Around&About

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 4/1/2000

Who says girls don't like math or science?

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers, for one. SME's Education Foundation plans to invest over $300,000 in a three-year program to attract girls and minorities to careers in manufacturing and technology, thanks to a recent grant. Minnesota will be one of the first states to organize a coalition of colleges and universities from different education systems in this coordinated, technology-based outreach program.

The University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., and Alexandria Technical College, Alexandria, Minn., will host the Summer Technology and Engineering Preview, a program targeting sixth and seventh grade girls. The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., will then host an advanced STEPS program for girls in the 10th and 11th grades. Over three years, each school will receive a grant totaling $112,500. The program will reach about 1,400 girls and is based on the STEPS program created by the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1997.

The tuition-free, summer residential program accommodates 160 girls attending classes in four one-week sessions of 40 girls each. Designed to reach girls who are often discouraged from going into science, engineering or technology, STEPS gives girls exposure to math and science courses before they decide which classes to take in middle and high school.