Milwaukee summer engineering program aims to encourage girls

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A summer program in Milwaukee aims to draw more females into the male dominated field of engineering.

Milwaukee Public Radio reports that Marquette University’s Women in Electrical Engineering summer program has a group of middle school girls who have opted to spend part of their summer break in classrooms and labs in Milwaukee to study engineering.

Claire Kasier is an incoming freshman at Hamilton High School in Sussex. She says the program offers a different environment from other engineering classes she’s taken where there are few girls.

Kristen Seashore, section president of the Society of Women Engineers Wisconsin, says women make up only 15 percent of the engineering field.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College also have similar summer engineering programs for girls.