Work in progress - department-specific mentoring network for women students in engineering

Enrollment and retention of undergraduate and graduate women students in Computer Science, Engineering, and Technology (CSET) remains a challenging issue despite recent efforts from many national engineering societies, industries and universities. Over the past decade, a number of successful mentoring programs have been developed, but most of these mentoring programs are college- or university-wide programs. One of the areas in which mentoring can be significantly improved is department-specific mentoring. A mentoring program was launched in fall 2004, in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) Department at the University of Florida. Monthly meetings during the fall included women speakers with ABE expertise at different stages of their careers. During the spring semester, the meetings focused on undergraduate research opportunities in ABE and related fields. Feedback forms were obtained at each meeting. We discuss the outcomes from these meetings and the feedback forms, including initial accomplishments and challenges of the mentoring program