ASEE PRISM - OCTOBER 2007

Walking the Line - Ethics courses give students an understanding of the dilemmas they will face in the workplace—and the confidence to make wise choices. BY ALICE DANIEL

DATABYTES: Where Women are Headed - COMPILED BY MICHAEL GIBBONS - Data source: American Society for Engineering Education - INFOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY I-SHAN CHEN

The percentage of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to women declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2005-6. The 19.3 percent of engineering degrees awarded is far below women’s general representation of 56 percent in the undergraduate ranks. However, this trend is not uniform for all engineering disciplines. The 10 fields listed here continually draw a higher percentage of women to engineering than the larger fields of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. Additionally, biomedical is the fastest-growing engineering field, having increased by 187% since 1999.

Data source: American Society for Engineering Education. More data can be found online at www.asee.org/colleges.

ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE GRADUATES
SCHOOLS AWARDING THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING BACHELOR'S DEGREES TO WOMEN**
SCHOOLS AWARDING THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF ENGINEERING BACHELOR’S DEGREES TO WOMEN*

ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE GRADUATES
Biomedical	40.7%
Chemical	36.0%
Agricultural	35.6%
Industrial and Manufacturing	33.0%
Engineering Management	28.6%
Metallurgical & Materials	28.3%
Mining	27.5%
Architectural	25.4%
Eng. Science & Eng. Physics	24.8%
Civil & Environmental	23.1%
Data source: American Society for Engineering Education. More data can be found online at www.asee.org/colleges.

SCHOOLS AWARDING THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING BACHELOR’S DEGREES TO WOMEN**
1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	60.0%
2. Worcester Polytechnic Institute	56.8%
3. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	54.5%
4. North Carolina State University	54.3%
5. University of Illinois at Chicago	52.3%
6. Case Western Reserve University	52.1%
7. Michigan Technological University	51.6%
8. University of Iowa	51.0%
9. Brown University	50.0%
9. Marquette University	50.0%
9. Mercer University	50.0%
9. New Jersey Institute of Technology	50.0%
9. University of Southern California	50.0%
9. University of Tennessee, Knoxville	50.0%
9. University of Toledo	50.0%
9. University of Virginia	50.0%
17. Pennsylvania State University	48.1%
18. University of Rochester	47.1%
19. University of Miami	46.5%
20. University of California, Berkeley	45.9%
20. University of Pittsburgh	45.9%
**Minimum of 20 B.S. degrees awarded. 77 schools fit this criterion. Data source: American Society for Engineering Education. More data can be found online at www.asee.org/colleges.

SCHOOLS AWARDING THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF ENGINEERING BACHELOR’S DEGREES TO WOMEN*
1. Tennessee State University	45.5%
2. Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez	38.9%
3. Mercer University	36.6%
4. Alabama A&M University	36.1%
5. Tufts University	36.0%
5. Tuskegee University	36.0%
7. University of Miami	35.0%
8. Brown University	34.8%
9. Southern Methodist University	33.3%
10. Saint Louis University	31.2%
11. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology	31.0%
12. Northwestern University	30.6%
13. George Washington University	30.5%
14. Washington University	29.3%
15. Princeton University	29.2%
16. Marquette University	29.1%
16. Stevens Institute of Technology	29.1%
18. William Marsh Rice University	29.0%
19. Vanderbilt University	28.9%
20. Morgan State University	28.4%
*Minimum of 50 B.S. degrees awarded. 261 schools fit this criterion. Data source: American Society for Engineering Education. More data can be found online at www.asee.org/colleges.

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