Women in Mechanical Engineering

This book features influential scholarly research and technical contributions, professional trajectories, disciplinary shifts, personal insights, and a combination of these from a group of remarkable women within mechanical engineering. Combined, these chapters tell an important story about the dynamic field of mechanical engineering in the areas of energy and the environment, as seen from the perspective of some of its most extraordinary women scientists and engineers. The volume shares with the Women in Engineering and Science Series the primary aim of documenting and raising awareness of the valuable, multi-faceted contributions of women engineers and scientists, past and present, to these areas. Women in mechanical engineering and energy and the environment are historically relevant and continue to lead these fields as passionate risk takers, entrepreneurs, innovators, educators, and researchers. Chapter authors are members of the National Academies, winners of major awards and recognition that include Presidential Medals, as well as SWE, SAE, ASME, ASEE and IEEE Award winners and Fellows.

Section I: Introduction.- Energetic Trailblazers: Kate Gleason, Edith Clarke, and Maria Telkes.- Mechanical Engineering Micronarratives and/as Changing Stories of Women in STEM.- In Pursuit of an Inclusive Learning Environment in Engineering.- Section II: New Perspectives.- Educating the Next Generation of Mechanical Engineers in Fluid-Thermal Sciences.- Circular Systems and the Culture of Collaboration.- How to Stop Imposter Syndrome from Sabotaging Your Career.- From Brazil to the World: The Journey of a Fluid Dynamics Experimentalist.- Remaining Curious: Re-thinking Contributions and Opportunities as Mechanical Engineers.- The Changing Landscape of Mechanical Engineering: Learning to Embrace my Ecofeminist Identity within the Elitism of Engineering.- Section III: Research/Technical.- From Watching Planes in the Sky to Making Turbines More Efficient.- Non-linear Pathways into Mechanical Engineering.- My Journey from Fixing the Lawnmower to a Career in Fuels and Combustion.- Do Pipeline Engineers Want to Pollute the Environment?.- Intelligent Control to Reduce Vehicle Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.- Silicon Solar Photovoltaics: Slow Ascent to Exponential Growth.- From Nuclear Engineering to Roller Coasters: The Ride of a Lifetime.- Section IV: Career Journeys.- Unveiling My Engineering Identity.- Connected by the Environment: The Unique yet Intertwined Journeys of Two Energy and Water Researchers.- From Spacecrafts to Biocomposites: The Story of a Shuttle Launch, a Recession, a Surprise Doctorate, and Motherhood.- My Most Valuable Lessons in Energy Engineering.- I Never Claimed to be a Lady.- Severing the Links of the 'Gordian Knot': Envisioning Doctoral-Level Engineering Education and Workforce Sustainability as a Key to Environmental Sustainability.