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IT² Women
Girls get career advice, inspiration from women in nontraditional fields Cuyamaca College 's Parent & Daughter Career Night draws East County , San Diego students
EL CAJON – Karen Flammer is fond of relating a story when asked about her admittedly esoteric profession. The UCSD scientist spoke Tuesday at Cuyamaca College 's Parent and Daughter Career Night about feeling compelled as a young girl to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, both research physicists. “I loved math, so it was sort of assumed that of the children, I would be the one to carry on the family tradition,” she said to the audience of elementary to high school girls from the East County and San Diego . Flammer was the keynote speaker at the event, which featured a wide array of accomplished women professionals in nontraditional fields – those in which women comprise less than 25 percent of the labor force. “I remember as a girl, my father telling all his friends how his young daughter wants to be a physicist,” said Flammer, who has a doctorate in space physics from UCSD and currently directs the EarthKAM Project, a NASA-funded educational program that enables middle-school students nationwide to take photos of Earth from a camera aboard the International Space Station. “In high school, I took all the courses to prepare and then, went on to UCSD because it's very strong in the science areas.” What Flammer didn't know until her first day on campus was that she would be one of only two or three women studying space physics at the university. “I called home that first day and asked my dad, ‘why didn't you tell me that physics isn't for girls?'” she said. That was then. Now, Flammer realizes it was just that gender-blind upbringing that guided her to where she is today. “It's a matter of stereotypes being exposed,” Flammer said about the wide gulf between the sexes in the areas of science and technology. “A lot of people believe the myth that science is very solitary, that it's something you do all alone, shut away in a lab. One thing I want to say to all you girls is that these stereotypes have to be broken down, that you can be the person you truly are and still pursue the sciences.” With a sixth-grade daughter who wants to wear the mantle as the next physicist in the family, Flammer is impassioned in her mission to encourage young girls to pursue science and math. She is one of the founders of Sally Ride Science, a company headed by her mentor, the first American woman to travel in space. The company sponsors outreach efforts like the Sally Ride Science Festivals held around the country to draw more girls into the fields of math, science and technology. It's an effort that's sorely needed, Flammer said, quoting studies showing that in elementary school, girls and boys are equally interested in science and math, but starting in middle school, the divide gets wider to the point that by high school, five times more boys than girls say they plan to pursue a science- or math-based career. While less extreme, the gender divide also exists in the area of technology, despite the explosive growth of high-tech industries. It's a concern that needs to be addressed now, Flammer and others at the career night event said, if the girls in the audience hope to be competitive in the job market of tomorrow. By 2008, 5.5 million jobs in America will require skills in technology, Flammer said. With this in mind, a Women in Technology Club was started at Cuyamaca College last year for women majoring in programs including computer information systems, computational science, engineering, math, any of the sciences, automotive technology, waste water technology and other nontraditional career fields. Tuesday's career night event was sponsored by the club, with funding from the $900,000 National Science Foundation grant the college received last year to launch a top-notch technology program, the Institute for Telecommunications Technologies, or IT2. Chancellor Omero Suarez said the career night's outreach function reflects a goal of the NSF grant. “The college is doing an outstanding job of broadening students' horizons,” Suarez said. “The NSF grant promotes hands-on engaged teaching, which is certainly what the career night event was all about.” The professions of the 30 women presenters at the April 26 event ran the gamut: a color and materials designer for Nissan. A design engineer for Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk program.. An environmental engineer for the U.S. Navy. A San Diego Police Department criminalist. For a complete list of the presenters visit our representatives page. The event, free and open to the public, drew some 300 parents and daughters who had the benefit of one-on-one time with the presenters and also, saw a number of demonstrations and participated in several hands-on activities. Janelle Greed, a Grossmont High School sophomore, attended career night at her mother's urging. “My mom told me it would be good for me to learn about different careers,” she said. With a bent for music and performance, Janelle concedes that had it not been for her mother, she wouldn't be at the event. After making the rounds, checking out the tables where presenters like Myra Barrera, a research and development manager for Boston Scientific, held a steady stream of girls in rapt attention, demonstrating how a balloon catheter is used for angioplasty, Janelle said she's glad she heeded mom's advice. Barrera, whose background is in chemistry, said not many people are familiar with her line of work in medical device development, so she saw Tuesday's event as an opportunity to “share the technology.” Summer Willey, a fifth-grader at Mary Manor Elementary School in La Mesa , said after meeting people like April Glover, a sheriff's department training officer at the Lemon Grove station, and M'Liss Hinshaw, a detective sergeant of the sheriff's department child abuse unit, she's decided that law enforcement is the career for her. Rachel Miller, observing civil engineer Martha Juarez with the Otay Water District give a demonstration on how a water pump operates, said she was at the event at the request of her daughter, a sixth-grader at Cajon Valley Middle School. “I think this is great – it shows the girls that women are capable of doing anything if they work hard,” Miller said. “This is really a great opportunity for parents to plant the ideas in their daughter's minds that anything is possible. It's like what the speaker said earlier, parents need to support their children and encourage them. Tell the girls that it's OK if they're struggling with math – it's supposed to be hard. Just don't quit and say girls aren't supposed to be good in math.” Dr. Geraldine M. Perri, Cuyamaca College president, said Parent and Daughter Career Night was so well-received that the intent is to make it an annual event. “This is an exciting opportunity for young women to explore career opportunities and meet high-achieving women in technology, engineering, science, criminology, and many other fields,” she said. “As an educational institution, our mission is to broaden opportunities through learning. Events like the Parent and Daughter Career Night are a great way to encourage young people to widen their scopes when contemplating what they want to do with their lives.” Connie Elder, a computer information systems instructor at Cuyamaca and event coordinator, said the intent behind the activities and demonstrations was to introduce mechanical elements to girls and to provide the too-rare opportunity to gain a hands-on familiarity with technical equipment. Experts surmise that, in part, it's because males are encouraged to tinker and to fix items as children while girls are told not to get their hands dirty, that fields like computer technology are dominated by men. In her own case, Elder concedes she was a “tinkerer” as a youngster, much to the bemusement of her father, whom she describes as an academician. She relates how, at the age of 12, she salvaged a broken turntable her parents were tossing out and the rush of victory from managing to fix what was her sole access to music. “I fixed it – I swear – with a bobby pin,” she said, chuckling. Elder said the message she hopes was conveyed at Parent and Daughter Career Night is that the nontraditional fields pose special challenges for women, like long hours on the job and countering stereotypes, but the rewards are potentially lucrative and often, liberating. “From my point of view, the nontraditional fields pay better, allowing women to be empowered and responsible for themselves and their families,” Elder said “It's tough to support yourself and the family while working in most female-dominated fields.” For more information about the Women in Technology Club, for women pursuing nontraditional careers, call (619) 660-4321 or visit http://it2.cuyamaca.edu/IT2Women.aspx
Intergovernmental Relations, Economic Development, and Public Information CONTACT: Della Elliott, Public Information, (619) 644-7690,
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