As part of its mission to encourage young people to consider
careers in engineering, the EngineerGirl
program hosts an annual essay contest. This year’s contest focuses on engineering
advancements for disease prevention. The 2013
Health Engineering essay contest asks students in grades 3 through 12 to
choose from five diseases listed by the World Health Organization as the
leading causes of death throughout the world.Administered by the National Academy of Engineering, EngineerGirl premiered in 2000. Simultaneously, the group launched its redesigned website to help inform, inspire and support its target audience of middle school girls, with the aim of introducing them to the rewards of an engineering career. The site features blogs about what an engineer does and a section called “Try on a Career” that allows visitors to explore different engineering fields.