Do you remember having a role model who inspired you to become an engineer? Perhaps a childhood hero, teacher, or parent was an engineer. Did you have a mentor during the early phase of your career?

Engineer Katherine Stinson clearly remembered who helped to hook her on engineering.

As a young girl, Stinson dreamed of learning to fly airplanes. She met her heroine, world famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart, when she was 15. It was 1932 when Earhart landed in Raleigh, North Carolina to service her plane. When Stinson told Earhart that she was learning to fly, Earhart advised her to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering.

In 1941, Stinson graduated with distinction from North Carolina State with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with an aeronautics option. That year, she was one of only five women in the country to graduate with an engineering degree. Joining the Federal Aviation Administration after graduation, Stinson went on to earn the highest grade for a woman in the FAA.

"Being a woman should not deter you from being an engineer," Stinson declared to a reporter several years before her death in 2001.

Katherine Stinson's inspiring achievements, along with the profiles of more than 100 other remarkable women engineers will be chronicled in the forthcoming publication Women Engineers: Extraordinary Stories of How They Changed Our World.

From Emily Roebling to the Ford "Windstar Moms," those featured include pre-20th century figures who pioneered women's entry into the engineering profession, as well as a diverse group of modern leaders who serve as role models for today's youth.

This unprecedented publication is part of a new, ambitious educational initiative widely embraced across the engineering community. The initiative aims to help engineers forge new partnerships with educators to attract more young women to engineering and keep them in the profession.

Beginning with an unparalleled exploration of the contributions and achievements of women engineers through its flagship publication Women Engineers: Extraordinary Stories of How They Changed Our World, the project will culminate in a comprehensive outreach program to secondary school students through math and science teachers. Plus, a companion PBS documentary is planned.

The Extraordinary Women Engineers Project is a coalition effort by engineering organizations representing more than one million engineers nationwide led by the American Association of Engineering Societies, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers. Supporting the project is an expansive group of engineering-related organizations, corporations, and universities, including Boeing, IBM, Lockheed Martin, and Purdue University.

In addition, WGBH of Boston, Mass., is collaborating on the project by developing the PBS documentary and companion educational materials. WGBH productions are seen and heard on stations across the United States and around the world. Recently, ASCE partnered with WGBH to sponsor the award-winning program Building Big.

Engineers from all disciplines are encouraged to support the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project.

The ASCE Foundation is making a special appeal to ASCE members to support this new initiative as the coalition launches a major fundraising campaign in support of the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project.

As a leadership gift, Patricia D. Galloway, Chair of the ASCE Foundation, President of ASCE, and Chair of the Steering Committee for the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project, has personally pledged $5,000 in an effort to demonstrate her commitment to this endeavor.

"Diversity and women in engineering is a matter of national importance and of national urgency. We as engineering societies, have an opportunity to work together as partners, together as one voice to better our profession and to capture the intellectual capital that is standing at our doorstep," urged Galloway.

ASCE President-elect William P. Henry also has thrown his support behind the project by being one of the first to make a contribution. "I encourage all ASCE members to join Pat Galloway and me in making a contribution of $250 or greater to the Women Engineers Project," commented Henry. "ASCE members can help generate the ground swell of support needed to make this project a huge success."

The ASCE Foundation welcomes additional contributions to the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project. Recognition of all donors whose gifts are $250 or greater will be included in the project's flagship publication: Women Engineers: Extraordinary Stories of How They Changed Our World.

July 31, 2004 is the final deadline for donors to have their names included in the book. Contributions may be pledged over a two-year period and paid by check or credit card. All gift are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

The ASCE Foundation is providing guidance and coordination for the fundraising campaign for the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project.

To learn more about the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project, visit www.engineeringwomen.org. To make a gift in support of the project or to receive more information, contact the ASCE Foundation at 703-295-6342 or email: ascefoundation@asce.org.

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