Why Transportation Agencies Need More Women Engineers

Reprinted from Governing.com

By Daniel C. Vock

North Carolina is trying to recruit girls for careers in engineering not only to fill anticipated vacancies but also because hiring more women could make the roads safer.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) is using newspapers, masking tape and a competitive spirit to get more young women interested in engineering.

The agency is hosting a series of events where girls in high school and junior high can meet and work with the department’s women engineers. Each engineer is assigned a table of students and tasked with constructing the tallest building they can with just five sheets of newspaper and five pieces of masking tape. The teams are judged, not just on how tall their buildings are, but how durable they are too. For instance, can they survive earthquakes (the table being rocked beneath them) and high winds (an electric fan set beside them)?