Summer Research Program Offers Opportunities to Young Women

National studies indicate that women hold just 12 percent of science and engineering jobs even though they make up 45 percent of the workforce. The University of Cincinnati Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program is working to change that.

Nineteen University of Cincinnati undergraduate women are earning money while learning more about science and engineering careers this summer during the WISE Research Experience for Women Undergraduates program.

The program pairs each student with a mentor in a science, medical or engineering lab on UC's main or medical campus. The students also meet each week as a group to share information about their projects, learn more about graduate school options, and hear presentations from faculty experts.

There has been 100 percent retention of participants in the program during its first three years on campus, and many of those students credit the program with giving them the confidence they needed to succeed in science and engineering.

This year's students are working in fields as diverse as aerospace engineering, biological sciences, and geography. Previous participants have helped find better ways to protect threatened species, assisted on cancer research, studied global climate change, and analyzed the communications difficulties inherent in cell phone communication.

The list of participants in the 2002 WISE//REWU program are: Elise Minda, Chizoba Ukpabi, Mirjana Gajic, Heather Marshall, Stephanie Peters, Jenna Berndsen, Margo Brehm, Rachel Lieberman, Neha Patel, Heather Sullens, Meridith Tucker, Rebecca Hamilton, Robyn Coleman, Kristen Litteral, Kelly Bretelson, Courtney Brown, Meha Singh, Kari Theurer, and Noeet Elitsur.

The program coordinator is Urmila Ghia, professor of mechanical engineering, and Rebecca German, professor of biological sciences, is the director of the WISE program.

"The UC WISE program assists women in science & engineering to attain their full potential as students and faculty," said German. "This kind of support is really critical because women are traditionally under-represented in the pool of professional scientists and engineers. This under-representation exists at all levels of academia and the public and private sectors, from students through professionals."

Other major activities of the WISE program include mentor-mentee workshops, outreach to high schools and working on retention of women in the residence halls with Dawn Wilson.

Find out about last year's WISE/REWU participants and their projects.