College of Engineering and Applied Science's fall 2023 class includes 41% female students, up 27 percentage points from two decades ago.

In an era where gender diversity in STEM is more critical than ever, the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) isn't just paying lip service. In the past two decades, CEAS has transformed its engineering landscape, growing its female undergraduate class from 18% in 2003 to 30% in 2023. The estimates that, in 2023, the percentage of women professionals in architecture and engineering is 16.7%. And while up from 9% in the 1990s, women are still underrepresented in these fields compared to their male counterparts.

The spotlight shines bright on CEAS’ first-year cohorts as well, particularly the fall 2023 class, which includes 41% female students, up 27 percentage points from two decades ago. This achievement underscores CU Boulder's status as a leader among Association of American Universities (AAU) Public Institutions, clinching a top spot in 2022 for the highest percentage of first-year female engineering students from the .

Keith Molenaar, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, said initiatives spearheaded by both the college and the broader CU Boulder campus over the last 10-15 years have propelled the growth.

“This is not only about fairness and equity, but about driving innovation, enhancing problem-solving capabilities, and expanding our engineering workforce that is in such high demand,” said Molenaar. “By fostering a diverse engineering team, CU Boulder is preparing students for the workforce and shaping a future where technology reflects the diversity of its users.”

The has recognized CU Boulder as a Top 5 public university for women in its first-year class as well as a Top 50 institution for awarding bachelor's degrees to women, and leading in female tenured or tenure-track faculty.

“Addressing global challenges, from sustainable development and healthcare, to rapidly advancing computing subfields such as AI, quantum and semiconductors, will require a diverse set of perspectives and solutions,” said Lucy Sanders, founder and executive in residence, . “Those with different lived experiences such as those who identify as women are pivotal in designing infrastructure and technologies that cater to the needs of our broad population.”

Boulder's journey towards gender parity in engineering is a clear signal that diversity in STEM is achievable.

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The University of Colorado Boulder has been selected as a United States Space Command member.

The new national program is designed to expand collaboration and academic exchanges between universities and U.S. Space Command.

“They’re engaging with top universities in the country to have two-way communication; how Space Command can help us and how we can benefit them,” said Marcus Holzinger, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. “It’s about educational best practices.”

Space Command has four key goals for the program:

• Engage the future workforce
• Increase space applied research and innovation
• Expand space-focused analytic partnerships
• Enrich the strategic dialogue on space

The program will have particular impact in developing training for members of the still new Space Force military branch, which was established in 2019, but its impact will be felt across all branches of the military and into the civilian space realm.

“Even if a student isn’t going into the Space Force, the majority of funding in aerospace has strong connections to the military and intelligence community. There’s a shared vernacular and it’s important for our education to meet the needs,” Holzinger said.

CU Boulder was invited by Space Command to apply to the program, which was created in 2022. The initiative has particular relevance to the aerospace department but the partnership applies university-wide.

“This is a new initiative. It’s a fresh blank slate,” Holzinger said. “We’re taking results from our research and our educational mission and applying it directly to benefit the national endeavor in space.”

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For several years, Rebecca ‘Becky’ Komarek, associate director of Idea Forge, Angela Bielefeldt, program director and professor of Integrated Design Engineering, and Daniel Knight, program assessment and research associate for the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering have been attending the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition. ASEE’s vision is to provide excellent and broadly accessible education that empowers students and engineers professionals to create a better world.

“Each year, it serves as a spark of motivation to improve engineering education. The community of individuals at the conference are passionate about their area of focus, whether it’s making engineering education more inclusive, more hands-on, or more cross-disciplinary,” said Komarek.

“It has been a great journey. A reinforcing cycle of questions that arise to improve engineering education, explorations in my own classes and partnering with others, and taking what I learn to improve my teaching. Every year I come away from the conference with multiple ideas to improve every class that I teach, multiple ideas of new topics to read about, and more inspired to keep improving,” said Bielefeldt.

Receiving recognition for Best Paper

Last summer, over 3,500 leaders from more than 500 university and college engineering schools attended the conference. Komarek and her co-authors, Bielefeldt and Knight won Best Paper LEAD Division and the Best Overall Professional Interest Council (PIC) paper award across a group of divisions.

The paper, titled Self-Assessment of Leadership Behaviors over time among students in a Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Course, was part of Komarek’s dissertation. Their research takes a systems perspective on leadership development among engineering students.

The paper investigated leadership in engineering design teams through the which explores the impact of different leadership styles in the team and the impact of behavioral complexity, which is the ability to rotate between different leadership styles to solve a problem. “ASEE was a good venue to get our work out into the community, find out about cutting edge research and network with people who are interested in the same research areas," said Knight.

Bielefeldt shared, “having a good instrument to measure student confidence in different leadership styles can be useful as we explore teaching interventions that bolsters student leadership abilities.”

Advice for future conference participants

As ASEE accepts papers for the , in Baltimore, Maryland, Komarek’s advice to anyone interested in participating in the ASEE community is to attend the events hosted by your 1 or 2 top divisions.

“By doing this, you will create a network of educators who share your interests. This can lead to future collaboration or simply camaraderie and exposure to varied expertise. After spending so much time working on this research project, it felt great to share the results with the broader community,” she said.

Knight noted that “the conference caters to researchers and practitioners, so instructors without an engineering education research background are encouraged to share their curriculum and teaching practices.”

Author deadline for abstract submission is Monday, Oct. 31. Visit the to learn how to submit your abstract for the conference.

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