Contact:
Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776

For immediate release:
July 12, 2004

Carnegie Mellon Hosts Program For Women to Engineer Rewarding Careers

PITTSBURGH — More than 120 middle and high school students from the Pittsburgh area will participate in the Society of Women Engineers' 2004 "Engineering Your Future Program" July 12-21 at Carnegie Mellon University.

The program will let students experience a variety of engineering disciplines by participating in hands-on experiments, including measuring physiological changes in the body via wearable computers, designing and building model bridges to withstand a variety of loads and creation of personal care products such as lip balm and bath fizzies to better understand chemical engineering concepts.

Now, 20 to 25 percent of all students graduating from college engineering programs are women, according to the Dallas-based Alliance of Technology and Women. A recent Alliance report found that the demand for women engineers is expected to accelerate in the next five years as engineers in major corporations begin retiring.

Some of the participating schools include Westinghouse High School, Peabody High School, South Vocational Tech, Sterrett Classical Academy, Knoxville Middle School and Frick International Studies Academy.

WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon, July 12-21.
WHERE: Carnegie Mellon University, Doherty Hall A311 and A317.