Websites for Youth Interested in Engineering and Science

IEEE Website on ‘Try Engineering’ for Youth:  There is a huge amount of information on this Website, including explanations of what engineers do, teacher lesson plans for high school and grade school, links for students to engineering schools and FAQs about engineering, information for parents, online games, robotic competitions, STEM related camps, etc.  A very extensive resource.

STEM and Maker Space for Youth:  There are scores of these facilities across the U.S.  Search on “STEM workshops” or “maker spaces for youth”.   A few are listed below:

New York State Network for Youth Success.  This site has a lot of resources.  Their offices are in Brooklyn and Troy NY.

STEM Education Center and Maker Space, Natick MA

STEM Center USA.  Run by two sisters with degrees in mechanical engineering, they offer many resources including summer camps.

Additional Resources

• IEEE Try Engineering Summer Camp. This is held at 3 universities on the east and west coasts and in the midwest.  Click HERE for more information.

• Animated film on Miss Lillian Todd This animated film, aimed at girls, highlights the early life of a woman who was also instrumental in the formation of RCA  (click HERE for her place in RCA’s history). Lilian Todd was very interested in aviation at an early age, despite numerous setbacks because of her gender. In November of 1909 in a contest on Long Island N.Y. she flew an aircraft which she designed and built herself! The film will have special appeal to young girls who are have encountered difficulties in pursuing their scientific interests.

• Space Gal Website This is another EXCELLENT Website for girls. Emily Calandrelli is an engineer and the recipient of the RCA 2020 Vivian Carr award. On her Website are links to Women in STEM, gifts and products for children interested in STEM, and links to other sources of STEM information for girls and children.

• Career Girl Website This is an EXCELLENT Website for girls. It has with links to various “career clusters” such as STEM, IT, manufacturing, and others. Within the STEM cluster they list 33 specific engineering areas. If you click on the area of engineering that you are interested in (electrical engineering, electronics engineering, aerospace engineering, etc.) you come to a section that lists what this career area is like, what one does in it, education needed, typical salaries, skills you should have, and then at the bottom are a series of female role models. When you click on a role model, there are a series of videos with this person describing their education, career, etc  This site is very comprehensive for young people trying to figure out where to go for their careers, and would also be very useful for parents, teachers, and guidance counselors.
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• Engineer Girl Website Explains what engineers do, and has some interviews with female engineers
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• National Math + Science Initiative, dedicated to getting more girls into STEM fields
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• Society of Women Engineers (SWE) NEXT Website
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• Women in Computing Website
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• IT HARE Overview on Engineering Careers
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• Posters on Women in Science
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• Quanta Magazine. A very interesting Web periodical with insights into physics, math, biology, computer science. This is written at a teen-aged to adult level.
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