2008 Woodie Awards
Smith Searches for New Engineering Director
Darry Madden
Issue date: 2/3/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
In its nationwide search for a new director, Smith College's Picker Engineering program has narrowed the field of candidates to four.
The search commenced in August after the program's original director, Domenico Grasso, announced his departure. Interim director Joseph O'Rourke issued a position announcement that appeared, among other places, in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in various specialized engineering journals.
The effort yielded about 50 responses.
"It's not atypical for an assistant professor position to get a hundred [applicants]," said O'Rourke. He explained that the relatively small number who applied for the engineering director's position was in some ways attributable to the fact that most qualified applicants are already employed. "You're always looking for someone who has a job," said O'Rourke, "and they're not looking."
Another factor that may contribute to the small number of candidates is that there is "no other equivalent position," said O'Rourke.
The uniqueness of the position has produced a unique group of candidates. Three of the four finalists are women in a field that is, according to O'Rourke, made up of 90 percent men.
"There's a nerdy aspect to engineering," O'Rourke explained. "I think little girls get turned off at a really young age." Every other scientific field has a better representation of women, and for that reason O'Rourke believes this is a "really cool opportunity" for the program's next leader. The general lack of women in engineering may also be what has made the Picker Engineering program, the first of its kind in the nation, attractive to female candidates.
The male candidate, Robert Gray, has a history of mentoring female engineers, having supervised 13 female doctoral candidates. Gray visited Smith on Monday, January 24, from Stanford University where he is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Gray offered two public presentations. Amelia Regan visited on Friday, January 28, from the University of California, Irvine.
The search commenced in August after the program's original director, Domenico Grasso, announced his departure. Interim director Joseph O'Rourke issued a position announcement that appeared, among other places, in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in various specialized engineering journals.
The effort yielded about 50 responses.
"It's not atypical for an assistant professor position to get a hundred [applicants]," said O'Rourke. He explained that the relatively small number who applied for the engineering director's position was in some ways attributable to the fact that most qualified applicants are already employed. "You're always looking for someone who has a job," said O'Rourke, "and they're not looking."
Another factor that may contribute to the small number of candidates is that there is "no other equivalent position," said O'Rourke.
The uniqueness of the position has produced a unique group of candidates. Three of the four finalists are women in a field that is, according to O'Rourke, made up of 90 percent men.
"There's a nerdy aspect to engineering," O'Rourke explained. "I think little girls get turned off at a really young age." Every other scientific field has a better representation of women, and for that reason O'Rourke believes this is a "really cool opportunity" for the program's next leader. The general lack of women in engineering may also be what has made the Picker Engineering program, the first of its kind in the nation, attractive to female candidates.
The male candidate, Robert Gray, has a history of mentoring female engineers, having supervised 13 female doctoral candidates. Gray visited Smith on Monday, January 24, from Stanford University where he is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Gray offered two public presentations. Amelia Regan visited on Friday, January 28, from the University of California, Irvine.