SWE-SD INDUSTRIAL OUTREACH PARTNERSHIP (IOP)

The Industrial Outreach Partnership (IOP) was founded in 1998, with initial funding provided by Solar Turbines, Inc. Following the guidelines of National SWE , the definition of IOP has used the MOST approach . The mission of this organization is to provide opportunities for stimulating the interest of San Diego youth in science and engineering by combining the resources of local industry and the SWE community. The objectives of IOP include targeting underrepresented students to participate in innovative activities and helping youth explore the challenges and rewards of the lives of women scientists and engineers.

This year we presented our kickoff event and we expect this to become an annual activity. Our strategy for this event was a daytime activity on a Saturday in May, hosted by SWE for approximately 50 7^th-8^th grade girls.

Our tactics were to put the students into ten teams of five and have the teams rotate through a series of five workshops centered around an Egyptian theme. At each workshopstudents were exposed to a simple principle used in engineering with examples from a variety of subdisciplines such as mechanical, civil, and structural.

We welcome the participation of other industry sponsors in the IOP. With increased sponsorship, we can reach out and excite a greater number of young people about careers in science and engineering. If you are interested in sponsorship, helping-out, or in volunteering in the future, please email iop@swesandiego.org.