Seaford HS Connects Female Students with Women in Engineering Fields

Determined to propel more female students at into engineering fields, School-to-Career Coordinator Lauren Thompsen offered educational avenues to introduce promising students to women engineers who can share their experiences and knowledge of the field.

“Women are underrepresented in the field of engineering, and in most career fields involving science, technology, engineering and math or STEM fields,” said Thompsen, who also teaches computer science and pre-engineering at the school. “Female students are also underrepresented in STEM high school classes.  It was decided that our female student population would benefit from learning more about the exciting and productive career opportunities engineering affords."

Seaford students Marissa Dunn, Danielle Pearse, Elena Alberti, Deidre Muirhead, Catherine Vasquez, Dallas Zabawski, Meghan Harrington, Renee Savino, Samantha Coggins, Valerie Insardi, Brynne Wilkinson, Melissa Yannetti and Lisa Chin were recommended by their teachers as having potential to succeed in an engineering field. The students, who come from Advanced Placement math and science courses, were invited to attend a Career Exploration event at the high school earlier this year.

The Career Exploration event introduced the students to two women engineers from the aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman including Kristie D’Ambrosio of Wantagh and Janet Hagerman. D’Ambrosio shared her recent collegiate experiences culminating with degrees in Computer Engineering and Artificial Intelligence from MIT. Hagerman offered a visual presentation about the many applications derived from various engineering fields.

After the Career Exploration event, the group was invited to Northrop Grumman in Bethpage to see the working environment and products of some of the engineers.  Coordinated by Vicki Payne, manager of corporate citizenship for the corporation, the students learned first-hand about the various engineering applications that are performed there. The engineers stressed the diverse opportunities available to individuals in their field

“Students particularly enjoyed visiting the anechoic chamber or “sound” room where they test various devices and they appreciated the chance to ask engineers questions about anything related to their careers,” Thompsen said.

The next chapter in this exploration, according to Thompsen, will involve creating a few teams, both male and female, to compete in the KidWind competition at the Cradle of Aviation Museum and Learning Center, which takes place May 4.  The students will engineer a wind turbine that includes designing the fan blades of the turbine for maximum energy output under a resistance or load. 

“The students are excited about this hands-on experience,” Thompsen said. “We look forward to seeing what they produce.”