FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 22, 2004

Contact: Donald Lehr The Nolan/Lehr Group (212) 967-8200 / dblehr@cs.com

Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day – Now An Idea Heard Around The World

“Think globally, act locally” has become something of a mantra for those determined to make a difference in the world through their communities, and with good reason: It works. One case in point is the engineering community’s annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, which has become so popular in the United States that it is going global.

Scheduled for Thursday, February 24, 2005 , as part of Engineers Week (February 20-26), this all-out effort to raise interest among girls is now a worldwide phenomenon. Though it is billed as a one-day event, it really is more of a kickoff for activities that often span the entire year.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day – known among the professional community as “Girl Day” – was created in 2001 as a way to increase interest in engineering among girls and young women. In the United States , only ten percent of all engineers are women. By planting the seeds of interest early, girls can maintain their math and science skills and be well prepared to enter engineering programs in college.

By all accounts, Girl Day has exceeded expectations. Each year, more than one million girls are directly reached by the program. Thousands of women engineers, along with their male colleagues, take time to demonstrate that engineering is not only a viable career option, but a desirable one, too. Last year, Girl Day took its first steps to going international, as engineering outreach to girls began in Canada, Columbia, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

Those efforts will now be expanded for Girl Day 2005. Led by Engineers Week co-chairs ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and BP, p.l.c., with major sponsors Agilent Technologies, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Lockheed Martin, and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, educational material from the “ZOOM into Engineering” program, developed in 2002 in collaboration with the PBS television show, “ZOOM,” will be translated into Arabic, French, Hindi, Malayalam, and Russian. The translations, part of the IEEE Women in Engineering international project, will be posted on the Engineers Week web site at www.eweek.org by January 2005.

Additionally, Engineers Week will build on its 2004 participation in a United Nations Department of Public Information briefing, "Girls and Technology: New Educational Opportunities," in which it reported on Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day and other programs to promote education for girls and career opportunities for women. Engineers Week has invited individuals worldwide to sign a statement supporting its initiatives, which can be accessed at the EWeek web site, and plans to join in another UN activity in spring 2005.

WEPAN (Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network), a founding member of Girl Day, has published an information kit, "Making the Connection," which introduces engineering to students and teachers in grades 3-12. The kit is available at www.eweek.org.

Engineers Week is also sponsoring the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Goes to the Movies” campaign. Local organizations can advertise their activities in movie theaters in their area. More information can be found at www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/girlsday_mov.shtml.

Organizations and engineers are urged to list their Girl Day activities on the 2005 Pledge Roster at www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/2005_nationalpledgeroster.shtml, so that girls and prospective women engineers worldwide can access career opportunities and mentoring programs. Educational information and resources for volunteers are also available at the site.

“The response from the girls is incredible,” says Victoria Rockwell, 2005 Engineers Week chair, ASME member and a mechanical engineer. She also serves as a senior manager of investment development with Air Liquide America LP in Houston , Texas . “And the continually increasing numbers of professionals, organizations, and members of industry who have joined us reflects the sincere commitment that the engineering community has in this effort.”

Rockwell adds, “We may only reach one girl at a time, but when you multiply that by one million times around the world, it will make a difference.”

# # #

In Brief: The fifth annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is scheduled for February 24, 2005 . Hundreds of organizations worldwide will mobilize tens of thousands of women engineers – along with support from their male colleagues – to reach one million girls that day and throughout the year with direct, hands-on mentoring activities. "Girl Day" is the centerpiece of Engineers Week's annual outreach to encourage underrepresented groups to consider a career in engineering. Activities can be accessed online at www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/2005_nationalpledgeroster.shtml. The 2005 campaign is led by Engineers Week co-chairs, ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and BP p.l.c., with major sponsors Agilent Technologies, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Lockheed Martin, and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. The program was founded in 2001 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), IBM, the Society of Women Engineers, WEPAN, and MentorNet.

Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by NSPE, is dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to the quality of life. It promotes recognition among parents, teachers and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Co-chairs for 2005 are ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and BP p.l.c.