WE-BELIEVE Summer Internship Program Prepares Students to Develop Their Identities as Engineers
Dr. Karen May-Newman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, led a new summer internship program in the College of Engineering for freshmen, sophomores and transfer students called WE-BELIEVE (WomEn and Black Empowered Learners Interning in Engineering EnVironmEnts). Dr. Zahra Nili Ahmadabadi and Dr. Elisa Torresani, Assistant Professors of Mechanical Engineering, served as Faculty mentors in the program. The program combined a mentored research experience with professional development activities to engage students with the college and develop their identities as engineers. Ten female engineering professors from across the college integrated a diverse group of sixteen SDSU freshmen, sophomore and transfer students into their research groups and provided hands-on training daily for four weeks. Projects covered a range of specialties from aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer, construction, environmental, mechanical, and electrical engineering and were showcased in a final poster presentation. Professional development included exposing students to a range of engineering applications, developing communication and technical skills and introducing them to an industry support network. Students received a small stipend for participating, which was supported by the San Diego Foundation. Evaluations showed that 100% of students were satisfied or very satisfied with the program. Students’ confidence in their ability to apply their knowledge and skills to an engineering field increased, with 86% responding as very confident or confident at the end of the program compared with 55% at the beginning. Overall the assessments demonstrated that WE-BELIEVE was successful in connecting incoming students with additional research opportunities and other resources at SDSU. The college intends to expand on this program by securing additional funding - 75% which goes directly to the students. If you would like to contribute, please visit http://www.sdsualumni.org/s/997/18cf/interior.aspx?sid=997&gid=1&pgid=9003.
