IEEE/WIE & Ryerson's Joint Panel Discussion March 2009:

Panel Discussion
Becoming a Successful Engineer

ROPES 2009 Report

*Please note that our ROPES Program is currently under review. Updates will be available once the details have been finalized. We appreciate your patience & look forward to working with you in the near future!

FREE Programs for Students, Parents and Teachers

Program Listings and Descriptions

Ready, Set, Go! Discover Engineering Classroom Presentations

Girl's Club (Depending on Demand)

Engineering Week Events

Women in Engineering

The Discover Engineering program was established with the purpose of encouraging young people, especially women, to pursue careers in science, technology, or engineer­ing. Launched in 1991 as a week-long summer camp for young women in high school, Discover Engineering has since expanded to include a one-day career conference for high school girls and a one-day Girl Guides conference for girls aged 9 to 12, as well as workshops that are presented directly in co-ed high school classrooms. The program is delivered by Ryerson faculty, support staff, and students.

Discover Engineering reached more than 1,700 students in 2004. Some 1,500 participated in the high school workshops, 100 in the Girl Guides conference, 90 in the career conference, and 50 in the summer camp.

These outreach initiatives have allowed the Women In Engineering (WIE) Committee to study the attitudes of high school students towards engineering, in order to identify barriers that may exist for young women, and to analyze the impact of the outreach activities. Recent journal publications include:

* Anderson , L.S. and Gilbride, K.A., “Pre-university outreach: Encouraging students to consider engineering careers,” Global Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2003, pp. 87-93.

Recent conference papers include:

* Anderson , L.S. and Gilbride, K.A., “Discover Engineering: Assessing the impact of out­reach programs,” Proc. 10th CCWEST Conference: Let’s Get Growing, CCWEST 2004, St. Catharines , Canada , 2004.

* Anderson , L.S. and Gilbride, K.A., “Bringing engineering to K-12 classrooms – Initiatives and results,” Proc. American Society for Engineering Education, ASEE 2003, Nashville , USA , 2003.

In 2004, Ryerson’s Women in Engineering program, in particular the Discover Engineering High School Workshop program, received funding from numerous industrial partners and the following organizations:

* Science and Engineering Research Canada (NSERC) awarded $30,000 in PromoScience funding to provide Discover Engineering High School Workshops in Toronto-area high schools.

* The Ontario Women’s Directorate provided $50,000 in Partners for Change funding to present additional workshops in rural and remote areas of the province.

* General Electric has committed $90,000 U.S. to Discover Engineering, through the GE Foundation, to continue the expansion of this program across the province.