Arizona girls are WOWed! by engineering

Posted: April 20, 2011

ASU students helped introduce young Arizona girls to the world of applied technology at the recent WOW! That’s Engineering event. Photo by: Michelle Myers/ASU

More than 200 girls from several Arizona elementary and middle schools gathered at Arizona State University recently for a hands-on introduction to engineering.

The WOW! That’s Engineering day was organized by the ASU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.

Girls were mentored on projects that included designing and making a ball with high bouncing capability out of corn starch, glue and Borax (sodium borate), constructing a “butterfly” using light-emitting diodes and fashioning a model of a home powered by solar and wind energy.

The girls and about 50 parents also heard university students, faculty members and professional engineers talk about career opportunities in the field.

ASU was one of only three universities in the country to be awarded a grant from the National Society of Women Engineers to help support a WOW! That’s Engineering event this year.

Led by ASU engineering students Michelle Brock and Joy Marsalla, about 70 volunteers instructed the girls – including student members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering undergraduate honor society, and Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering student honor society.

Read more about the event in an ASU State Press article.