IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2007 - 45

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Massachusetts. She is also the cofounder
of BA Logix Inc., where she works as the
company's chief research scientist.
Panetta believes that real world experience is critical for engineering education, which is why she maintains
consulting positions in the industry and
brings her experiences back to the classroom. She is a design consultant for Tyco
electronics, M/A-Com Inc., and consults
for the Massachusetts school systems
and science museums across the United
States to inspire engineering and technology education.
After earning her bachelor's degree in
computer engineering from Boston University, she joined Digital Equipment
Corporation after graduation and began
designing computers. Panetta completed
both and her master's degree and Ph.D.
from Northeastern University while
working full time.
"As I spent more years in industry, I
saw more of my female colleagues leaving
the profession and saw even less women
in my graduate classes," Panetta recalls.
"I became a professor purely by my desire
to teach and encourage young students
to become engineers. My years as an educator and professional consultant in several diverse industries showed me how
interdisciplinary and valuable my skills
were. This opened many new exciting
engineering opportunities for me. These
are the things I wish to convey to students early in their education so that they
understand the value of engineering and
what engineers do for society."
As a product of her dedication to promoting women in engineering, Panetta
created the "Nerd Girls" program, where
undergraduate engineers research
renewable energy topics and serve as role
models for younger students. The program is aimed at breaking down the barriers that prevent women from entering
the engineering disciplines and bridging
the gap between attracting girls into
engineering and sustaining them
through their engineering curriculum. It
strives to help undergraduate students
build confidence in their skills, while
preparing them for professional careers.
The Nerd Girl program has successfully promoted engineering to students,

Page 45

educators, and government officials.
Panetta's team has presented its work to
over 8,000 Massachusetts school children and educators and she is proud to
be able to "interact and reach so many
people and hear firsthand the concerns
that parents, educators and young children have about engineering.
Reaching out to children is important since Panetta recognizes that her
strongest engineering asset was fostered
as a child-her imagination. It was
important to be able to support herself
and to make her parents proud of their
investment in her education, she says.
Her parents noted that their daughter
had no trouble with math and science
in school and encouraged Panetta to
pursue engineering despite the fact that
she "had no idea what engineers did,"
she adds.
In many cases, people rise and fall
with self-confidence and it's important to
have faith in yourself, Panetta says.
"When someone tells you that you are
not good enough or will never be able to
accomplish your goals, you can have one
of two reactions. One reaction is to
believe them and give up. The other
reaction is to realize that no one knows
you better than yourself and that you will
find such joy in proving them wrong. I
am proud to say I always take the latter
approach."

Bell Chimes In on Benefits
of Design Teams and Student Groups
Amy Bell is the 2007 Engineering Activities Board liaison to WIE. She received
her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from
the University of Michigan in 1997. Currently, she is an associate professor in
the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Virginia Tech and
director of the Digital Signal Processing
and Communications Lab. Bell conducts research in sensor array algorithms, cellular imaging analysis,
wavelet image compression, and engineering education.
Bell says that in high school, she didn't know anything about engineering, but
she knew what she liked and was good at:
math, physics, reading, writing, music,
and the outdoors. She learned that math

WINTER 2007/2008

and science were a good fit with a career
in engineering after listening to a visiting
counselor from a nearby university.
During her first year at college, she
learned more about the various engineering areas; talking with other students and attending meetings of the
engineering student groups were two of
her best sources of information. At that
point, Bell realized that engineering was
a good choice since it allowed her to
combine her interests and strengths with
a career that provided financial stability.
Bell advocates engineering as a
career choice to young adults because
engineering is very important to people
and society.
"Engineers are responsible for people's safety, health, and happiness by
designing safer cars that are also environment friendly, more accurate medical
diagnostic equipment, and search-andrescue robots that locate trapped victims
in confined spaces after a building collapse," she says. Most people do not associate these advances with engineering.
She encourages young adults to get
involved with student groups and design
teams, to find an interesting summer
internship with a company, and to do
independent research with an engineering professor to help experience the full
excitement of engineering.
Bell is the recipient of two awards for
teaching excellence and the 2005-2006
IEEE Outstanding Student Branch
Counselor Award. She is married to Sanjay Raman, who is also an electrical engineering professor. They live in
Blacksburg, Virginia, with their two
young sons.

Patel Advises Young Adults
to Learn from Setbacks
Nita Patel, an IEEE Senior Member, is
the 2006-2007 Region 5 WIE Coordinator. She graduated from Southern
Methodist University with a
B.S. in mathematics
and a B.S.E.E. in
electrical engineering in 1995 and then
completed an M.S. in
computer engineering
in 1998.
Nita Patel

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2007