Mentornet

The Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, WEPAN, announced a national project, called MentorNet.

The project will use the Internet and e-mail to connect female engineering, science and math students across the country with volunteer mentors employed in scientific and technical fields in private industry. Women still face special roadblocks that discourage many from pursuing careers in engineering and science. The foundations for AT&T Corp. and Intel Corp. are providing initial funding for the project.

MentorNet will use the information superhighway to lessen the detours encountered by female college students majoring in engineering and other sciences. MentorNet's goal is to link 250 female students with female and male mentors in the first year, and 5,000 by the fifth year. Fifteen universities have been invited to participate in the virtual network this year.

Overall, women have increased their presence in the U.S. workforce, but they continue to lag behind men in engineering and the sciences. MentorNet should help level the playing field, said Carol Muller, MentorNet executive director. "Women account for less than 9 percent of all U.S. engineers," she said. "Educators and employers recognize that it's a problem. There's a lot of untapped talent out there at a time when it's most needed."

Part of the problem can be traced back to the nation's universities, where retention rates for women studying engineering are poor, particularly in the freshman and sophomore years.

"While they may achieve the same academic success as their male counterparts, female students in engineering and science must struggle with a university environment still heavily dominated by men and often a gender-biased classroom environment. Some women feel very isolated," said Susan Staffin Metz, who heads WEPAN, a nonprofit organization.

She said MentorNet can break through that isolation by connecting female students with mentors who know the score. Ideally, the mentors serve as role models, provide realistic views of the training and preparation necessary to be successful, and advise students about overcoming obstacles.

MentorNet is the outgrowth of a two-year pilot project at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Muller initiated the program while she was an associate dean of engineering there. "Both students and mentors responded positively to the pilot project," Muller said. "There is solid evidence that successful electronic communications lead to the development of strong communities among people who have never met face to face."

Muller and three staff members operate MentorNet from donated office space at the College of Engineering at San Jose State University, San Jose, Calif. She noted that MentorNet isn't designed to replace face-to-face networking. It will, though, allow the participation of many professionals and students whose time schedules, geographical locations or other restraints might prevent traditional mentoring.

The Intel Foundation is providing a first-year challenge grant of $100,000 to encourage other businesses to support MentorNet. The AT&T Foundation is committing $200,000 to the project in the first year and $100,000 in the second year. Both Intel and AT&T boast long histories of supporting the entrance of women into careers in engineering and/or other sciences.

"Intel is excited about MentorNet, because it offers a unique opportunity to link a large number of female engineering students with mentors from industry," said Peter Broffman, Intel Foundation executive director. "Because face-to-face contact isn't required, it may even result in more frequent contact between mentors and students than a traditional mentoring program."

Marilyn Reznick, vice president of AT&T Foundation's Education Program, adds that American industry could realize high dividends from MentorNet as well. "MentorNet offers a creative solution to a real-world problem. It has the potential to make a significant contribution to increasing the numbers of women in science and engineering," she said. "And, for businesses, it's a smart investment in the future."

MentorNet is still recruiting mentors for the first year. For more information, persons interested in becoming mentors should visit MentorNet's Web site at www-engr.sjsu.edu/ 7/8mentornt .

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