Women in Engineering

The Ventura County Star (CA) profiled the transition of Capt. Paz Gomez. Gomez is retiring as the commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center. She plans to start work as an engineering services manager for URS Corp. next month.

Gomez “is one of only five women with the rank of captain currently in the Civil Engineering Corps and was the fifth ever to attain the rank.” According to the article, Gomez graduated high school at 16 and studied civil engineering at San Diego State University before entering the Navy.

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Recent research from the Girl Scouts Research Institute found “an institutional bias in schools” towards the perception that boys are better and smarter at STEM disciplines.

In an effort to motivate and educate young girls, the Girl Scouts selected 17 councils nationwide as STEM advocacy champions. For more information on these efforts, read the article

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An 18-year old female, Elizabeth Schroder, recently won two awards at the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Schroder’s project involved light resulting from friction (or triboluminescence). She will be attending the California Institute of Technology, where she intends to study electrical engineering. Click here for the article

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