Women in STEM: Why Girls Should Become Engineers

March 8, 2021

It’s important that we continue to encourage young girls to pursue their passions for math, problem-solving and making the world a better place. In honor of International Women’s Day, five of our female Impact Creators share some compelling reasons why girls should become technologists.

1. You’ll Make the World Better for Future Generations

“I am inspired by the prospect of helping to make the world a better place for future generations of humans and animals. I want to use the skills that I’ve built up over the years to help us live more sustainably; I want to inspire others to do so, too. I’m grateful that I can act as both a researcher and an educator to help to nurture others’ confidence in their ability to enact positive change in the world.”
Kyri Baker, IEEE Member, IEEE Power and Energy Society, IEEE Signal Processing Society

2. You Can Put Your Math Skills to Good Use

“I went into electrical engineering because of math, which I loved since I was a little girl. I was thrilled when I found out that I could do math and use it to impact society.”
Jelena Kovačević, IEEE Fellow, IEEE Signal Processing and IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

3. Your Interests Can Become a Career You Love

“A couple of years ago, I was able to conduct a lot of research on technology’s capacity to positively impact the environment for long-term sustainability. Since then, I’ve been interested in using various technologies to improve environmental sustainability in a variety of ways, focusing primarily on new-age environmental monitoring.”
Sukanya Mandal, IEEE Member

4. You Can Solve Real-World Puzzles

“Ever since I was a little girl, I loved solving puzzles. As I grew up, I became more aware of the role of technology in solving real-world problems. When the time came, I decided to pursue a career as a technologist so that I could use my passion for solving puzzles to address real-world challenges.”
Juliana Paula Felix, IEEE Graduate Student Member

5. The Sky’s the Limit on Innovation

“As a kid, you think that technology gadgets are just that – cool gadgets. But more and more they are simply a tool, a means to something greater. In education, the “gadgets” are now a necessary tool for learning and should be the minimum requirement for all our schools. This is also true in the workplace – don’t hold back creativity and productivity. If we equip our workforce with the tools to do great things, innovation is unstoppable.”
Sandra Scanlon, IEEE Senior Member