Happy #GirlDay2020!

Inspiring today’s youth to enter into STEM careers begins with education, and it must start early.

According to the Society of Women Engineers, just 13 percent of engineers are women. More than 32 percent of women switch out of STEM degree programs in college, and 30 percent of women who have left the engineering profession cite organizational climate as the reason.

Thankfully, the tides are changing with regard to higher education: Since 2012, there’s been a 58 percent increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in engineering and computer science. Further, 6.1 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering were awarded to women of color.

GirlDay2020 is a program of DiscoverE, which “works to ensure people everywhere understand how engineers, technicians, and technologists make the world a better place.” The organization mobilizes and supports the engineering and technology volunteering communities. It also provides engineering activities for kids and students.

The GirlDay2020 program is part of EWeek, which runs from Feb. 16-22. EWeek was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951. It’s dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.

Formally, EWeek is a coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and 50+ corporations and government agencies. Every year, EWeek reaches thousands of schools, businesses, and community groups across the country.

Tackling workforce issues at BI2020

At the National Institute of Building Sciences, we’re putting the finishing touches on our speaker lineup and educational sessions for the Building Innovation 2020 Conference & Expo.

We have an entire day dedicated to workforce, which is being affected across the board in the built environment. It starts with a labor shortage and not finding enough skilled workers to fill job openings.

Among the highlights of the BI2020 sessions is one being led by Marjan Sadeghi, a VDC Engineer at VIATechnik. Sadeghi holds a doctorate in construction engineering and management, and she has a background in civil engineering.

Her session is entitled Extending Virtual Design and Construction for Facilities Management.

This talk will look at the power of computational building information models (BIMs) in facilitating automated workflows to generate data-rich FM deliverables, retrieve and verify model data for the transition to FM systems, and carry out analysis for downstream FM tasks.

Building Innovation 2020 is scheduled for April 6-9. It’s a premiere event for the built environment that brings together innovators, government leaders, public and private sector representatives, and officials from building and construction. Register today to attend.

In other news, here’s another date to put on your calendar: March 4. It’s World Engineering Day.