Women hold leadership positions in public works departments across the country, but our annual salary surveys show that less than 20% of our readers are women. Not surprising considering that males are eight times more likely than females to enter college planning to study engineering. The New York City’s Department of Design and Construction (DCC) addressed this gap in 2014 by launching a STEAM [science, technology, engineering, architecture/art and mathematics] initiative with the city’s departments of Education and Youth and Community Development. This year, DCC partnered with the Lower East Side Girls Club on the first “Introduce a Girl to AEC Day.”
About 30 middle school and high school students gathered at the Girls Club for the afterschool program. After learning how to use an architect’s scale, they created blueprints and models of public buildings and public spaces. DDC’s STEAM Young Engineers Program complements general math and science concepts taught in public schools by exposing young women and minorities to sustainable design in engineering and architecture and responsible city planning.
It’s important for young women and minorities to meet women and minorities working in a profession they’re considering. DDC employees explained how they achieved their dream of working in traditionally male-dominated STEAM fields: Starlene Scott, acting director of the “Build it Back” program; Police Unit Program Director Lucy Wong; Public Buildings Project Manager Jade Bailey; and Project Manager Intern of Public Buildings Alanna Soszynski-Lauter. Former STEAM High School Intern Michelle Asim, who’s now a College Aide in DDC’s Budget and Finance division, also spoke. “We want to demystify those careers and let students know that opportunities are out there regardless of their gender or ethnicity,” says DDC Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora. “Hopefully, some of these students may come back and work at DDC.”
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