This semester’s "Women Engineers @ the Beach" event commenced with the powerful words of keynote speaker, Antoinette Massey, Senior Mechanical Engineering from Raytheon’s Space & Airborne Systems division. Massey’s personal story (of how she came to be a practicing professional in a field where men still dominate), coupled with her words of wisdom, inspired the 350 girls at this semester’s “Women Engineers @ the Beach. With a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering, Massey’s enthusiasm resonated with all who heard her speak. She opened her speech by asking four simple questions:

1. Have you ever followed a recipe to bake a cake, or prepare a meal?
2. Have you ever made jewelry or clay figures?
3. Have you ever had to come up with a better way of doing a common thing?

Massey concluded by saying, "The truth is, you have been creating and designing nearly all of your life; you have been a mathematician, a scientist and a strategic thinker without ever being told you were. You have always been an 'Engineer'."

Following this rousing speech, each student attended two "Engineering Awareness" workshops (conducted by Engineering faculty and Engineering Ambassadors), where they got a taste of each of the Engineering disciplines. MATLab and SolidWorks were the software of choice, while the Hydraulics lab and Anachoic Chamber provided great visuals. Dr. Parentela conducted a workshop using the West Point Bridge Building software, while Dr. Marayong's Robotic demos appealed to their sense of inquiry. Dr. Lu, with her quiet passion for Mechanical Engineering, introduced the world of controls. New this year was "Rollercoaster Engineering", conducted by Mechanical Engineering student, Kyle King.

For the hands-on activities, the IEEE-constructed catapults gave them an opportunity to launch Chex mix, while clusters of giggling girls enjoyed the interplay between putting together mini windmills and volleying plastic bags, filled with creamy condiments, for SWE’s ice-cream making activity. The Engineering Recruitment & Retention Center resided with a milder estimating activity, involving a number of jars filled with candies. Other activities included fashioning boats and barges from aluminum foil and constructing tall spindly paper towers. All in all, it was a really fun and educational event, and the girls were entirely engaged in their learning. With each event, the College of Engineering at CSULB hopes to debunk the male-only-in-Engineering stereotype and usher in a new generation of women Engineers!

We hope to see more Engineering student organizations get involved in this event next time!

• For more information on co-sponsoring this event, please contact SWE President, Heather Lord ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
• To sign up as a volunteer, please contact Engineering Ambassador, Robby Marasigan ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Written by: Lily Gossage, Director, Engineering Recruitment & Retention Center