K-12 Linkage for Women Engineers- Students Creating Courseware for Other Students

Engineering education techniques have been changing at a tremendous pace over the past several years; a significant portion of these changes have been to recruit and retain women in engineering programs. Iowa State University is committed to these changes in engineering education and is implementing new programs for high school and undergraduate women interested in science and engineering related fields. The Program for Women in Science and Engineering (PWSE} began offering paid internship programs for both high school and undergraduate female students in 1987, with the objective to provide research experiences for talented women and to build their confidence in science and engineering related fields [ 1]. The six week program gives outstanding female high school students the chance to work independently on a research project with an ISU faculty member. Starting with eleven high school interns in 1987, the program has since had 137 high school students complete the program