According to an SMU press release, Dolores Etter, founding director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education in SMU’s Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering, will receive INSIGHT Into Diversity’s “100 Inspiring Women In STEM” award.
INSIGHT Into Diversity’s STEM award recognizes women whose work and achievements encourage others in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, especially young females.
Etter’s work as founding director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education from June 2008-May 2015 includes creating websites with her team and summer programs such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) camps, which are aimed to teach young girls that engineering is fun.
Her portfolio is not constrained to just SMU. Etter is an “internationally recognized leader in science and technology and engineering education.” She worked for the U.S. Naval Academy, led large projects at the Pentagon, and was one of the few subcabinet appointees for both the Bush and Clinton administrations.
As for her academic and engineering research, Etter has held such positions as ONR Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology at the United States Naval Academy, and professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of New Mexico.
Etter has received many praise from her peers and coworkers.
Lenore Pearlstein, INSIGHT Into Diversity publisher, had nothing but kind words to say about Etter gaining the ‘100 Inspiring Women In STEM’ award.
“Our sincerest congratulations go to Dr. Etter and Southern Methodist University on receiving this prestigious national honor,” said Pearlstein. “She is truly an inspiration to all of us who are working so diligently to make a difference in the lives of all women and other underrepresented individuals.”
Lyle School dean Marc Christensen also commented on Etter’s achievement.
“Prof. Etter is extremely deserving of this prestigious award,” said Christensen. “During her seven years leading the Caruth Institute, she continually focused on ways to increase the number and diversity of students who graduate from U.S. high schools with both the enthusiasm and knowledge to pursue careers in STEM education.”
SMU-Lyle is celebrating its 10th year as an engineering school where women make up more than 30 percent of incoming undergraduate students. Nationally, enrollment of women in engineering schools averages just under 20 percent.
Etter currently works at SMU as the Caruth Professor of Engineering Education, a distinguished fellow in the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security, and professor of electrical engineering in the Lyle School.
