Q&A: Representing Women in STEM 

Being a woman in a male-dominated field such as engineering can be a daunting and challenging task for college students. But professor of mechanical engineering Maija Benitz is using her own background and expertise to support and inspire future female engineers. We talked with her to find out more about her own research and what she hopes to instill in her students as they prepare for careers in engineering: 

How did your career in engineering begin? 

I went to a small liberal arts college for my undergrad where I was a physics major because they didn’t have an engineering program. And I fell in love with physics but felt like I wanted to do something more applied with my physics background. So I went to UMASS Amherst for my Master’s and PhD where I studied offshore hydrodynamics related to wind turbines. I knew I wanted to do some application to some kind of renewable energy, something that was going to help us mitigate climate change issues and use my background to do something good for the world.  

What led you to teaching at Roger Williams University? 

I taught at my alma mater, Colorado College, then at Evergreen State in Washington, then came to RWU. Roger Williams was a good fit because I wanted to teach engineering at a small school that had a liberal arts background because I came from that background and really valued that throughout my undergraduate education. It was also a big draw to come to Rhode Island because they have the US’s first offshore wind farm which is exciting to me from a research perspective.  

What are some recent research projects you’re working on? 

This summer I’m working on a project studying hydrodynamics of offshore wind turbines, a continuation of research I did during my PhD. I’ve also been doing research on scholarship and learning, through the community engagement KidWind Project. My collaborator Dr. Li-Ling Yang and I collected pre- and post-assessment data and are now studying the impacts of that community engagement project across all populations involved.  

Are students involved in any of your research? 

For the KidWind project, I had three research assistants. One student, who just graduated, had designed and built the wind tunnel we used during our celebration day. Two rising seniors worked all year supporting the needs of the project. They figured out a way to measure the energy produced by the turbines and how to log that data. They also helped design curriculum and activities and managed a lot of the project logistics.  

Each year I mentor the senior engineering design project. The students work in teams to conquer some design project created by their advisor that solves a real-world problem, or sometimes a community problem. This year my team worked to establish a manufacturing process for tidal turbine blades.  

What other courses do you teach here? 

I teach the entire first year curriculum, which is Engineering 110 and 115. I also teach a lot of junior level classes like thermodynamics, fluid dynamics lab and sustainable energy systems. This fall, I will be offering a new elective called Ocean Engineering.  

What is your approach to teaching and the types of assignments you give your students? 

In the freshman year courses, we focus a lot on teamwork and getting their team building and communication skills developed by giving them a design project right from the get-go. This gives them a taste for what they’ll do senior year. And in any engineering class we do regular homework with a lot of feedback on it, with the idea that you can’t learn by just watching someone do it, you have to do it yourself.  

And as much as possible, we do project-based learning like KidWind. These projects allow students to learn all these skills they never would have learned in a normal course. They learn to communicate with a professional partner, how to explain scientific concepts at a fundamental level, how to be flexible and think on their feet, and how to work with people outside their discipline. These community engaged classes really give them really applicable hands on skills they will use in their professional careers. 

You’re also a Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. 

Yes, I joined the Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship because I’m really passionate about representation in the STEM fields. I have always been interested with having representation, not just women in STEM but other minoritized groups. 

How does being a DIF influence your teaching? 

Within engineering you can’t really take the content of the course and focus on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion because it’s such a technical field, so I focus on it in more of a pedagogical way. How can I create assignments that are more equitable? How can I make grading more equitable? And really thinking about how I organize teams of students in the classroom.  

What has your experience been like as a woman in a STEM field? 

When I went to undergrad, my physics faculty was about 50/50 in terms of gender, which was reflected in the physics major student body, so I thought we were past this issue. Then I went to graduate school and there was not a single female mechanical engineering faculty and there were very few women grad students. And I always reflect back on that because it shows that representation really matters.  

And so how do you translate that into your classroom, especially for your female students? 

One thing I experienced and really valued during my own undergrad was getting a lot of support from my faculty. So I try to point out, especially to my female students, that they did a really good job and they belong in that room because they’re hardworking, smart and willing to struggle through a problem. When I form teams for projects, I also never put one female student by herself for fear of her ideas getting talked over or ignored. But mostly, it’s just about encouragement and taking note of when you see talent or perseverance in students and calling that out.