Metallurgist, BRP US Inc.
Dave Palmer is an expert in failure analysis and materials selection. He works as a metallurgist for BRP, selecting materials for the next generation of Evinrude outboard engines. He has been active in the industry, serving as a session chairman for the Society of Automotive Engineers' annual Small Engine Technical Conference. He holds a BS in materials science and engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he is completing his MS thesis at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Thanks Lauren. I agree--I noticed that Dave Palmer, who writes occasional columns for us, was on the list. And many of the others are also doing some fascinating work.
Seriously, though, it's interesting to learn about the work all of these individuals are doing. It was great to see a college student on the list -- especially one who is going to school while working full time.
It would be great if there were more women on the list, but unfortunately, I think this reflects the relatively low number of women in the engineering, especially electrical and mechanical engineering. Hopefully, in coming years, we will start to see a greater proportion of women on lists like this.
Regarding the small number of women on the list: I agree with Dave that part of the problem is the comparatively small number of women in engineering. I don't know what the percentage is today, but I believe it hovers around 10%-15%. In 1988, one of our editors, Gail Robinson, wrote a great in-depth look at this issue (about ten pages long, as I recall), and offered suggestions from experts on how to begin changing it. At the time, the percentage of women in engineering was between 10% and 15%. And now here we are -- 25 years later -- discussing the same problem, and I don't know if the percentage has even changed.
@Charles: According to 2011 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up just 5.5% of mechanical engineers and 8.8% of electrical engineers. So it's unfortunate, but not surprising, that only 2 out of the 25 "Rising Engineering Stars" are women.
That being said, the proportion of engineering degrees awarded to women, while still low, is significantly higher, suggesting that the number of women engineers -- and, hopefully, the number of women "Engineering Stars" -- may steadily increase over time.
Dave, it was fun to see someone I know on this list. I think you definitely deserved to be there. And I didn't really expect to see a lot of women--I was just glad to see some.
Regarding women in STEM, an older friend of mine said the proportion of women students at Caltech was about 5% when he went there in the late 60s. A younger friend (male), who went there in the 80s said it had increased to about 10%. By the time my niece got there in the early 00s, it had reached 20-25%. That's really slow, but at least a definite trend.
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At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
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