US-Liberia Workshop on Engineering Leadership; Monrovia, Liberia; 13-26 August 2019

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This award, co-funded by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation and the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, supports travel for members of the Society of Women Engineers at the University of Michigan to travel to Monrovia, Liberia in August 2019 for a workshop and training program for rising female engineering leaders. The University of Michigan team members represent Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School for the Environment and Sustainability, and Materials Science Engineering. This workshop provides an unprecedented educational, training and mentoring opportunity for Engineering students to work with peers from an African university, with the objective of Broadening Participation in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Manufacturing Research. The University of Michigan student group will partner with the Liberia Society of Women Engineers student organization for an Engineering leadership camp for 40 female STEM students. The goals of this camp are two-fold (i) to empower the US and Liberian women engineers with the skills, support, and inspiration necessary to becoming successful and well- rounded engineering professionals; and (ii) to strengthen the community of female engineers in the US and Liberia by building cross-cultural partnerships among female engineering students, resulting in a global network of women engineers. The undergraduate students will participate in workshops led by Engineering graduate students which will include an overview of the graduate school application process, GRE preparation, proposal writing, resume building, networking skills, and hands-on engineering projects focused on Civil and Mechanical Engineering. Additionally, the US and Liberian undergraduate students will lead workshops on student organization development and STEM outreach in order to strengthen their organization and provide strategies for persisting and thriving as part of underrepresented minority groups in engineering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.