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WATERUK) CHRONIC” ‘ Wednesday. July 24. 2013 0 3 Attracting more talent â€" O O O U 0 - Unit/ensures reach out to women to boost numbers in male dominated fields Mbtheaeorndpar-tofatiueepct In camps targeting the youngest age a»! “Mummmdimilogy. grommeboysmakeupwperouitwhlle 5' . girlsmakeupwpercent'lhatratioliolfi is“ thumb-av truebrthesctenoeandenghieeringcamps ._. kid-earmnide inGradeSandtisaidea. up“ :7 .' _ ‘- Butwhen themnip forkidsinGndeS *‘ , :- Women in engineering are few and and 6 specifically references tedinobgy, the " ~ far between, but even within the number of girls plummets toZO percent. engineering community. special- “There's a persona. there's a stereotype ,4 ' fl“, ties that are more tech~based draw even around’englneenng' ' and technology thatg'rls a“; l' . fewer women. say, What‘s not for me." saidWelk , "- '0ur numbers going into electrical. “So i keep telling our dean. don't worry ”I ‘ fi. ~ . ’ mechanical. computer software (engineer about high school, because girls in Grade 5 a" x... “A ’. t '1 ing) are very similar across the country." said and 6 are already saying to themselves that \ a ‘ fl..- ‘irak ‘ Mary Wells. professor of mechanical and engineering is not for them. because those x._ w“ >- mechatronics engineering at the University are exactly the same splits we see coming , ‘ “ f, *» of Waterloo (UW). as well as the associate into engineering overall.” . L‘ " dean of outreach for the faculty of engineer» But once girls enter engineering. the ing future is bright and the career options varied. . “Everybodyislowinthosefieldssothere's aocordingtoWells a real emphasis on women in tech. because “There's so many employment opportuni- ir'sthetedifieldswherethereisahugeshort- tiesforyoungwomenJhavemllsallthetime age of women. even much lower than the 20 from companies wanting to promote their per cent average it‘s more like 10 to 12 per company to youngwomen."shesaid. cent.” “They're interested in diversity in their Fields such as environmental engineering companies. So there’s a real desire in the . , , _ and biomedical engineering ofien draw near~ indmm'al sector to have these young women Warren‘s partidpation in tech-cm fieldsofenglneering still lags. at universities tryto dose ly half women, but others. like mechanical come in and be suwmhilf the gap with programs for girls as young as seven years old. mm engineering. fail to draw even 10 per cent. One of those companies is Hydro One, according toWells which recently committed $1.4 million to and details can be found at Blackber- problems. lots of interesting challenges You She credits this to misconceptions and a four Ontario universities. including UW. to rymrnlsdidars. neverstopleaming' lack of clarity on exactly what engineers do. help support women entering science. math. For Natalie Silvanovich Blackberry helped And there's good lemon for companies to as well as lack of confidence in girls engineering or technology (STEM) fields. her figure out what she wanted to do. She actively seek diversity. according to Terre To Wells. those problems Stan young, and Another Is BlackBerry. which offers a attended the University of British Columbia Gianrand. who has worked both in the tech UW has programs geared towards kids enter- scholarship program to women entering for electrical engineering, but now works for sector and taught my: school students about mg Grade 1 all the way throuyi Grade 1 1 STEM fields. hie deadline to apply is lune 26 Bladberry in computer securities computer science. It was her multiple co-op terms at the Change and innovation are much less _ company that sold it. likely when a bunch of people with the samc “When I went into university, l thought I background and same life experience sit was more interested in physics and I guess around a table. she said. the more electrical mechanical side of elec- “I think the biggest innovation that tech trical engineering.” she said. “But as i did nology could possibly have is to embrace a more programming I found that was what I broader diversity in tech itself. And by saying was more interested in.” that. I'm not just referring to having mort- She ended up doing two co-ops at crimpa- women in tech How many aboriginal people mes that Just weren't for her before coming in do you sec In tech? 0r black people? Or pen Waterloo Region for a coup at what was their ple with disabilities?‘ she said. Research in Motion “Which Is funny. because if you think (it “I went to RIM and I did three coup terms one ofmir most important innovators on tin and I'm still working there with thr- xanit' planet. \tt'plit-n Hawking, if we ignored pw team.” shesaid pie With disabilities, we Mllllltllll haw “I really low It I really emu) what I (ll) physttx In the limelight it's rm mung (lllt' in every day. I find there‘s lots of interesting his research and outreach ' YOUR TOP AWARD WINNING SPA .7? . . " N ‘1 . ' 54. ‘ 519 "c.2090 r amuncou r I . unalpcAn‘HIlv w ” "m “M "N W