March is Women’s History Month – a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society. Together, Clarkson history professor Laura Ettinger and filmmaker Zac Miller, Clarkson professor of communications and media and founder of boutique production company Uncommon Image Studios, collaborated to capture the contributions of six groundbreaking American women in engineering. in their award-winning short documentary. , Pioneers: the untold stories of six women engineers.

This powerful documentary tells the stories of six pioneering women engineers who share their experiences overcoming obstacles and paving the way for the next generation. Their stories help us understand how women in engineering have overcome the challenges they have faced and how institutions could work to address these challenges. Trailblazers is for adults and older high school students of all interests and walks of life. The documentary can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miDLLxHRNow. This moving documentary can help start great conversations about women in STEM, women in the workplace, and more. It can be used in high school and college classrooms across the country or even used to start important conversations in book clubs and groups of friends.

Ettinger’s groundbreaking work for the National Science Foundation also resulted in three short educational videos that accompany the documentary, designed to engage middle school and early high school girls in STEM fields. Ettinger encourages K-12 teachers, guidance counselors, scout leaders, club counselors, and parents to consider using these educational videos to encourage young girls to get involved in STEM. The video series is called Inspire! and it comes with a discussion guide that makes it easier to start a dialogue with junior and junior high school students. Educational videos are at https://www.clarkson.edu/inspire.

The pioneer women featured in the videos are:

● Joanie Banks-Hunt

● Debra Dibble Boone

● Sheree Gibson

● Suzanne Hardie

●Kate Harper

● Susan Suhr

Each educational video features the true stories told by these accomplished female engineers. The videos and accompanying discussion guide acknowledge structural challenges while encouraging middle school and early high school girls (at a time when their interest and confidence in STEM fields is often waning) to build resilience and understand barriers potentials they might face during their education. and careers. The result is uplifting, relevant, and authentic educational content that offers meaningful strategies to break down barriers preventing girls and women from entering and persisting in engineering and related fields. The three educational videos are:

● Encourage! Leading Female Engineers Empower the Next Generation: Leading female engineers encourage girls to do what they love, challenge stereotypes, overcome setbacks and pursue engineering.

● Motivate! Motivational messages from accomplished women engineers: Accomplished women engineers inspire young women and give them advice on their future careers and lives.

● Educate! What is an engineer? Insights from Pioneering Women Engineers: Pioneering women engineers explain what engineering is and debunk myths about the field.