Driving Inclusive Excellence
We aim to support girls and women in Ohio and across the U.S. to lead and innovate in STEM through specialized education, research, and mentorship in engineering education.
Who We Are
- Community-Centered Program Intervention
- Systemic Advocacy
- Evidence-Based Research and Policy Translation
The Center for Engineering Education and Gender Studies is a nonprofit organization registered in Ohio. Our mission is to advance inclusive excellence in engineering education by developing a strategic vision that encourages girls and women to pursue engineering education and promotes equitable access to STEM fields across Ohio and the broader U.S. society. We achieve this goal by bridging the gap between technical expertise and social policy, offering evidence-based educational services, specialized research, and targeted mentorship programs designed to ameliorate structural issues and foster the next generation of women leaders and innovators in technical disciplines.
How We Operate
CEEGS operates via a three-pronged approach designed to address issues of gender disparity in engineering education
Community Centered Program Intervention
We utilize our expertise to design and manage ethically grounded, high-quality programs within local Ohio communities, which serve as models for national replication. These interventions include the following:
- Early Exposure Programs: Designing funding, facilitating hands-on, project-based engineering programs targeted at middle- and high-school girls to build self-efficacy and early skills in technical fields.
- Professional Mentorship Networks: Establishing and managing robust mentorship programs that connect professional women engineers and scientists with female students to provide visible role models and career guidance.
- Retention Support Communities: Creating and sustaining dedicated, safe support communities and academic resource hubs within engineering colleges, technical institutes, schools, and universities to address students' social and academic needs, thereby improving retention rates for women and girls in difficult programs
Systemic Advocacy
These services focus on generating and translating knowledge to drive structural change within academic and professional institutions and local community agencies to push for cultural transformation. Our advocacy in this context focuses on implementing recurring, research-based awareness programs that re-examine the systemic structure, making the engineering culture more welcoming and equitable.
Evidence Based Research and Policy Translation
We conduct high-impact research to identify evolving barriers in STEM, especially engineering education and the workforce. We then translate complex academic findings into accessible policy briefs and data-driven guides for educational institutions, policymakers, and corporate leaders, ensuring that decisions are grounded in the best available evidence.
Why We Exist
Bridging the Gap in Ohio and Beyond
The Gap: Women currently make up only 16% of the engineering workforce in the United States. We are here to change that statistic.’’
The Potential: ‘‘Diverse teams are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors. Engineering needs women’s perspectives to solve tomorrow’s problems.’’
The Future: ‘‘By 2030, the U.S. will need 1 million more STEM professionals. We are preparing Ohio’s girls to fill these roles.’’
