International Women In Engineering

To every parent of a little girl in the world,?

We are celebrating International Women in Engineering Day. Big dreams start when they’re young. It is important that you start to pursue them as early as possible. Only when ambition meets opportunity will those dreams become possible to achieve.

Stasia Norris, our staff engineer, says, “Math is more than just the numbers, it’s the people they represent.” Improving roads to allow access to people with disabilities was one of the main points she made to describe the kind of superhero work she does. “When I was a little girl, I thought engineering was going to be dull, boring math, but I work to make the world a better place. It is work that is needed.” Stasia is always thinking of others, one of the first things she mentioned was how much consideration she puts into the line of sight of vehicles, pedestrians, and geography to consider where ice will form. These aspects are the main point of her work, it is not just about opening the community, it is about the security the space brings as well.? ?

Savannah Hintsala, one of our water resource engineers, emphasized the importance of when you need to ask for help. She said, “Checking in with the team members, asking if designs make sense, or identifying safety procedures with other companies before moving along with a project is a critical part of my job.” She typically connects to her team online, checking back on their collective progress. She is never afraid to run innovative ideas through her colleagues to get the best out of her designs before taking the next step.

Why do we celebrate women in engineering??

Before the late 1800s, engineering was a predominantly male practice. Brave women fighting the discrepancies decided to take the first few steps in improving the quality of their futures and the futures of every woman to ever follow them. Some important names include Edith Clarke, Emily Roebling, Mary Anderson, Hedy Lemar, and Mary Jackson. Some of these women were the first to do what they have done, like Mary Jackson, who was the first woman engineer in NASA. But these ladies did not start in the best position; they had to make their own opportunities. That is why we celebrate International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), to honor all the “firsts” these bright women had to offer and to nurture a future generation to lead us into a new age of science.?

Who are these women??

Edith Clarke was the world’s first female electrical engineer. Born in 1883 and later died in 1959. In her time, she created the Clark calculator for electrical transmission line problems in the field and was also crucial in the smart grid technology that the US Department of Energy uses today. And if all of that was not impressive enough, she was also a teacher and physics prodigy. She graduated from MIT with her master's and went on to travel the world. Much can be said about Edith Clarke, but one thing is for certain, she was one of the most impactful women engineers to ever live.??

Mary Jackson, the first African American female engineer in NASA is one of the most famous names to ever go down in history. Some of her fame has come from the critically acclaimed movie, Hidden Figures, based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s New York Times bestseller. She was one of three African American female mathematicians/engineers to be featured in the book. Even through the boundary of segregation, she was able to overcome several obstacles in her path. Leading her fellow colleagues, other African American women, to succeed as human computers and finally getting her story out years later. Mary worked as an aerospace engineer for many years, helping to improve airflow around aircrafts. She moved to a management position in her later years, and she encouraged many of her colleagues to take extra courses to get higher positions. Although she might not have gotten the recognition she deserved back then, her legacy lives on in Salt Lake City’s Mary W. Jackson Elementary School. Originally named after President Andrew Jackson, it has since been changed to honor Mary.?

Hedy Lamarr may not seem like an important historical figure at first, but if you look a little bit closer, you will find that she is far more than what she seems. She once said, “Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” She was far from stupid, however; she was privately tutored and was more than just an actor and dancer. She invented the electronic device that reduced jamming signals, which was later used as the foundation for Satellite technology. While she may not seem like more than a movie star at first, she is an important historical figure.?

Emily Roebling is another paragon. Emily was one of 12 children to her father. While going to school, she fell in love with an engineer named Washington Roebling. As a present to each other, they wanted to construct a bridge together, but after her husband became ill, she had to secretly lead the men still working on their project. While her husband's illness kept him from much, she later went on to author a book about her plights and how she had to overcome the sexism that prevented her from becoming the lead engineer herself. Her love kept her designing that bridge, so how did it turn out? Well, it ended up becoming none other than The Brooklyn Bridge itself. It had been the longest-span suspension bridge in the world. Eventually, being overtaken by the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge.?? ?

Citations

Halweil, Jenn. “The Love Story That Made the Brooklyn Bridge.” Forbes, 11 Feb. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/jennhalweil/2019/02/11/the-love-story-that-made-the-brooklyn-bridge/?sh=22d599fc63b6.?

“Mary Jackson.” Edited by Adam Augustyn, Encyclop?dia Britannica, 27 May 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Jackson-mathematician-and-engineer.?

McFadden, Christopher. “Edith Clarke: The First Female Electrical Engineer and Professor of Electrical Engineering.” Interesting Engineering, 4 June 2021, interestingengineering.com/culture/edith-clarke-the-first-female-electrical-engineer-and-professor-of-electrical-engineering.?

“Meet the Women Engineers Who Shaped History (Women’s History Month - March).” TryEngineering.Org Powered by IEEE, 24 June 2021, tryengineering.org/news/meet-the-women-engineers-who-shaped-history-womens-history-month-march/.?

Thornton, Travis. “Who Was the First Female Engineer?” CLJ, 31 May 2022, communityliteracy.org/who-was-the-first-female-engineer/.?