The University of Auckland is encouraging Year 13 high school girls studying physics and calculus to explore the possibility of a career as an engineer at its upcoming Enginuity Day on Thursday 28 June. Held at The Faculty of Engineering, Enginuity Day will see more than 200 students from 35 secondary schools from across the North Island taking part in the annual event. This year’s theme “Imagine, Innovate, Discover, Design”, will explore the ways in which engineers discover solutions to problems by using their imagination to design innovative answers. Robyn MacLeod, Women in Engineering Equity Adviser, says students will be given a problem and work as a team with students from other schools to come up with a viable solution. Engineers Without Borders will tie this in with their other projects which confront global challenges of poverty, sustainable development and social inequity.
Currently 23 percent of all engineering undergraduates studying engineering at The University of Auckland are female, a figure the University hopes to eventually increase to 50 percent. “By holding Enginuity Day we are actively encouraging Year 13 girls to find out more about the broad range of opportunities a career in engineering can offer them,” she says. “Various workshop activities demonstrating the creativity and problem solving processes that all engineers use in real life will give the students the chance to try engineering with a hands-on approach.”
Students will hear from:
Dr Elizabeth Fassman, Senior Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering talking about her current research projects on full scale living roofs (aka green roofs), permeable pavement, bioretention (rain gardens), and constructed wetlands.
Associate Professor Ros Archer, (Engineering Science) who will outline innovative energy solutions using oil, wind farm design, gas and geothermal energy.
Dr Michelle Dickinson, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Materials whose exploration into the world of nanotechnology will open your eyes to the invisible world.
Later in the day current engineering students will talk about what it is like to study engineering and the many academic and social organisations that students can belong to at The University of Auckland.
To find out more Enginuity Day 2012, please see www.engineering.auckland.ac.nz.
