Society of Women Engineers Oral History Project: Profiles of SWE Pioneers

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Title

Society of Women Engineers Oral History Project: Profiles of SWE Pioneers

Description

Interviews of pioneering women engineers, across engineering disciplines, conducted to document the history of women in engineering from the 1930s to the present as well as the founding and development of SWE. This project was sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers through generous funding provided by the Ford Motor Company Fund and managed by the Reuther Library. Both transcript and videotapes are available.

Collection Items

Dr. Eleanor Baum is Dean of Engineering at The Cooper Union in New York City and Executive Director of the Cooper Union Research Foundation. She is an electrical engineer who received her Ph.D. from Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1964 after…

Lois Bey is a chemical engineer who holds the distinction of being the first woman graduate in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where she graduated with honors in 1950. In 2001, Bey received an IIT…

Patricia Brown is a chemical engineer whose career took a different path than most. Graduating as the first woman chemical engineer from Southwestern Louisiana Institute, Brown went on to earn her master's in chemistry from the University of Texas.…

Yvonne Young Clark first became interested in engineering when she was a member of the Civil Air Patrol in high school during the Second World War. She originally considered studying aeronautics engineering but decided instead to pursue mechanical…

Stella Lawrence Daniels' career spans both industry and academia. With a master's in mathematics and physics from New York University, Daniels went on to pursue engineering. Before graduating with a master's in electrical engineering from the…

Margaret Eller spent her career in the field of engineering graphics and drafting. Having first attended the University of Michigan School of Architecture, Eller went on to receive a B.S. from Wayne State University and a M.S. in engineering graphics…

Ann Fletcher chose engineering as a second career option, after teaching music for nearly ten years. Her career switch is a good example of the new opportunities that opened up to women as a result of WWII. She attended Wayne State University's…

Evelyn Fowler was part of the small group of women who were the earliest members of SWE. She was a charter member of the New York Section in 1949, a founding member of SWE national in 1950, and a founding member of the Connecticut Section in…

The daughter of a contractor, Isabelle French became interested in engineering at a young age. She graduated in 1944 from Tri-State College with a degree in radio engineering, the first woman at Tri-State to do so. She received an honorary…

Lois Graham was an engineering educator for 36 years during a time when women were not even allowed as engineering students in many schools. She was the first woman to graduate in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1945; the…
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  • Reuther Library
    • Society of Women Engineers Oral History Project: Profiles of SWE Pioneers