San Diego State University reflects an industry in transition.

Luz Enriquez is not your grandaddy’s engineer.

From a young age, the 27-year-old native of Mexico excelled at math. She outperformed most of the boys in her physics and calculus classes.

Encouragement from her high school teachers at the CETYS Universidad Preparatoria in Tijuana persuaded Enriquez to study engineering. She enrolled in community college in San Diego, then, transferred to San Diego State University to complete an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.

Minh Tam Chau and Dave Szymanski completing a
project for a teacher training workshop.

Now an SDSU graduate student, Enriquez is working to improve the design and operation of a heart pump for patients with heart failure.

As physicians consider the pump’s role in long-term cardiac care, Enriquez and her mentor, professor Karen May-Newman, are studying what mechanical changes the device may produce in the operation of the heart valves and cardiovascular system. Their research is sponsored by the American Heart Association.

In the minority

Enriquez’s grades and research work should guarantee her a job in the industry when she completes her master’s degree. Then, she’ll face a different challenge – working in a male-dominated field. There are still few women and even fewer Hispanics in the engineering world.

Figures released by the Engineering Workforce Commission in 2003 indicate that women receive about 14 percent of the U.S. university degrees awarded in mechanical and electrical engineering; 16 percent in computer engineering; 18 percent in aerospace engineering and 22.5 percent in civil engineering.

At the same time, Hispanic engineering enrollment is only 5.71 percent of total engineering enrollment nationwide, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers as calculated by HENAAC, an industry group.

HENAAC was established to document and honor the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American professionals in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines. But its mission has changed with the changing needs of industry.

Today, HENAAC works closely with schools and colleges to direct students of both genders and all ethnicities toward careers in the STEM disciplines. The survival instinct is kicking in.

An urgent appeal

In the decade after former President John F. Kennedy committed America to “landing a man on the Moon and returning him back safely to the earth,” millions of schoolchildren aspired to be astronauts. Interest in the sciences, math and engineering intensified as NASA became a symbol of the country’s best and brightest.

Mark Barker building a circuit board.

But enthusiasm for the space program faded during the last decades of the 20th century. Young engineers and physical scientists were suddenly in short supply.

In 2006, the National Academies, the country’s leading advisory group on science and technology, published a controversial report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” It predicted the erosion of U.S. prominence in science and technology worldwide.

To prevent that decline, the report said, the federal government must act urgently on several fronts – among them improving K-12 science and math education and recruiting top students for careers in science and engineering.

Project Lead the Way

“Rising Above the Gathering Storm” spawned new STEM-oriented initiatives and energized several that already existed. Among the latter group was Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a not-for-profit organization that promotes pre-engineering courses for middle and high school students.

PLTW partnerships with schools, higher education institutions and the private sector aim to increase the quantity and quality of engineers graduating from U.S. universities.

Carla-Rae Smith and Ron Worley working on a
technology project.

More than 30 public and private colleges across the country are PLTW affiliates. They offer intensive training to educate middle and high school teachers about integrating engineering principles into math and science curriculum.

San Diego State University’s College of Engineering is the California State Affiliate Institute for Project Lead the Way. To date, more than 240 teachers have completed the summer training program, which includes instruction in technology, aerospace engineering, digital electronics and civil engineering and architecture.

Connecting school and real life

“Before I started teaching Project Lead the Way classes, my students didn’t see the relationship between real life and school,” said Omar Garcia, an instructor at Kearny High Educational Complex. “Now, students who take my civil engineering and architecture class are connecting their math, science, English and history classes with engineering, and they see how all of them are intertwined. They say, ‘This is something that I can do as a career.’”

Bridget Barelka from Santana High School completed PLTW training courses at SDSU this summer with the intention of integrating engineering principles into her math classes. She said the intellectual challenges encountered in engineering labs prepare students for the world outside the classroom.

“The kind of learning that occurs in these classes doesn’t happen anywhere else in school,” Barelka said. “I get the opportunity to be a cheerleader and a mentor, particularly for the girls. My presence demonstrates that women can be successful in these careers.”

Successful as in Luz Enriquez, the SDSU graduate student headed for a promising future in an industry that is changing to embrace diversity. But it will be up to Enriquez and her peers to change the public perception of engineers.

“Some people still ask me why I want to be a mechanic,” she said with a rueful grin.

SDSU offers an “engineering compact,” which guarantees admission to the College of Engineering to local students who complete Project Lead the Way courses in high school with a grade of B or higher. The prospective enrollees must also maintain a 3.0 GPA and fulfill certain other academic requirements.

Related information

• SDSU College of Engineering
• Project Lead the Way at SDSU
• Rising Above the Gathering Storm: The National Academies’ Report

Credits

• Story by Coleen L. Geraghty
• Graphics by John Signer
• Photographs courtesy of the SDSU College of Engineering