Virtual Ventures, a not-for-profit organization run by Carleton engineering and design students, received $17,000 in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
The organization encourages kids to explore science and engineering by providing them with programs and initiatives such as a summer camp, fall and winter clubs, and a school outreach program. The program is offered to any young people with or without engineering exposure between Grades 1-10.
Virtual Ventures received funding from NSERC’s PromoScience fund, which works to encourage female participation in science and technology.
Martin Leroux, NSERC’s media relations officer, said PromoScience funding is given to schools “with an increased emphasis on proposals focusing on groups that are traditionally under-represented in scientific and engineering careers.”
Leroux added, with the help of PromoScience, Virtual Ventures is able to provide bursaries and opportunities to young girls interested in engineering and address the nationwide issue of the lack of women in the field.
Mawuena Torkornoo, director of Virtual Ventures and a Carleton MBA student, also graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the university and said the funding will help the program reach out to young girls.
“Getting girls at a young age is very critical even before high school—to have a bigger impact,” Torkornoo said, adding that for many women today, becoming an engineer is not an option or not seen as one.
The NSERC funding will be used to increase the Virtual Ventures impact on the future of women in engineering, she said.
Presented with real life challenges and problems, young girls going through the program are given the opportunity to expand on theoretical science and apply what they know, Torkornoo said.
“Girls want to go into careers that really make a difference and help someone—help society, or make the world a better place. This is really something that resonates with them,” Torkornoo said.
She said engineering programs at Carleton try to attract women to their programs too.
Women make up around 30 per cent of first-year undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics enrolment, according to the university’s public data. Numbers are lower for engineering at 16 per cent.
“My biggest hope is to see equal representation of men and women in the engineering field,” she said.
Torkornoo said she is grateful for the opportunity to partner with PromoScience to work together to create generations of problem solvers within Canada.
Support from the engineering community of Carleton is also crucial, she added, to make Virtual Ventures a success.
