Adding a feminine touch to SEAS

The School of Engineering and Applied Science is bending over backwards to recruit female professors, and thanks to several University hiring policies, it is having unprecedented success.

The Engineering School recently recruited three women to join its standing faculty, an "atypical" feat in a male-dominated field, according Katherine Kuchenbecker, one of the three new professors.

Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said the recent hires are a milestone for the school.

"Recruiting three female faculty is a record in our history," Glandt said. "We hope to sustain this in the future."

Several Penn policies may help the Engineering School retain its momentum.

The University works closely with potential faculty with spouses also in academia, often offering both a job in order to successfully recruit one or the other.

Penn provided both Kuchenbecker and her husband employment opportunities within the Engineering School; the two both work within the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department.

Another policy to entice faculty involves extending by a year the period of time before tenure review, which allows faculty members to have children without impacting their tenure track.

This policy applies to both men and women because it supports either spouse as the primary caregiver.

"A primary concern for female faculty seems to be the issue of having a family, and we're trying to accommodate that," said Susan Davidson, deputy dean of the Engineering School.

There are also discussions in process to possibly create a day-care facility to accommodate childcare needs of faculty members, Davidson added.

Kuchenbecker said she was considering about 18 schools before selecting Penn.

"The students here are exciting, interesting and motivated. It's one of the reasons I chose to come to Penn," she said.

Kuchenbecker, who specializes in dynamic systems, now teaches the MEAM introductory lab course to freshmen.

She is also working on a number of research projects with graduate students involving haptic interactions applicable in surgical environments.

Haptic interactions allow users to manipulate robots in a virtual environment.

Engineering students are excited about the addition of new female role models.

"I feel less intimidated and more comfortable with a female professor, Engineering senior Erica Chalmer said s. "When I came in as a freshman, I was the only female in my year in Materials Science."

Ani Nenkova and Alla Safonova also joined the Engineering faculty this year. They are both professors in the Computer Science Department.

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