Female engineers defy stereotypes, build solar car

A group of girls, among them an artist, a ballroom dancer, an athlete, and a ballerina walk across campus on a Thursday night with friends, sharing stories and laughing over Denise's ice cream. Where would you expect to find them on Friday morning? It's very likely that these same girls will be bent over the shell of their self-built solar car, tools in hand and grease on their clothing.

Karen Panetta, Professor of Electrical Engineering, organized the Nerd Girls, a coalition of nine female students dedicated to challenging the stereotype of female engineers.

The mission of the Nerd Girls is to demonstrate that women can be both attractive and intelligent. To that end, the girls have decided to do a documentary that will not only record their construction of a solar powered car, but that will also follow them around in their daily activities.

Filming for the documentary, to be entitled Nerd Girls: Breaking the Stigmas and Stereotypes of Women in Engineering, began in April. The documentary shows the girls working on the car, going out to eat, clubbing, and just hanging out with friends to illustrate that real girls can be engineers.

Though solid plans have not been made about the future of the documentary, the Nerd Girls are confident that it will be greeted with enthusiasm. A video clip is currently posted at http://nerdgirls.eecs.tufts.edu. The video shows the girls' progress thus far.

To spread the word about their group, the Nerd Girls will be doing a number of things. For example, they will race the solar car this May in the Tour de Sol and a trip to Maine where the "Girls" will speak at public schools is also in the works. Additionally, during spring break, the girls will go to Disney World. Their mode of transportation? The solar car, of course.

The car, named the Anne E.B. in memory of former Tufts student Anne Borghesami who was murdered a year after she graduated, was constructed as a blueprint for a second car that will be built for racing. Since this was the girls' first experience with building a solar car, they decided that it would be wise to create a preliminary "learning vehicle."

Panetta said that the recent wave of reality TV shows triggered her idea for the formation of the Nerd Girls. She says that these shows imply that a woman must be beautiful to compete successfully. "I want everyone to know that if you pursue an education in engineering, you will be successful," Panetta said. The point the Nerd Girls are trying to get across is that these "talented and beautiful girls are going to be engineers."

The documentary will follow the team through graduation, and will culminate in the World Solar Challenge in Australia in November of 2003. Until then, the girls are taking it one day at a time. They have entered the design phase of the second car and are busy planning outreach programs designed to reach young girls, particularly those in elementary school.

Jenny Witkin, a senior computer engineer major, describes how excited she was to be approached to join the project. "Building [the car] is such a huge task, especially considering none of us knew how to do it beforehand," she said. "But it's the outreach aspect of it that's the true challenge; getting through to young girls... letting them know they can achieve goals."

Whereas the Nerd Girls did not necessarily have female engineer role models, the future generation of women engineers will.

"Just the fact that [the Nerd Girls] are there will pull [the younger girls] in," Witkin said. The outreach meetings, which will be geared towards young girls, will mainly consist of presentations of the solar car.

Senior Megan Schwartz, who works with children every week for the Tufts Literacy Corps, says that the outreach dimension of the program will give the Nerd Girls the extra "oomph" they need during the week, and that the excitement they glean from the kids will help carry them through the project.

Even after these Nerd Girls graduate, Panetta has no intention of phasing out the group and she is always looking for new members. "We're here for anyone willing to get their hands dirty," Panetta said.