As more women enter the School of Engineering—their numbers equaling those of men in the new undergraduate class—it’s clear that challenging opportunities with far-reaching impact are a big draw

Tufts engineering student Chanel Richardson: "If my non-engineer friends are intrigued about what I’m doing, that forces me to think about what I’m doing and explain it so they understand." Photo: Alonso Nichols
With the arrival of the Class of 2023 this August, the School of Engineering reached a celebratory milestone. Women, for the first time in the school’s 130-year history, account for 50 percent of the freshman class.
Progress toward that historic moment of gender parity has been steadily growing over decades, but recent years have seen a decided uptick in women’s enrollment. In 2011, women made up 29 percent of the freshman class in engineering; by 2017 they represented 43.8 percent. Last year the numbers were just shy of gender parity, at 49 percent.
Certainly societal trends are encouraging women to consider engineering, but Tufts is also stepping up its own efforts. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions, which partners with the School of Engineering to achieve its enrollment goals, reports that those efforts include a fall open house called Women in Engineering, where prospective applicants can experience the school for a day.
A campus culture that supports strong networking also plays a role. The Tufts Gordon Institute, for example, this past fall collaborated with the Museum of Science to host the panel discussion Women in STEM: How to Build & Leverage Mentoring Relationships, and the student-organized club Tufts Women in Computer Science held its third annual Women in Tech (WiT) conference in September (28 percent of computer science majors at Tufts are women, well above the national average of 18 percent).
At the same time, student-run Tufts chapters of the National Society of Women Engineers (SWE) are building a cohesive community; both undergraduate and graduate groups have been recognized for exemplary programming. And this fall, support from the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Science sent students to both the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists, and WE19, the world’s largest conference for women engineers.
For School of Engineering Dean Jianmin Qu, the gender balance that distinguishes the Class of 2023, which consists of 274 men and women, is part of a larger strategic goal.
“Our top priority at the school is to promote diversity and inclusion, across the board, among all our students,” said Qu. “Multiple perspectives and talents have always been critical to innovation, but now more than ever we are working hard to make sure the message comes through loud and clear: engineering is open to everyone with a passion for problem-solving.”
It’s a message that Karen Panetta, dean of graduate education and editor-in-chief of IEEE Women in Engineering magazine, has been championing as well. She set about bringing more women into the field in 2002 when she founded the Nerd Girls program. Now Nerd Girls has expanded its mission online—and nationally—as Nerd Girl Nation, and its vision is broader.
“Back twenty years ago, Nerd Girls was about empowering women to go into the STEM fields and showing role models,” Panetta said. “Today, it’s grown beyond that. We are not just showing young women that they can change the world, but also showing everyone the value that diversity and inclusion bring to solving problems facing humanity.”
But what’s the perspective of Tufts’ up-and-coming women engineers themselves? Why did they choose such a career in the first place? And how have their professional goals developed over time? We asked some of them to share their personal stories.
Libby Albanese, E21

My high school introduced one engineering course when I was there, but I didn’t know about it; it wasn’t a course the guidance counselor was proposing to the girls. Then a friend told me about what they were doing in a robotics club and it sounded cool. That’s where I found out I loved robotics; it was through the club that I stumbled into engineering. Now that I’m here, it’s where I want to stay.

I love working with my hands. That’s what engineering comes down to me for me; it’s solving problems in a hands-on way. We’re trying to focus more on the creative application of ideas now in the robotics club, so we’re finishing up this semester with our first BattleBot competition. It’s a lot of fun, and it has the added benefit of challenging us to build projects where we work together; successful engineering is all about teamwork.
I’ve been working with STOMP since I was a freshman and now I am also a teaching assistant. For me, who fell into engineering by accident, it’s especially important for young girls to see strong women in the field. I once had a parent reach out to me and she asked me to mentor her ten-year-old daughter; she thought I’d be a good role model. It was great to work with the girl and foster her interest in building, but our visits were mostly about boosting her confidence in herself as a builder. With self-confidence, you can build just about anything, and even if it fails, and it probably will at first, you just keep trying.
Jean Phuong Pham, EG21

Engineering to me means problem-solving. Engineers see a problem and then build something that could solve that problem, through a new product or by inventing a whole new way of doing things. I may come from a liberal arts background, but I tend to think like an engineer when I want to analyze a problem. I am very data driven—I always want to know: Can I quantify my impact? That is how I will define success.

I came to Tufts because I wanted to build a meaningful business with people who share my values, and because I wanted to leverage the really great resources found at a research university that brings engineers and liberal arts students together. It creates such a playing field for entrepreneurs and for engineers who want to take their product into the market. It empowers us to take a very interdisciplinary approach. It’s like a powerful tool kit that will help me assemble new solutions.
To young women considering engineering, I would say this: Engineering is really about following your curiosity. It’s a path that will help you answer the questions that you’ve been wanting to answer for so long. If that is the path you want, then go for it.
Chanel Richardson, E20

Over time my interests in engineering have continually evolved. At first I was focused on 3D printing; I thought that I wanted to make 3D printers for the rest of my life, and I made my dad buy me a ton of books on it. By the time I entered college I thought I’d make video game consoles, but then I discovered there’s a lot I can do with engineering; that made me want to explore. I realized I didn’t have to limit myself to one thing. The one thing that’s constant is that every time my interest changes, it just falls into the world of engineering. I think that’s why I’m excited about being an engineer: it has so many different possibilities. Even if I change my mind, I’ll still be able to do something really cool.

One thing about Tufts that appealed to me was that I could take engineering classes and still hang out with people who aren’t engineers. I could never imagine going to a school where the only people I talk to are engineers. If my non-engineer friends are intrigued about what I’m doing, that forces me to think about what I’m doing and explain it so they understand. And it’s great to hear their different perspectives as well. Those conversations have really shaped who I am, and I think they will make me a better engineer, whatever I decide to do.
Foram Sanghavi, EG22

Engineering has evolved so much that different branches of engineering naturally overlap. Biomedical engineering, for example, encompasses biomechanics, so mechanical engineering students study the same things that a biomedical student is learning. There are unlimited interdisciplinary opportunities. I would also say that engineering inspires me because it has become a field that uses technology in innovative ways to directly or even indirectly benefit humans. It is no longer just about manufacturing a product. It has become integrated into our lives.

Later, when I was looking for jobs, I realized I was really most passionate about the gray area where electrical engineering and computer science overlap. Since I was most interested in research, I came to Tufts to earn my PhD in electrical engineering.
I don’t know why people have this idea that engineering is difficult; it’s challenging—but that’s what is exciting. And I have had encouragement all along the way. My parents, who are both doctors, also were there for me. My father said, “Don’t worry about the job. Go get the knowledge you want.”
Here at Tufts, Karen [Panetta] is a very strong advocate for women in engineering. Looking at her achievements, I think if I’m able to achieve half of what she’s done, I’m going to be successful. So my advice to women students considering engineering is: If you feel you want to do something, no matter what, just do it. Don’t stop. That’s what I did. Your path gets paved automatically.
Sara Willner-Giwerc, E18

Engineering entered the picture in middle school where we had Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and that got me excited to go to school for a reason other than just sports. I had access to things like a laser cutter, and for me, who was always a tangible, visual learner, that was exciting. But the tool only goes so far; it’s the teacher who really matters. I was lucky to have teachers who said, You should do this.

I reached out to him in 2013 and he sent me Lego sets and robotics kits so I could get going. Then when I came to Tufts on my recruiting trip, I actually met him. I had so much riding on getting accepted here. I wanted to play softball and I wanted to work at the center equally as bad; Tufts was like the land of everything. It was pretty sweet when I got in. That was a good day.
I have always thought of students first as people, and while I think women role models are awesome, I’ve had male role models that have been important, too. One of my pet peeves is when people see something and say, It’s so awesome that you’re doing that because you’re a girl. Would it be any less awesome if I wasn’t? My goal is that we make it possible for everybody to bring their awesome to engineering.
I think of engineering as a mindset; it’s a mentality that you can solve a problem, and it allows teachers to tap into different thought processes and to reach different populations. Often kids who are not successful in developing traditional academic skills like reading and test-taking are tremendously successful when introduced to engineering.
As part of my research with CEEO, I’ve traveled all over the world working with schools from Denmark to Rwanda, and I’ve seen students learn in all kinds of ways. But watching a kid get excited about a robot is always cool. I am just happy to enable that experience in more classrooms for more students.
Laura Ferguson can be reached at laura.ferguson@tufts.edu.