Mr. Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, today announced the winners of the 2007 Science Foundation Ireland/Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship Awards. The award aims to encourage more female students into engineering as an undergraduate degree and future career.

The ten winners received their prizes from the Minister at a ceremony in Dublin. Supported by SFI and Dell, each award is valued at approximately €20,000, made up of an annual award of €2,000; a Dell Precision M4300 notebook computer; the assistance and support of a research active mentor throughout their undergraduate career and the opportunity to spend summers in a research internship in university or industry.

Speaking at the Awards presentation today, Minister Martin, said: “I am delighted that the second round of the scholarship has proved such a success. These awards play an invaluable role in helping to raise the profile of engineering among women to encourage wider female participation within the profession in Ireland”.

The Minister noted that, “The issue of the under representation of women in scientific, engineering and technological careers continues to be a challenge not just in this country but at European level. Considering the impact of science and technology on the lives of women, it is essential that they contribute to, and bring the perspective of women to the design and development of the world in which they constitute at least half of the population”.

Dermot O’Connell, General Manager, Dell Ireland, said: “Industry has a responsibility to help address the current gender imbalance among students taking university engineering courses. At Dell we have a number of diversity programmes in place which are designed to attract and retain quality female graduates across all disciplines including engineering. To be successful there obviously needs to be a sufficient pool of graduates available and that is why Dell is delighted to support SFI in promoting these awards. We believe that they are a good initiative to help encourage greater female participation and advancement in engineering and technological careers”.

Director General of SFI, Professor Frank Gannon added “This gender imbalance among students taking university engineering courses means that we are failing to tap into a source of potential talent. The knock on effect is that Ireland is not as competitive as it could be in the global areas of research and development. We need to produce sufficient numbers of graduates to continue to attract global companies in science and engineering, upon which our economy depends. To do this, we need to attract more women which these awards are helping to address”.

This is the second year of the awards, which are open to female applicants who have completed the Irish Leaving Certificate Examination either in the year they are applying to third-level education or in the previous year. They must achieve an A1 or A2 grade in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics, and an A1 or A2 in Physics, Biology or Chemistry at Higher Level in the Leaving Certificate Examination and secure a CAO Offer for an eligible course in the first round of CAO offers.

The SFI/Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship will continue in 2008. Full details and eligibility requirements, including how to apply for the scholarship can be obtained on the SFI website: www.sfi.ie/scholarship.