TV Needs a Female Engineer

We do not have enough women engineers in the United States. When I look around the undergraduate classes that I teach I don't see very many female faces. Why? Certainly, there are influences from home, school and peers. There are negative stereotypes -- like pocket protectors and Barbie dolls that say, "I hate math." There is also little general public understanding of what engineers do. Often the exposure to engineering one gets in high school is associated with vocational tech and shop class. No wonder women have made up only about 20 percent of the undergraduate engineering population in colleges for the last ten years.

It doesn't have to be like this. Other stereotypically male-dominated fields are now at, or close to, parity. Women earn 60 percent of the bachelor's degrees in biological and agricultural sciences. Even the physical sciences are at 40 percent. Women with professional degrees in law and medicine have been on the rise for years. Professional schools in medicine and law have enrollment levels well above 40 percent for women. Engineering needs to undergo the same transformation, and I think it lies in television.

What we really need is a good, prime-time TV show about engineering that tops the charts in the Nielson ratings. The lead would star an attractive, energetic, woman engineer with a dynamic career and a full life. (I actually know several real women engineers who are exactly that.) Think of what LA Law did for the legal profession, what ER did for the medical profession and what CSI did for the physical sciences. A similar show could do the same for engineering.

Using Hollywood and television as a vehicle to promote engineering is not a new idea. Years ago the American Institute of Engineers and the Women in Engineering ProActive Network promoted the idea of recruiting through popular television in order to increase interest in engineering in general and for young women in particular. But so far, no one has done it.

And a handful of television stars have been engineers, but they've been men. Case in point: MacGuyver, who was a handsome young fellow, out having adventures and getting himself out of trouble with a Swiss army knife and a stick of gum. Although I may have had a crush on MacGyver in the late 80's and early 90's, that's beside the point. And I can't leave out Geordie LaForge, the black, blind, brilliant engineer on Star Trek, the Next Generation, who regularly saved the day with his engineering skills. Both characters made being smart and solving problems look cool and adventurous.

Why not do the same with a female character? Our lead would deal with challenging problems insightfully, impact the world through her engineering solutions, have interesting interactions with clients and colleagues (half of whom are women) and have a well-rounded life with family, friends, hobbies and fun!

Let's pitch it and see how this could work. She could be the principal engineer of an elite consulting firm, called in to solve the world's more interesting and challenging problems, such fortifying a coastal town from rising sea levels, building a robot to explore a recent disaster zone to find survivors, stopping contaminates from leaching out of an old landfill, building a new 3G theme park ride that keeps its riders safe. Pieces of the problem solving and design processes could be featured as part of the plot line: discovering the real root cause of a problem can make for great mystery, and brainstorming sessions are always entertaining. 

But our lead character should also be a three-dimensional person. She's not a geek. She's innovative. Perhaps she lives in a smart house like the sheriff's house, S.A.R.A.H., on Eureka, or it could have cool mechanical widgets to automate everything from pouring bowls of cereal in the morning to auto sorting of all waste into trash, recyclables and compost with auto delivery to the curb, bin and garden. And these, of course, would all be inventions by our lead character. 

She sounds a bit like Wonder Woman. But what girl who grew up in the late seventies didn't want to be just like Princess Diana in Wonder Woman (played by Lynda Carter in the TV series)? Really, she had a tiara that she could fling like a Frisbee weapon, cool bracelets that stopped bullets and a magic lasso that made people tell the truth. Alas, we don't have magic lassos in real life. But with engineering we can give young women a role model who doesn't need magic to save the world. Engineers save the world every day but people don't recognize it.  Sometimes they do it one person at a time (through medical devices and safe automobiles) and sometimes it is whole cities that they save (through clean drinking water and safe infrastructure).

As I am setting my TiVo for the future, I'll be waiting to for the series premier of Engineering Reality, or Creative Consulting, or, my favorite, Problem Solved.  I hope it will make for great buzz around the water cooler each week and influence young women to view engineering as a viable and attractive career option. 

Wendy C. Crone, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Engineering Physics and Director of the Women Faculty Mentoring Program at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison.