The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM) is celebrating a historic milestone: record-high enrollment of women students in undergraduate and graduate mechanical engineering programs.
“This academic year is a reason for us to celebrate,” says Christina Haden, an associate teaching professor and associate chair of the MEM department. “We just hit a 10-year high in overall student enrollment, with over 21% women students in our ME major.”
According to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), although mechanical engineering continues to be the most popular engineering discipline nationwide, representation of women has historically been among the lowest in any engineering field. In 2023, just under 18% of U.S. mechanical engineering bachelor’s degrees were awarded to women.
“Lehigh MEM is very proud to be ahead of that curve,” says Arindam Banerjee, a professor of MEM and chair of the department “We hope to get further ahead and exceed 30% women enrollment by the year 2030.”
According to Banerjee, “MEM’s efforts are boosted by the collective efforts of its women faculty members. When I joined the department in 2012, we had zero women faculty. I am proud that in the past decade, we have made some excellent hires, and the MEM faculty is now a more gender-diverse body, with 23% of the group faculty being women.”
Nationwide, mechanical engineering departments average just 16% women female tenured and tenure-track faculty, one of the lowest proportions of women female faculty of all engineering disciplines.
Over the past decade, women in mechanical engineering have been increasingly pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees. In 2023, 18% of all U.S. graduate degrees in mechanical engineering were awarded to women. Lehigh’s MS and PhD programs in mechanical engineering have consistently tracked the national averages for enrollment of women and this year set a new program record.
“We’re thrilled to see so many talented young women choosing advanced degrees in mechanical engineering at Lehigh,” says Hannah Dailey, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in MEM. “Our students are seeing the range of career paths that are available to mechanical engineers, from the traditional automotive and aerospace industries to medical devices, robotics, environmental technology, and sustainable energy solutions. Mechanical engineering opens doors to exciting jobs with measurable societal impact.”
engineering opens doors to exciting jobs with measurable societal impact.”
“Lehigh MEM is deeply committed to supporting our women faculty and students,” says Haden, who leads the annual Lehigh Women Engineers (LWE) preLUsion experience for incoming first-year engineers. The program helps students coming into the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science make friends, learn their way around campus, and engage with various opportunities in engineering. One popular event is the “Ask me anything…” panel featuring women faculty from MEM and across the engineering college. Faculty answer students’ candid questions and dish out advice on topics such as time management and navigating relationships in group projects—and even the best local restaurants near campus.
“I love meeting students at preLUsion and then having them in my classes years later,” says Dailey. “Sometimes all it takes is that one connection to help a student feel welcome and get them excited about all the cool things they can do with their degree.”
The department’s efforts to create an environment where everyone can thrive include featuring innovative teaching practices from award-winning faculty including Dailey and Haden. Lehigh MEM also supports a wide range of opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience through coursework, extracurricular engineering design teams like Formula SAE and Baja racing, and research in faculty labs.
“We are seeing more women choose to come into mechanical engineering and find the support in numbers of other women around them, both in their classmates and faculty, something that I wish I had as an undergraduate student,” adds Haden, who is also the faculty advisor for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Lehigh. “We are collectively committed to helping all of our students, and our young women in particular, become more confident about their path and future careers in mechanical engineering.”
The rising enrollment numbers in mechanical engineering align with Lehigh’s strategic goal to inspire a new generation of Future Makers who are capable of tackling society’s most pressing challenges. With women students playing an increasingly prominent role in the field, Lehigh MEM is leading the way for a more diverse and innovative future in engineering.
“I think this is only the beginning of a shift in our enrollment numbers,” says Haden,” and I’m excited about what the future holds.”
