A TEAM of female engineering heroes from Aston University’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences has banded together to encourage girls into STEM careers.
As part of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), the world’s largest initiative to celebrate the achievements of women in engineering, Aston University’s very own team of engineers have shown themselves to be the very best STEM superheroes.
Dressed in capes and taking selfies for the event on Wednesday, June 23, female ambassadors from the College, in collaboration with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology, have also put together video content to show off their engineering skills and become ‘heroes’ for girls wanting to do the same.
Also launching on the day will be a competition for participating schools linked to Aston University. Girls are being challenged to come up with their own superhero gadget / gizmo idea.
Professor Sarah Hainsworth OBE FREng, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Aston University, said they were proud to be a part of INWED2021.
“It is so important to us to encourage more girls into STEM subjects. Our hope is that through our teaching, and our partnership with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology many will follow in the footsteps of our incredible team and be the STEM leaders of the future.
“At Aston University, we work on sustainability for the environment, bioengineering, robotics, machine learning, sensors, communications, artificial intelligence, technologies for future vehicles and the issues that shape our future.”
Currently the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences has 25 per cent female academic staff (the UK STEM staff benchmark being 17 – 19 per cent).
The amount of female students studying engineering subjects at Aston University has also grown over the past five years from 22 per cent to – 27 per cent, above the UK STEM benchmark of 17 per cent to 19 per cent.
