The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the Women’s Transportation Seminar recently hosted the annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering program for 30 Raleigh-area sophomore, junior and senior high school girls interested in careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).
The National Science Foundation reports about 6.4 million people in the U.S. were employed in STEM jobs in 2015, but only about 28 percent were women.
“Through these programs, NCDOT and Women’s Transportation Seminar seek to close the workforce gap in the transportation industry by promoting careers in engineering for women,” the department says.
NCDOT engineers discussed daily duties and skills required of them and encouraged attendees to “maintain their math and science skills, which are necessary to enter programs in college,” the agency reports.
The program also included hands-on activities and “career advice from females currently working in the field.”
Speakers included NCDOT Transportation Engineer Nastasha Young, N.C. State University Director of Women in Engineering Dr. Laura J. Bottomley and Women’s Transportation Seminar NC Triangle Chapter representatives Dena Snead and Paddy Jordan.
