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Aiming to educate and inspire students, the annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day will be on Feb. 22 in the School of Engineering (SOE) building. The event is for students in grades 6-12 eager to learn more about engineering. Students will hear from a keynote speaker, as well as a panel of engineering students.

Presented by Ameren, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGE) is scheduled for the final day of SIUE’s Engineering Week. The event is planned by SIUE’s Society of Women Engineers, who will be volunteering at the event.

The keynote speaker for this year’s event will be SIUE computer science alumna and Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector CVP Angela Heise.

Ximena Gonzalez Alfaro is a third-year electrical engineering student and the President of the Society of Women Engineers. She said that this year has seen the highest number of students registered for the event, with 215 total registrations.

Gonzalez Alfaro added that when she was younger, she did not know what engineering was. Now that she is studying electrical engineering, she hopes she can help introduce more students to the field.

“This event is an introduction, so students understand the types of engineering and learn how broad engineering can be,” Gonzalez Alfaro said.

Along with the keynote speaker and engineering panel, attendees will have the opportunity to gain experience about engineering through activity rooms. In previous years, the event allowed attendees to choose one or two rooms to visit. This year, students will be able to explore five rooms in order to explore electrical, mechatronics and mechanical, industrial, civil engineering, as well as computer science.

Among the activities, students will build a tower out of spaghetti noodles, marshmallows and tape, create a program from scratch, build a balloon-powered car, simulate a call center to optimize calls and build circuits.

“The activities will teach them something,” Gonzalez Alfaro said. “They’re difficult enough for them to learn something and feel accomplished, but simple enough to understand.”

Gonzalez Alfaro said the panelists for the event will be seven women in engineering. She said the Society of Women Engineers received these panelists by way of sponsorships.

“Our main goal is to reach all who may be interested in the engineering field,” Gonzalez Alfaro said. “We want to inspire these students. That is why we have all these resources for them.”

Visit the registration page for more information on Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. 

PHOTOS:  Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector CVP Angela Heise; students attend previous IGE at SIUE