvement with MAES-Boston, a professional society for Latino engineers and scientists. The MAES-Boston chapter was established at Draper, and its first two presidents – Valerie Avila, and now Antonio de la Serna – are Lab employees. Draper hosts the chapter’s meetings in one of its conference rooms.

Avila said Draper employees are participating through MAES in events like the Girls Inc. summit in part because Hispanic youth are an untapped resource in the science and engineering world. “I was lucky enough to have a guest speaker talk about being an engineer and it became the stepping stone for a fabulous career,” Avila said.

Draper’s strong relationship with MAES was underscored by an April 30 visit from MAES national President Michael Acosta, who came to Draper to bolster MAES-Boston’s effort to establish new, student branches of MAES in the area at Harvard, Tufts, and Northeastern.

Draper Laboratory

Draper is a not-for-profit, engineering research and development organization dedicated to solving critical national problems in security, space systems, biomedical systems, and energy. Core capabilities include guidance, navigation and control; miniature low power systems; highly reliable complex systems; information and decision systems; autonomous systems; biomedical and chemical systems; and secure networks and communications.

http://www.draper.com

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Draper Laboratory is a not-for-profit, engineering research and development organization dedicated to solving critical national problems in security, space systems, biomedical systems, and energy.