1st Year Female Engineers at Cal Poly to Assist Recruitment and Retention

Since my last research progress report, we have completed a lot of our project. Dr. Lehr edited and produced the final version of our survey. Some questions that we added was listing the three most important reasons for choosing engineer as their major; what other majors or universities did they consider switching to; their thoughts on what a “good engineer” should entail; and how they perceive their position in engineering compared to their male counterparts. I have just finished typing up all the questions onto Survey Monkey but we still need to format some of the questions better and figure out the range of some of the questions (questions like: what year are you born, when did you graduate high school). Also, there is not that many question formats on Survey Monkey, so I had to make separate some questions within questions. We also may want to think about how much room we should allow them to write. I kept a lot at 50 words, but we may want to extend the amount.

We also completed the IRB (Institutional Review Board) forms for the Human Subjects Committee, since we are giving our survey out to Cal Poly students and need to get an approval before having subjects take the survey. In the IRB packet, we included the Human Subjects Protocol Approval Form, Informed Consent Form, Cover Page, and our Final Survey Draft.

For the Human Subjects Protocol Approval Form, we projected the duration to be a year-long (from February 2011 to February 2012). We also have to include possible risks and what measure will be taken to minimize those risks. We included that there may be minor psychological risks that may occur and provided consultation from either Helene Finger, the director of Women’s Engineering Program and also a researcher for this project, and also Cal Poly’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Also, possible incentives for participations may be a raffle to be entered to win prizes that may include campus gifts. We only need a “minimal review” since there’s no deception of the subjects involved and there are not a lot of risks involved in our study and subjects are remained anonymous and cannot be identified by the researchers.

For our Informed Consent Form, we made it clear to our participants the possible risks and the consultation. We also inform them that it will take 20 to 30 minutes long, except now I think we should change it to 25 to 35 because of the increase amount of questions. We also made it clear that they will remain anonymous throughout the whole study and will never be asked to provide their name.

Our cover page basically stated our purpose and methods. Our purpose is to assist Cal Poly’s Women’s Engineering Program with the recruitment and retention of female engineering students. WEP (Women’s engineering program) will supply the contact information for the female engineering majors in College of Engineering and also BioResource and Agricultural Engineering (BRAE) and Architectural Engineering (ARCE) that is in other colleges.

We are very close to being done with all the preparations to send out the survey. We just need to edit the survey layout a bit on SurveyMonkey.com. Also, we need to wait for the approval from the Human’s Subjects Committee to continue on in our research project.

Is Turkey's Example One We Could Take?

Looking at the example of women engineers in Turkey demonstrates a paradox of modern success for women and also the typical struggles women face in the sciences. In large part, Turkey's historical process of modernization, has made it stand out as an ideal model for women in engineering. Zengin-Arslan, says in her article on women in engineering in Turkey, that "relatively high representations of women in the fields of science and technology in Turkey is not a result of feminist policies that have been deliberately carried out. There are other social, political and institutional factors…" This brings up an interesting point claiming that the policies developed to encourage women in the sciences in Turkey and other nations around the world were different. In Turkey, women in the higher classes were encouraged by their families and also state policies when the Republic of Turkey was being established to gain a higher education. As women became more highly educated they came to hold roles in the political realms. While in the U.S. the first instances of women in the sciences was during World War 2 with the absence of the male workforce. Perhaps the difference between the surge of women engineers in Turkey and the women engineers in the United States was that Turkey consciously facilitated the presence of women in the scientific workforce and in the United States it occurred in response to the war effort. Therefore when the war was over, "Although many women are continuing on their wartime mathematical jobs, it is difficult to say how much of the gain will be in terms of permanent opportunities for women" (Light, 1998). Therefore a much different sentiment was established of women in the scientific workforce in Turkey than in the U.S.

I am still searching for more information regarding comparisons of salaries made by Turkish women vs. men engineers. However there are many statistics regarding the higher percentage of women in "feminine" sciences, including: food engineering (52%), environmental (48%) and a lower percentage of Turkish women in mechanical (10%) and electrical (11%). This reflects a similar distribution in the U.S. of more women in the biological fields of engineering. Although, 40% of engineers are women in Turkey compared to the 13.5% of women in the (Davidson and Burke, 2004) engineering workforce in the United States (DPE Research Department, 2008). Similarly to the U.S. women in Turkey experience discrimination in education, since there is more pressure for boys to attend school than girls, and being treated as inferiors in a field dominated by men. In Turkey, "it is argued that they define discrimination in terms of legal regulations and conceive it in more overt forms" (Zengin-Arslan, 2002). Yet women in both countries are still experiencing similar forms of discrimination.

Therefore it appears that within Turkey, women still face similar institutionalized sexism and lack of equality with men in regards to their presence in the engineering workforce. However due to the historical progress of Turkey and its political modernization, it has higher percentages of female engineers than does the United States.

Davidson, Marilyn J. and Burke, Ronald J. Women in Management Worldwide: Facts,

Figures and Analysis. Ashgate Publishing Company: 2004 Burlington, VT.

Zengin-Arslan, Berna. Women in Engineering Education in Turkey: Understanding

the Gendered Distribution. 2002 Int. J. Ed. Vol. 18 No. 4 pp. 400-408

Light, Jennifer S. When Computers Were Women. Technology and Culture,

1999 Vol. 40 No. 3 pp.455-483

To continue my exploration of German Engineering, I turn again to the original focus of my research—the environmentalism of Audi and BMW. I have been continually pleased by the substantial efforts taken by both companies to ensure sustainability. Both companies view sustainability as economic and environmental, and that they have a social responsibility to be as sustainable as possible. Again, and especially with Audi, I found that their commitment to sustainability goes beyond just the cars on the road. Parking garages covered with solar panels, water saving circulation systems in different processes of manufacturing, and even using engine tests to generate power and heating for the plants are just some of the ways that Audi’s engineers have shown that they are serious about their commitment to the environment.
“Green washing” is the term used to describe the over-use and often-illegitimate use of green marketing that many companies have used in their advertising campaigns. In a world of facades and false fronts, especially in marketing and corporations, it’s difficult to trust companies when they say that they are “going green.” Some companies even make small changes in some areas to provide data for their feaux environmental consciousness. Audi and BMW aren’t green washers; they have demonstrated commitment and it should pay off. Their green efforts are not solely inspired by their love for Mother Earth, environmentalism is also a business-savvy move. Sure they’re saving money on electricity, water and their heating bill with these sustainable manufacturing plants, but eco-enthusiasts would much rather support companies like Audi and BMW than companies that produce gas guzzlers at old, inefficient coal burning plants. Eventually, whether companies become subject to tougher environmental legislation (that’ll take a while in the United States’, shall we say, deliberate? Government) or they wake up one smoggy morning with a sore throat and a guilty heart (probably less likely than legislation getting passed and enforced within the next decade) or if they realize that sustainability is profitable (money always makes the difference), all automobile manufactures will take the same measures that the Germans are already touting. Audi and BMW are already ahead of the curve, and not just because they build finer automobiles, but because they recognize and strive for progress, it’s just the German way. ‘Vorsprung durch technik’… progress through technology. Simple, efficient, and well, progressive. Perhaps once the translation gets through to the American automobilers, they, too, will begin to advance. Detroit is a hard-working city, and it has been for a long time. It’s tough, and so are the folks who live there. It’s citizens have pride in their past, and luckily the manufacturing plants got bailouts to keep those citizens working… kind of. Tradition is important, we learn much from our history, but at some point I’d rather drive a car to work than a horse and buggy. Progress is the name of the game. The technology in stores is already outdated compared to what the companies are showing off at trade shows. The assembly-line was a wonderful invention, a hundred years ago, its time to assemble cars in line with the Germans, efficiently and sustainably. It just makes sense.

Research Progress Report #2

Research Progress Report #2

Mariel Emanuel

ES 410

2/22/11

As I have explained before in my previous posts I believe engineering is lacking aspects of creativity and diversity. This is not only affecting the type of products being produced, it is leading to the continual perpetuation of patriarchal values and morals into the field of engineering. In order to confront these biased roots of engineering and increase ingenuity within the field we must incorporate a multiplicity of engineers/researchers that come from a variety of backgrounds in order to tackle the assortment of new issues that are confronting scientists/engineers every day. In order to do this we must not only focus on recruit of women and colored engineers but most importantly, we need to focus on an education reform which involves incorporating more of the humanities into engineering education. Recruitment of diverse types of engineers may temporarily solve our need for more diversity/creativity in the field; however, if these “new” engineers remain trained under the academic paradigm that was created to uphold patriarchal values then we have not completely solved the problem. In my current research I am wondering how and why we have lost the “human” or “craft” in engineering? And what can we do about it?

I believe that the socially constructed separation of humanities and engineering was a socio-political tactic used by governments in order to preserve the patriarchal values and hierarchies inherent in STEM fields. By looking at the creation of humanities and the separation of the subject from engineering in France and Italy it is clear that the humanities were created under a strict socio-political agenda and were indeed strategically deemed a second class field of study because of the states desire to separate the “human” from the technical. For example, at the first Polytechnic school located in France there was a clear and constructed separation of humanities from engineering and in 1859 Italy followed in their footsteps with the Casati Law which proposed a “rigid separation between classical and technical culture”*. And it was only in 1976 that Frances most prestigious polytechnic school decided it was time to add a humanities department.

Now we can see that the separation of the humanities and engineering was deliberate and did not just randomly occur. This is so very interesting to me because “the humanities are commonly seen as being aimed at understanding or comprehending reality as opposed to the sciences of nature which are limited to explaining phenomena”*;however, shouldn’t the understanding or reality be necessary for the explanation? So why is it that the comprehension of reality is separated from the explaining?

Since hierarchies have been ever present within the creation of engineering, this separation seems to be a clear tactic aimed at keeping these hierarchies in place. By subtly placing one type of knowledge (the explaining of reality) above another (the understanding of reality) our society is inevitably keeping the hierarchies in place. This is very dangerous because the current engineering education being taught favors this biased hierarchy of knowledge which clearly reflects the ideals of patriarchy. The ideals of patriarchy predictably work against the inclusion of women and people of color into STEM fields which in turn inhibits the potential for new creative/diverse perspectives. Therefore, through an education reform we must call for a “renewed effort to integrate the techno-scientific and humanistic spheres in order to recover a global vision of problems through a reciprocal relation between explaining and comprehending”*.

All in all, in order to create the most innovative/fair engineering products we must get the HUMANities perspective back into engineering education. Engineering has become so closely linked with technology that it is making it harder and harder for an engineer to even apply their technological knowledge to real human problems that need to be solved. By incorporating more of the humanities into STEM fields we could begin to combat the hierarchies at play within STEM fields and ensure a better-rounded, wholesome education for engineering students.

*Russo, Maria. "The Newcomers: Humanities in Engineering Education." University, Rome, Italy. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. .

Australian Engineers: A whole new outlook

Australian Engineering has developed to a very different perspective when compared to British and United States engineering. The investigation started out with the idea of ‘what it means to be Australian’. The development of the Australian identity has contributed to the ideals of the common Australian, as well as given non-nationals a way of associating stereotypical characteristics to generalize people originating from Australia. After little investigation, one can find that the Australian citizens globally identify in the world community as people able to make something of nothing, being able to survive in a tougher than tough environment—and thrive; As Sarah Cousins states in her article, National Identity, “The myth of the ‘Australian Type’ is shaped by society’s contemporary dominant ideologies. Over time, political and social ideology has shaped views on morality, character, race, values and religion, and has led in many cases to active discrimination and a subversive ‘writing out’ of certain sections of society from our national history.” To further her claim of the “’writing out’ of certain sections of society” she comments on the political acknowledgement of aboriginal people: “It took until 1967 before Aboriginal people were accorded basic citizenship rights and were counted in the national census of the Australian people” (Cousins, 2005). She further explains that the aboriginal people in Australia were not even acknowledged by law until 1992. She states it best with:
Prior to this, the country’s original inhabitants were not even counted as citizens. It was not until the High Court’s Mabo v Qld decision in 1992, that the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ was not recognised by the common law. Australia’s legal system finally acknowledged that Australia was not an empty continent. Prior to this, Aboriginal people simply did not exist within the eyes of the law as a sovereign people.
The idea that a person is not counted as a person in the current times gives an antebellum tone to the current Australian culture. The indifference to pleasure and pain, the idea of everyone being equals politically, economically, and socially, is something that nearly every community outwardly strives toward. However, it is interesting to see that even through the ideals of a nation people can so obviously be ignored. What makes a society develop a mindset that values equality, yet ignores its people? How does it affect the culture and influence the workplace? And most specifically, how has that perspective shaped how the engineering profession has developed in Australia so differently from the United States and the United Kingdom? This research attempts to answer those questions as best as possible.
Australia, with 22.6 million people today, only has 11 engineering colleges (Australian Education Network). This raises the question, why are there so few engineering universities in Australia? There are 319 private and public engineering schools and programs in the United States (UnivSource) and the United Kingdom has 37 engineering colleges and programs (iMahal). How does the low number of schools affect the prestige of the career in Australia? How will this affect the people and their ideas of engineering and its importance? Does having so few engineering colleges and programs affect how the profession is treated, or even second guessing if it qualifies as a profession?

The Young Ambassadors for Science was established by the Chief Scientist of Australia, who plans to resign 4 Mar 2011. This program provides a connection between “top high school science students from the National Youth Science Forum with their communities, each other and the YAS alumni, and the Chief Scientist. The program encourages students to be involved in science through a variety of community events, contributions to key debates in the scientific arena and fosters a life-long appreciation for science”(Milestones article by Chief Scientist Prof Sackett). This could be a source of growth in the Engineering and Science fields within Australia.

I think I have found a number of narrowing topics within the Australian view of engineering, and look forward to investigating more into the prestige and stigmas with the engineering profession in Australia. If you have any suggestions, please comment on what may be interesting, or what you think would be most interesting to focus in on within what I have mentioned above!

Business Card Etiquette Around the World

The significance of differing business card etiquette's around the world allows each countries cultural and societal norms to easily be shared in the business world with only one small piece of paper. Each country over time has instilled their unique cultural practices that have accumulated over many years into one piece of paper and one business transaction. A business card should not be seen as merely contact information, yet it should be thought of information from an individual that is upheld by the country he/she is representing. Not only are the business cards themselves important, so is the etiquette in which individuals handle the business card. Japan, Middle East, Africa, etc. all have different cultural norms when handling business cards making it key to understand and practice these professional standards that are expected of each business man/woman before hand.

As we have studied previously, Japan and China’s business practices has changed their societies culture as a whole. Along with the increase of production being shipped to these two overseas countries, so did the increase of demand for international businessmen/woman. For example, the Japanese business people are depicted as very hard working, there mind is always on the job, and precise. These cultural norms that are found within the working place of Japan have been incorporating almost eentirely with how they handle business cards. “Recipients receive business cards with both hands at the beginning of introduction. The Japanese hand their card to the other person while also accepting the other persons.” (Mente) These precise procedures in business etiquette for the Japanese correlate very strongly with Japan’s overall cultural practices.

Just as the Japanese business card reflects the cultural that they have developed, so has the United States business card etiquette. As many would say we are very “relaxed” with comparison to other countries, and it is just as easily seen in the way we do business with business cards. With comparison to countries such as Japan, Russia, and Germany we have created one of the most relaxed cultures that does not give strict rules or procedures pertaining to how business should be run. This easy going culture of ours has found its way into the United States business card etiquette that we use with one another. We have no high expectations or specifications for the ways in which we exchange business cards beside providing a clean unused card. This in some ways allows for business interactions to become more of a casual meeting rather than a formal setting.

Many countries in the Middle East pride their culture on the religion that they practice. Judaism and Islam are strong religious practices of individuals residing in the Middle East which heavily impacts how business is shaped in those countries. For example, “the workweek in most muslim countries runs from Saturday to Wednesday or Thursday morning and prayers are said five times a day, during which time business stops.” (Business) Foreigner business men/woman must know and understand these cultural differences in order to respect their religious practices. Also, in many Middle East countries it is culturally and socially normal for women to rarely be seen, and if seen they are very heavily covered up. It is very clear that the culture of a country can drastically change the business manners and use of business card etiquette that is practiced. It is as though each country has embedded their social and cultural norms within the cards that business men and women carry out in the professional world today.




Sources:

"Business Etiquette in the Middle East -Alibaba Trade Forums." Fashion Trends on Alibaba.com. 4 Apr. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

Mente, Boye. Japanese etiquette & ethics in business . 5th ed. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Passport Books, 1987. Print.

Alana Snelling

Reading Reaction #3: Mediterranean Food

As an American, I have a romantic view of the Mediterranean as a place of “sun kissed rurality” (Billiar). With the ICEX team’s flight to Malta quickly approaching, I am becoming more and more excited for the month we will be spending there. I am looking forward to the entire trip, but am most excited for the food as this is always the best part of international travel. With my stereotype of the Mediterranean, I thought I would be enjoying various pastas and soups filled with sundried tomatoes and flavorful herbs. Unfortunately, as is the case with Malta, stereotypes do not hold true for every member they are applied to. While Malta’s cuisine has significant traces and influences from traditional Mediterranean cuisines, it also has influences from many other cultures. This unique mixing of cuisines is due to Malta’s strategic geographic location. Malta’s location is a transition between Europe, western Asia, and Northern Africa. This has led it to be influenced by many different countries and cultures through interactions and colonization (this includes the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Sicilians, Knights of St. John, and British). Upon learning that Malta’s cuisine was influenced by so many cultures, I became even more excited because I believed that they would just take the best parts of each culture’s cuisines and combine them into many amazing dishes that I have never tasted before. Loving food as much as I do, I naturally chose to read the recommended texts relating to Malta’s food culture. Unfortunately, these readings relate the current state of Malta’s cuisine. In When tradition becomes trendy: social distinction in Maltese food culture Elise Billiar states that “Malta’s young republic is … reproducing the Western romantic notion of the Mediterranean in its search for its own roots”. As a nation confused about its past, Malta is trying to become what is projected onto them by Western Nations. This is sad, because Malta has a diverse past and could be embracing all of the different cultures that have affected it over the years. By doing this, Malta would also be closer to finding its roots.

On a different note, the stereotype situation is quite interesting. At first I had a stereotype of what the food would be like, but I learned about Malta’s past and thought that it could be much more. With more research, I discovered that Malta is trying to adopt the stereotype that I originally had. It is important to note that although they are trying to adopt traditional Mediterranean cuisine, they still have influences from nations that have ruled the island. Also, I will describe some of the steps Malta has taken that are leading to more traditional Mediterranean cuisine. 100,000 olive trees were planted to produce olive oil when Malta has never had olive trees or olive oil. While this is done in part for money (Malta has a climate suitable for olive trees), it depicts Malta’s trend towards becoming the vision that we have of the surrounding region.