Engineering, Golf, and Women in STEM

The number of women obtaining bachelor’s degrees in engineering and engineering technologies has increased by 149 percent in the 20 years between 2000 and 2020, reported the National Center for Education Statistics. And while there are still more men who major in engineering, the percentage of women in comparison to men in that same 20-year period has grown from 18.4 percent to 23 percent. 

However, there are still challenges keeping women in the field of engineering. In 2021, 53.4 percent of women with engineering degrees who graduated up to five years prior held engineering-related jobs, reported the Society of Women Engineers. However, for that same year, the percentage fell to 26.8 percent for women who finished their degrees between 11 and 15 years prior.

Teresa Curvin, engineer and educator, recently spoke with ASME about women, the power of networking, and the future of STEM education. We joined her from South Carolina where she is working with other education professionals to create the curriculum that will reach, encourage, and teach the next generation of engineers: 

Q: In your dissertation, “Women Engineers: How Golf Affects Their Careers,” you studied golfing as part of the role of CEO. What is it about golf that tends to lend itself to business?

TC: Golf is seen as an extension of the business environment. About 80 percent of new business contacts are made on the golf course. And studies have shown that 90 percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies golf. So you can see where those two marry very closely. Sadly enough, though, only 20 percent of those female CEOs play golf. 

However, what business and golfing is about is networking. So while some women enjoy the networking aspect—they enjoy getting out and playing golf—others found themselves being forced to participate and getting out of that comfort zone. They didn't necessarily want to, but they saw that it definitely was a way that they could get facetime with those that they needed to meet with. 

Q: Setting aside the C-suite, your paper mentions that very often women engineers leave the technical side of engineering. What are the human factors that surround those decisions?

TC: When I was researching this topic, I kept coming upon the same statistic. Women are still the main primary caregivers of families and women make that decision to take the step back to be a mother. There’s not anything wrong with it. It's just a fact of life. And so when they’re doing that, what ends up happening, is they’re getting less valuable time to build those skills that are necessary to jump to those C-suite positions.

But the other interesting fact that I found. And I'm one of these people having been an engineer for 20 years and leaving to become an educator. Women often change careers. Maybe engineering isn’t exactly what they had envisioned that it was going to be. Or maybe they get in there and fall into another area. For me, I was a quality manager and ended up doing corporate training. And that's how I ultimately pursued education.

So it’s not necessarily that they want to give up technical skills. And I call it a “leadership labyrinth,” where our career paths aren't straight up an escalator. It's a series of twists and turns where we're constantly learning and growing.

Q: In your current role what are you trying to accomplish and what kind of challenges have you encountered?

TC: I work with a K-12 public charter school and what we're trying to get started on is work-based learning. We're trying to give students real-world experience. But not only that, it's very important for the students to be exposed to a wide variety of classes. It’s important to learn what you don't like as much as it is important to learn what you do like. 

Right now, our students are required to take two project, lead-the-way courses in 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade. Every student may not necessarily want to take a course in computer science or medical detectives, but having them take these semester-long classes gives them a snippet of experience. And that medical detective class will eventually pair with our biomedical science engineering type courses. Or the flight and space course with the aerospace engineering at the high school level later. 

Q: What do you see as the future of these young engineers in the United States?

TC: I think it's important that universities offer classes on soft skills. You need those kinds of skills Going back to golf. It's like showing people that you have to get out of that office environment to make true connections with others. It doesn't matter what it is called, it's just a matter of getting time away from emails and telephones and just building that rapport with someone outside the office environment. 

Q: Seeing the students now, what makes you optimistic?

TC: We've got some smart kids. I have a couple of former students in Tennessee that have recently graduated with their engineering degrees. And we have some fantastic young people here in South Carolina that want to take courses in math and science. But a lot of people have a negative outlook, take manufacturing. They see manufacturing as dirty and dark. And it's not. Here in South Carolina we have BMW and the manufacturing floor is clean and light. And Michelin is down here too. It's a tire facility, for sure, but it's very bright and clean. So part of the education is trying to change some of those negative mindsets.

Q: What do you see as a key to student success? 

TC: Students are always asking me about engineering, and they say, “I don't have the grades. I'm not smart enough.” I keep stressing to them and definitely to all young people, you don't have to have straight As in math or science. But you have to be proactive. You have to have that perseverance to get the job done. 

I tell them to get out of their comfort zone and try something brand new, whatever that may look like. I always talk about networking. Networking is really important and helps you connect with people who have the same passion. 

One trait that is very important is curiosity. It's wanting to figure out how things work. And students who have initiative are going to be successful. My experience tells me that it is the students who are willing to take things on and help others who tend to make the best engineers. 

Cathy Cecere is membership content program manager.