AS THE 2011 WOMEN IN ENGINEERING (WiE) liaison for the Microwave Theory & Techniques Society (MTT-S), my first initiative was to examine the statistics. I hoped that they would give me a glimpse of the percentage of women in the MTT-S, where they are located, and a sense as to their current status. I looked at the numbers provided by the IEEE Sami database and found key statistics for women in the MTT-S (WiMWomen in Microwave Engineering), which are shown in the Figure.
In the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, the percentage of females pursuing engineering careers looks to be greater than any region within the US. While the US numbers strike me as low, they do seem to be demonstrative of the real-world ratio of men-to-women at the various conferences and events that I attend.
Also, they support educational statistics from organizations such as the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), which I estimate to be roughly 10% of female engineers for US institutions. Similarly, the overall IEEE WiE data shows roughly 10% of all engineers being femalewith some facets of engineering being higher (like computer engineering) and others lower (like our own microwaves and RF space).
Of course, not all women engineers join the IEEE as members, due to a variety of factors. Out of those who do belong to the IEEE, however, a number are IEEE fellows who are members of MTT-S. Quite a few are currently active, as can be seen in this breakdown by region:
NORTH AMERICA
Leda M. Lunardi .......R3
Zorana (Zoya) Popovic .................R5
Julie E. Fouquet ......R6
Dalma Novak ..........R2
Cindy M. Furse ........R6
Susan C. Hagness ... R4
Jennifer T. Bernhard..R4
Debabani Choudhury ............R6
Kawthar A. Zaki .......R2
Evelyn L. Hu .............R1
Linda B. Katehi .........R6
Mona E. Zaghloul ....R2
EUROPE
Maria S. Sarto .........R8
ASIA-PACIFIC
Janina Mazierska.....55
As the 2011 WiE liaison for MTT-S, it is clear to me that we need to make efforts to strengthen and grow our current membership. I welcome your ideas. You can reach me at wim-wie@ieee.org or reach out to any other 2011 WIM Committee members:
Dominique SchererK.U. Leuven, Div. ESATTELEMIC, in Leuven, Belgium
Kate RemleyNational Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, CO
Rashuanda HendersonProfessor at University of Texas Dallas
Sherry HessVP of Marketing at AWR Corp.