The National Academy of Engineering is proud to introduce the third class of EngineerGirl Ambassadors. During the 2020-21 academic year, each Ambassador will implement a project she designed and developed to encourage younger girls – particularly those with little access to engineering role models – to think about engineering careers and give them practical experience in engineering design. They will work with local sponsors and receive guidance and support from EngineerGirl staff.
Diya Agrawal
11th Grade Inverness, Illinois
Local sponsor: Karuna Parmar
Diya plans on working with an after school club led by fellow high schoolers to help introduce engineering principles to underprivileged elementary school girls before high school. This club will take place twice a month, focusing on a new topic of engineering each month.
Sarah Amacker
11th Grade Covington, Louisiana
Local sponsor: Christi Pilkington
Sarah will work to expand curious local middle school girls’ knowledge on engineering and create a community with these girls with the aid of female engineers and hands on projects. She will use more complex projects to show the interconnections of the different disciplines of engineering.
Nikita Bharati
11th Grade Chandler, Arizona
Local sponsor: Tearsa Saffell
Nikita will be using Food Computers in Title One middle schools in Arizona next school year as a technology for digitalizing agriculture and making farming more sustainable, as well as for a tool enacting social good, specifically in terms of empowering low-income females in the field of engineering and beyond.
Diana DiProfio
9th Grade San Diego, California
Local sponsor: Sophia Oller
Diana will create videos of interviews of women mentors in engineering and STEAM to inspire young girls and answer their questions.
Elizabeth Halton
11th Grade Ithaca, New York
Local sponsor: Emily Belle
Elizabeth will design and run an engineering summer camp for girls in elementary school. The camp will expose elementary school girls to the different facets of engineering and allow them to develop the problem-solving and hands-on skills employed by engineers. By providing participants with the stories of real women engineers, the camp also aims to demonstrate the importance of women in engineering.
Simran Kulkarni
10th Grade Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Local sponsor: Srilakshmi Kulkarni
Simran will create an after-school STEM club at an underprivileged kids center for younger girls. It will be held at a local kids’ center and will meet every other week through virtual and in-person meetings. The project will get younger girls who come from a less privileged background to explore their interests in STEM and to interest them in pursuing a career in a STEM field. Her goal is to show these girls and other girls in the community that anything is possible while also encouraging them to learn more about STEM.
Aavni Kuppusamy
10th Grade Austin, Texas
Local sponsor: Madiha Marium
Aavni is planning an experience-based after-school program with hands-on activities and exposure to diverse female role models. Her goal is to expose underprivileged female minorities in STEM to engineering and make engineering accessible for young girls who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity.
Nikki LaPierre
12th Grade Andover, Massachusetts
Local sponsor: Dean LaPierre
Nikki will work with a group of middle school girls from Bellesini Academy, a private school for children of little economic means, and teach them that engineering can be fun and open a variety of career options so they can find their own passions within engineering.
Hyunjin Lee
12th Grade Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania
Local sponsor: Laura Doan
Hyunjin is planning a workshop series with 6 different engineering workshops held on separate days.
Jewel Levy
12th Grade Easton, Pennsylvania
Local sponsor: Grace Fronheiser
Jewel will establish an engineering club for middle school girls during the school year. With projects and role models, her plan is to instill confidence in younger girls and inspire them to pursue their passions.
Faye Liu
11th Grade Manhattan Beach, California
Local sponsor: Crista Riccio
Faye will be leading elementary school girls in various engineering and STEM related projects with other high school female mentors. There, girls will learn the importance of teamwork, female engineers, and engineering for humanity.
Ishika Nag
10th Grade Oviedo, Florida
Local sponsor: Sreerupa Das
Ishika will give back to her community by forming an engineering club at the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida by March 2020. This club will provide an opportunity for underprivileged girls to develop careers in engineering by participating in engineering competitions, field trips, and engineering camps.
Allison Nguyen
11th Grade Sugar Land, Texas
Local sponsor: Elizabeth Davlin-Buchanan
In a community where young girls believe engineering is “boring”, Allison hopes to pique their interest by introducing the creativity required in the field through teaching exciting concepts and creating a supportive environment in which they are able to experience the process of engineering through small challenges and projects.
Yana Outkin
11th Grade Albuquerque, New Mexico
Local sponsor: Cheryl Leung
Yana’s after-school club will introduce the middle school girls in her community to mechanical, environmental, aeronautical, and civil engineering. They will learn the planning and design process needed to implement successful engineering projects. The goal is to inspire the girls to pursue STEM through fun engineering projects, and to develop their creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
Kaylee Pfister
10th Grade Flower Mound, Texas
Local sponsor: Gwen Price
Kaylee will start a program at Flower Mound Elementary for girls interested in STEM. Women engineers will give talks about the types of engineering. Using LEGO mindstorms, we’ll build and program robots. Her idea focuses on the importance of teamwork and will give girls a better understanding of engineering.
Izabella Pollett
11th Grade Tulsa, Oklahoma
Local sponsor: Buford Pollett
Izabella plans to establish a speaker series within the Tulsa Public School System where female engineers attend schools and discuss how and why they became engineers.
Yarianis Rivera
11th Grade Manati, Puerto Rico
Local sponsor: Noemi Aquino
Yarianis is planning a 1-3 workshop focusing on integrating robotics and STEAM. She hopes to to increase skills, develop ideas, and creativity; as well as teach participants the importance to be a girl taking action in STEM.
Diana Sobolieva
12th Grade Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Local sponsor: Chris Himes
Diana is planning a two-month program that will provide middle school girls with fun engineering experiences and female role models. It will also help families and teachers become better support for their girls.
Julia (Heyu) Sun
12th Grade Barrington, Illinois
Local sponsor: Tim Maguire
Julia will set-up an after-school program for middle school girls that runs every other week. She and a few other high school girls will teach the kids by presenting a STEM-related slideshow followed-by hands-on activities.
Danielle Sutterlin
11th Grade Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Local sponsor: Gwen Cohen
Danielle will be working with her local middle school to host a “Girls in Engineering Day” to introduce girls to the various engineering disciplines, classes offered in her district, and female role models by inviting women currently in the field to speak about their experiences and passion for engineering.
Ananya Tadigadapa
12th Grade State College, Pennsylvania
Local sponsor: Barbara Razzano
To increase participation of young girls in engineering in her community, Ananya created the program “Empowering Girls in Engineering and Robotics” or EGER for short (pronounced “eager”). Girls in 4th to 8th grade will learn the principles of different types of engineering and get introduced to the field as a relevant and viable career.
Emerson Utgaard
11th Grade San Diego, California
Local sponsor: Craig Olsson
Emerson will implement a series of 7 STEM workshops from May to November and a 5-day summer camp in June introducing elementary-school aged minority girls in District 80 schools to different engineering fields.
Zoe Vardys
12th Grade Austin, Texas
Local sponsor: Teresa Coomaraswamy
Zoe is creating a three-day workshop for young girls and their siblings that will take place at Casa Marianella, a home for displaced immigrants. Over the course of the project, they will complete STEM-based experiments and learn about career opportunities with the purpose of expanding their knowledge for increased opportunities.