SWE - Conference 2008 - (Page 30)

“We have only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential of women engineers to make a difference in the world.” U.S. Navy in Seattle for 19 years, worked on Navy ships but never went on a sea trial because women were prohibited from such duties. “Engineers have come a long way in a few years,” said Lewis, the most senior female colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers. “But we have only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential of women engineers to make a difference in the world.” Capt. Paz B. Gomez, P.E., WE08 Indeed, engineers who Conference Keynote Speaker were responsible for many Navy Capt. Paz B. Gomez, P.E., deputy of the 1970s- and 1980s-era director of installations requirements and military projects are aging, management for the Office of the Deputy and fewer of the nation’s Under Secretary of Defense (Installations top young engineers are and Environment) at the Pentagon in replacing them, according Washington, D.C., is the keynote speaker to a recent report in The at WE08. New York Times. She has received top honors such as A task force organized the 2007 National Women of Color in by the National Research Technology Managerial Leadership Award Council, a division of the and a ranking among the top 100 Most National Academy of Influential Filipina Women in the U.S., Sciences and the National as well as numerous military honors. Academy of Engineering, Gomez holds a bachelor’s degree in is working to improve the civil engineering from San Diego State situation, along with the University; a master’s in civil engineering, Air Force Studies Board, with a construction engineering and the article stated. The management emphasis, from Stanford board and task force’s University; and a master’s degree in report criticized the Air management from Troy State University. Force for ignoring basic She is also a graduate of the Naval War engineering steps, such as College Nonresident Seminar Program; analyzing interactions holds a Hazardous Materials Management between technologies and certificate from the University of California, setting clear performance San Diego; and has completed the goals for any new systems. Advanced Executive Program at the The report pinpointed Kellogg School of Management, several programs that ran Northwestern University. into the billions in cost overruns because of poor engineering management. As a result, every Air Force system is now required to develop a systems engineering plan, and the service has created a new degree in systems engineering at the Air Force Academy, as said by the Times article. Naval officers are working with the National Academy of Engineering to encourage more interest in the sciences in school. Lewis believes the process of promotion and the way engineering is valued, or not valued, are part of the problem. Since the 1800s, the Corps of Engineers had never had a woman commander until Lewis and her predecessor, Col. Dorothy Classed, were promoted more than a century later. Important next steps The women in military leadership positions have seen conditions for women improve, but they continue to struggle with day-to-day issues. “When I first joined [the - Col. Debra M. Lewis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navy], women were not allowed to be in the Seabees,” Gomez said. The Navy opened more than 4,000 seagoing billets to women, at all eight construction battalions, in 1994. Dombi recalled that the Army allowed women to become carpenters, electricians, pipeline builders, and other construction workers in the early 1980s, changed its mind soon after, and changed its mind again — creating a void in building senior women leaders in construction fields. “Women can now be in all construction units in a combat engineer battalion [heavy], and women can command combat engineer battalions,” Dombi said. Yet Dombi noted that the Army has suffered a 23 percent decline in the number of engineers with engineering and technical degrees entering the Corps of Engineers in the past nine years — from 54 percent in 1998 to 31 percent in 2007. Dombi, a regional vice president in the Society of American Military Engineers, serves on a task force seeking to address the problem. The task force is considering offering ROTC scholarships to students willing to major in engineering; encouraging teachers in middle school and high school to tutor or lead projects with kids interested in engineering; and allowing enlisted engineers to become involved in construction projects in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so they can see the results of their work. Lewis welcomes the controversial update in the gender pronouns in some of the cadet songs sung at West Point, particularly “The Corps” and “Alma Mater.” “Such controversial changes required extraordinary courage and guaranteed harsh reactions from any number of old grads and those familiar with West Point,” Lewis said. “With the help of the Glee Club and some minor word changes, phrases and words can be made more inclusive — in this case, gender neutral — and still keep with the original melody and intent of the words,” she said, noting that she felt badly singing the old versions of songs at a tribute for a female West Point graduate who died serving in Afghanistan. Golden studied women’s roles in militaries overseas in September 1985. She participated in operations with each branch of the Australian military; studied the training operations of the Israeli military; and immersed herself in the militaries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. “The Scandinavian countries were far superior in the tasks they were giving women,” she said. “When I came in as a lieutenant, I wasn’t allowed in certain areas, but now nothing is closed to me as long as I pass the requirements,” Golden said. “Women are now in our combat-ready battalion.” I 30 SWE CONFERENCE 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Conference 2008

SWE - Conference 2008 Contents President’s Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Readers’ Forum ICWES14 Women of Courage Engineering’s Grand Challenges — What’s Your Pick? Diversity from the Ground Up Membership Information & Calendar A&B FY08 Membership Meeting Minutes Engineering World Point of View Career Toolbox Bookshelf SWE Smiles SWE Scrapbook Conference Sponsors and Program Overview Corporate Partnership Council Thursday Conference Program Friday Conference Program Saturday Conference Program Corporate Members Opportunity Index

SWE - Conference 2008

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