Spira Engineering Camp, a student-run, free summer camp that introduces high school girls to engineering, may not reopen this summer unless it can obtain funding from a new source.
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Brown paid for the program last year through a grant from the National Science Foundation. Though the center reapplied for that grant this year, NSF did not renew Brown's funding. The camp's founders, Natalie Serrino '12 and Amanda Kautz '12, are now looking for new sources of revenue.
The four-week program, which held its first session this July, aims to introduce high school girls to engineering and provide them the fundamentals and camaraderie necessary to pursue engineering through college. Many of the campers could be the first in their families to attend college.
Serrino said she has noticed more and more women dropping out of the engineering program during her three years at Brown. Women often lack confidence in their intellectual abilities, especially in math and science, she said. Confidence is a key factor for success in higher levels of engineering, she said.
Spira builds a community to foster this confidence and provides female role models in the field, Serrino added. Girls should have images of engineers who are not just "old, dead guys," she said.
Serrino and Kautz designed a curriculum of activities that would be relevant to the girls with the help of the two coordinators, Farzanah Ausaluth '14 and Elizabeth Costa '14.
Females received only 18.1 percent of bachelor's degrees in an engineering discipline nationwide in 2010, according to the American Society for Engineering Education. That same year, Brown ranked seventh in the nation for percentage of engineering degrees received by women — 36.8 percent of engineering graduates were female.
In a survey taken at the end of this summer's session, Spira campers were asked to rank how they felt about a variety of statements on a scale of one to 10. The students gave an average response of 9.94 when asked if they viewed the coordinators as role models. The statements "I believe women are just as capable of men in science, engineering, math and technology" and "Spira has strengthened the belief (in women's equality)" also received high scores of 9.88.
Spira provides free lunches and free transportation through Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Since girls from a variety of socio-economic and racial backgrounds attended Spira, the coordinators decided to remove money from the equation to create a closer community. Even something minor, such as some girls bringing lunch and others receiving it free, could skew the dynamics and take away from the experience, Serrino said.
The founders saw high interest in jobs with the camp last summer — 11 applicants applied for two coordinator positions.
