2001 - 2002 Projects
- Handheld Computer Project
by Dr. Ruth Davis
Dr. Ruth Davis is running a project to investigate whether young women use handheld computers in the same way their male (early adopter) counterparts are expected to. What do they spend time with on these devices, what do they wish they could do? Most importantly, does the use of such devices help young women self-identify as techies and/or improve their retention in engineering majors? In this project, 55 handheld computers have been distributed to freshman and sophomore women in engineering. We have surveyed their attitudes about their major and their capabilities, and are following up with periodic usage surveys, email communities, and will eventually survey attitudes again. We will track the retention of these women in engineering and compare it with previous and following years.
We are now surveying freshmen and junior engineering students (both male and female) to see whether and how their attitudes change over the course of their study. We plan to track retention rates for comparison with our intial group of women, and compare attitudes.
- ANEW: Action Now in Employment for Women
by Erika Izquierdo, Esmeralda Villalobos
Two seniors, Erika Izquierdo and Esmeralda Villalobos, designed a website and courses to assist the women of HomeSafe, a transitional housing facility for survivors of domestic violence, in preparing for and finding good jobs. They were assisted in presenting the hands-on tutorials by Lisa Gonzales, a junior math/cs major.
See their senior design project site for more information.
- Pioneering Women in Engineering
by Stephanie Basha, Andrew Paoli
Stephanie Basha, a sophomore engineering student, and Andrew Paoli, a junior Computer Engineering major, continued work on this project expected to take several years to complete. They took background information on Mary Ross, the first Native American woman engineer, and Esther Williams, an expert in failure analysis, from last year's effort and developed a website. The website currently has only the information on Mary Ross.We expect to enhance the site with audio and video clips in addition to textual information and links to many other resources on these women (and eventually others as well). This site can be viewed though it is very much still under construction.
- KnowItAll
by Eileen Tablang, Genevieve Nicolas, Farah Evans, Markey Moua, Nichole Rimes, Rania Hadi, and Valerie Trinidad
This rather large project has involved as many as eleven students. The core group consists of seven seniors in Computer Engineering: Eileen Tablang, Genevieve Nicolas, Farah Evans, Markey Moua, Nichole Rimes, Rania Hadi, and Valerie Trinidad. Based on the needs of the women at HomeSafe, these students built a software homework helper, covering English, Social Studies, and Mathematics for grades 1 through 4. See the website for details of lessons, quizzes, and games
