News Release

Contact: Pender M. McCarter, APR, Fellow PRSA
IEEE-USA Director of Communications and Public Relations
Phone: + 1 202 785 0017, ext. 8353
E-Mail: p.mccarter@ieee.org

IEEE Member Who Designs Robotic Explorers to Participate
in EWeek Women's Global Marathon

WASHINGTON (22 March 2005) — Insights and information on engineering careers for girls and young women are the focus of a one-day, around-the-clock Internet and teleconference marathon to be held on Thursday and Friday, 24-25 March. The "Global Marathon For, By, and About Women in Engineering" will run at the Engineers Week (EWeek) web site at www.eweek.org, from noon Eastern Time (ET), Thursday, 24 March, to noon ET Friday, 25 March.

Dr. Ayanna Howard, a senior robotics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasdena, Calif., and an IEEE member who works on Mars rover designs, will discuss her job and how she can make robots better at helping people, during a 30-minute teleconference scheduled from 10-10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, 24 March. To hear Dr. Howard describe her job, the toll-free call-in number is +1 866 617 1530, and the participant passcode is 3620389. Please note: only 20 callers can be accommodated in a telephone session.

Dr. Howard's position was one of 10 "dream jobs" described in the February 2005 issue of IEEE Spectrum. Read the Spectrum article at www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/feb05/0205djob1.html.

Also participating for the IEEE's Women in Engineering affinity group are: Maryam Al Thani, on "Encouraging Young Women in Engineering in the United Arab Emirates" (Friday, 25 March, 1:30-2:00 a.m. ET); and Jyothi Ramaswamy, on "Being a Woman Engineer in India" (Friday, 25 March, 5:00-5:30 a.m. ET).

Other marathon highlights include a session on encouraging girls to go into engineering, led by astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

The Global Marathon goal, says EWeek organizers, is to heighten awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics issues among precollege, college and young career women, as well as to address retaining women in college engineering programs and in the workplace.

The marathon kicks off with a session from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, sponsored by 2005 Engineers Week co-chair ASME, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and featuring Olympic swimmer Siobhan Cropper. The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) will lead a chat on Latinas and technology. A conference originating in Scotland, and hosted by a woman engineer from BP, will examine transitioning from liberal arts to an engineering career.

Other marathon segments will originate from Qatar, India, China, Canada, and across the United States. Hosts for the final half hour on Friday, 25 March, from 11:30 a.m. to noon ET, are ASME and Engineers Without Borders, which brings sustainable, long-term benefits to impoverished communities around the globe.

A complete schedule of topics and speakers is available at www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/24-hour.shtml. For access information, go to the EWeek site at www.eweek.org.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public policy interests of the more than 220,000 technology professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to www.ieeeusa.org.

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Last Update:  15 May 2007
Staff Contact: Pender M. McCarter, p.mccarter@ieee.org