PROJECT TITLE :

Can Robots in Classrooms Attract More Women to Engineering? [Women in Engineering]

ABSTRACT:

This can be a worldwide concern in our community: there are too few women involved in engineering and even fewer in robotics. Every country is attempting to tackle this issue with a selection of programs to attract and retain women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Many programs target university students and young professionals to help them style their career and get a good life balance. Indeed, if we have a look at global figures, a lot of than eighty five% of women within the men manage little groups or are part of a team, and solely 15% hold managerial positions, compared with thirtyp.c of men. In universities too, but 18p.c of girls hold professor-level positions, whereas 40percent of assistant professors are women. The programs that do exist attempt to support the few women already involved in STEM. However, the imbalance within the proportion of men and girls is already placing in 1st-year university students, thus how can we tend to recruit more ladies before then? Several studies have shown that the decision to check STEM occurs in a terribly early stage of education, and being aware of that, there are some programs that promote STEM in high schools and junior high schools. These programs are often organized by universities (see, as an example, the “Women in Engineering” column from September 2013 titled “Attracting and Retaining Young Japanese Women in Robotics”). However, even these programs could be too late.