UNR’s College of Engineering is hosting its inaugural Girls in Engineering camp this summer. The weeklong camp, designed for ages 13-15, aims to encourage more area girls to consider engineering as a career path.

The camp is designed to provide an introduction to a range of engineering disciplines through hands-on, interactive lessons such as bridge building, bottle rockets and chemical engineering experiments.

Engineering campers make small boats out of concrete. Photo/Provided

In addition to introductory engineering activities, the girls’ camp has a number of specially designed components. Female engineers, including College of Engineering faculty and graduate students as well as local professionals through the Society of Women Engineers, will provide the bulk of the instruction.

Other events include a field trip to GE to visit women employed in prominent engineering roles and a career panel and mentoring luncheon where campers will be seated with professional engineers to provide one-on-one advice.

Nationwide, women received just over 18 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in engineering in 2011, a number that has remained relatively flat over the past few years, according to research from the American Society for Engineering Education.

The camp will be on the UNR campus from 9am to 3 m, June 24-29. Registration fee is $250, and scholarships and financial aid are available.

For complete registration details, go online. Contact Elyse Bozsik at ebozsik@unr.edu with questions.