Female engineering students start out in college less confident than their male peers, according to a recent Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network survey. Women and other minority engineering students are hesitant to speak up in class and fear that they're failures if they don't achieve the top grades, says UAB Associate Dean of Engineering Rose Scripa, Ph.D. Those students need support, mentoring and "to be told they don't have to get an A. They can still learn the material and be successful." Time and experience erase the lack of self-confidence, she says. "It changes once they get into the upper classes and into the workplace because they've formed teams, they form workgroups, they've proven themselves. They're accepted as equals."
Contact Nick Patterson, Media Relations, at 205-975-8858 or [email protected].
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