Fresno State receives $1 million grant for women in engineering

The CSU system recently received a million-dollar grant to advocate and support female faculty in engineering.
Seven years ago, the majority of the seats in an engineering lab were filled by men and only one or two women.

Professor Lalita Oka says she has seen a major change. She’s making sure women not only graduate but is also encouraging them to become teachers in engineering.

“Female students in engineering are doing much better than male counterparts,” Oka says. “They graduate at faster rates, their grades are higher, they are very sincere in their efforts, and they have everything. All they lack is that confidence, and that belonging, like we belong here. So I think we are trying to tackle one part of it, hoping that second part, which are students, that will also happen automatically, and eventually we will get there and we can support them.

Oka specializes in soil stability in engineering. However, after personal experience in her journey to become a professor, she now encourages many female students to become professors in engineering.

“I noticed that as a woman in engineering, there is very little women faculty around here that I can look up to,” says Andrea Tang, a student athlete majoring in civil engineering. “So in the future, my dream is to be like a professor and I want to encourage girls, especially young girls, to join this field, and I want to be a person who I can look up to as a mentor for girls in high school or college.”