Energy company manager tells girls they have 'important place' in engineering field

A global energy company manager talked about the importance of women emerging in the engineering field to a group of high school girls Tuesday on the OU campus.

Amy Wright, Williams Co. engineering technology manager, told the girls that companies have placed an emphasis on recruiting females.

"It's a good time to be a woman in this work field because companies are really looking for diversity," Wright said.

Wright had lunch with the future engineers in the Discovering Engineering Via Adventure in Science camp, which is held by the College of Engineering for girls hoping to have a career in engineering.

Wright shared stories of being one of the few females studying engineering when she went to OU. She said for her senior project, teams were put together and there was usually a "token female" on a teams of men who only ordered pizza and organized meetings.

Because of this, Wright said, she started an all-girls engineering team.

"Any of us could have chosen to be on a team where we were the only woman," she said. "But, because we chose to step out, made it a much greater learning experience."

Wright told the girls their generation is important to the field because they have stronger multi-taking and multimedia skills, and because females are teaching companies to focus on diversity and community commitment.

Companies also are learning to become flexible and offer better benefits to families, she said.

The campers listened to Wright as she gave them a science lesson about obtaining and cleaning oil. She told the girls they needed to start now if they wanted an engineering career.

Wright also offered advice on college courses and obtaining internships.