On November 7, several renowned figures will be stepping into Ewha to hold an international symposium on women in engineering and future society hosted by the College of Engineering. Scheduled to be held at 1:00 p.m. in the LG Convention Hall, the international symposium will focus on the new challenges that women engineers are encountering in the 21st century.

The symposium will be held under the theme, “Trends of Women Engineering in Foreign Nations” and “Emerging Opportunities for Women Engineers in Contemporary  for Computing Society.” Participants include Machinery, Dr. Leah H. Jamieson, president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, and Choi Soon-ja, the president of Women in Science Engineering and Technology in Korea.

Kim Myoung-hee, dean of Ewha’s Engineering College, said, “I feel honored to host such a memorable event at Ewha because no previous event has brought so many famous women leaders in the engineering field together.” Kim said that Ewha, being the first university in the world to have established an engineering department for women, has a duty to take further pioneering steps to cultivate women engineers for the future. “World women leaders in the field of engineering will give lectures in the symposium on the challenges and chances for women engineers, and strategies to increase their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. These symposiums must be held regularly since the lack of female role models is a significant reason why female students choose not to major in engineering,” said Kim.

Kim explained that engineering education mainly focuses on men, and also pointed out the difficulty of women engineers getting employed in Korea as another obstacle to recruiting more women in engineering. Having a network of successful women professionals in the field would motivate female students to follow their dreams in the future, according to Kim.

“Women have amazing potential to study engineering because engineering in contemporary society requires, not physical power, but rather creativity. Government-level efforts must be made in facilitating a woman-friendly environment in the engineering sector, which would lead to the cultivation of talented people,” said Kim.

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지