Amelia Earhart Program 75 Years and Counting

Sharon Langenbeck, Ph.D.Amelia Earhart Fellow 1977 and 1978

Amelia Earhart Fellowship Program Chair 2010-2014

What Was the World Like 100 Years Ago?

• Women predominately stayed at home and men worked outside the home

• Few women went to college and virtually none went into technical fields

• Organizations such as Zonta International were just getting started

A New Era for Women1919-1920

• U.S. Congress proposes 19th amendment in 1919 ratified by 36 states in 1920 giving women the right to vote

• Zonta’s first club chartered in Buffalo, NY on November 8, 1919

The Early Years of Zonta

• Membership – First generation instrumental in women’s suffrage

and founded Zonta – Second generation like Amelia Earhart sought

more opportunities

• Primary focus of activities– Networking of professionals– Help women break into business world– Service in the community

Amelia Earhart – Early Years• Started in a “socially

acceptable” female role as a nurse’s aide

• Enrolled in pre-med program at Columbia University

• But, in 1920 she had a plane ride and instantly decided to be a pilot

Amelia’s Accomplishments• Set new altitude record for women by flying to 14,000 feet

- 1922 • First woman passenger to fly across the Atlantic - 1928 • Set new altitude record by flying an autogiro to 18,415

feet – 1931• First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic - 1932 • First woman to fly solo transcontinental - 1932 • First woman to fly from Hawaii to the mainland - 1935 • Attempted record to circumnavigate the world when she

disappeared - 1937

Amelia Earhart’s Influence

• Encouraged women to aspire to non-traditional roles

• Became a world-wide celebrity for her accomplishments in aviation

• Advocated for improving the status of women

Amelia’s Fame

Belgian King and Queen President Hoover

Eleanor Roosevelt

Why An Amelia Earhart Fellowship?

Zonta International wanted to honor the memory of Amelia, an internationally known and respected member of Zonta, with a scholarship for women graduate students in aeronautical engineering.

Scholarship Announcement1938

• Radio broadcast on Zonta’s 19th birthday announcing Zonta’s memorial to Amelia Earhart

• Featured nationally on NBC’s “Let’s Talk it Over” program– Canadian Broadcasting Company offered the

program over 36 outlets– Hawaii and Europe listened by short wave radio

Implementing the Scholarship

• Decisions to make– Loan vs. scholarship– Restricted to Purdue vs. unrestricted locality– Aviation vs. aeronautical engineering

• Fact finding– Compile list of schools which accept female students– Identify career opportunities for women

• Find the rare and unusual student with interests and abilities beyond the average

First AE Fellow - 1940

• Rose Elizabeth Lunn - doctoral student in aeronautical engineering at MIT

• Accomplishments – 1941 head of Vibration and Flutter

Department at Curtiss Wright Corp– 1942 head of Vibration and Flutter Group

at North American Aviation– Started and managed her own vibration

laboratory and an analog computer facility

AE Fellows - 1940’s

• Gertrude Hill Fila (1943 & 1953)– Graduate study at Caltech received M.S.

from Oklahoma A&M – 1952 second women in Oklahoma to be

licensed as an engineer – 1950-1953 only female instructor and

research engineer at Oklahoma Institute of Technology

• Harriet Schmitt Zimney (1946)– 1947 first woman engineering faculty

member at the University of Minnesota

Early Years of the Fellowship• In 1941, the Amelia Earhart Scholarship became

an official International Service Project• Between 1940 and 1957, only 19 applicants

qualified for the Amelia Earhart Fellowship• First award to non-US citizen - 1951• First award for study outside the US - 1957• Aeronautical Engineering definition

broadens - 1959

AE Fellows – 1970’s• Sharon Langenbeck (1977 & 1978)

– 1979 first female Ph.D. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of Missouri-Columbia

– 1979 first female Ph.D. at Lockheed-California Co.– 1993 first female Section Manager at the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory

• Monika Auweter-Kurtz (1979 & 1980) – 1992 first female professor in aerospace

technology in Germany– 2006 first female President of the University of

Hamburg

AE Fellows 1980’s and 1990’s• Jean Bigoney (1981)

– 1996 first female Chair for Materials in Mechanical Engineering at Technische Universitat Munich

• Kathleen Mutch (1982)– 1997 President and Chief Technology Officer at

Qameleon Technology

• Alison Steele (1987)– 2006 Founded Steele Environmental Services,

LLC

• Cheryl Schrader (1989) – 2012 first female Chancellor Missouri University of

Science and Technology

AE Fellows – 2000’s

• Laila Elias (2002 & 2003)– First Engineering Manager for 737

and 757 Aircraft Propulsion at Boeing-Seattle

• Margit Vallikivi (2012)– 2012 first Fellow from Estonia

• Carla Canturri Gispert (2012)– 2012 first Fellow from Andorra

AE Fellows – Future Contributors

• Emily Arnold (2010 & 2011)– University of Kansas

• Claudia Moreno (2012 & 2013)– University of Minnesota

• Today’s AE Fellows are following in Amelia’s footsteps– Breaking down image barriers

– Advancing the Status of Women

• AE Fellows are mentors and role models, improving the prospects for women in the future

• Zonta is enabling women to move into positions of influence in universities, industry and government

AE Fellows and Status of Women

AE Fellowships To Date

Zonta International’s Longest Running Service ProjectTo date, Zonta has:• Funded 1403 Fellowships• Awarded $8.3 Million US• Recognized 983 women from 68 countries

Still More To Do

• First Fellows from emerging countries

• More AE Fellow awards – Increase the number of role models for

women– Reduce gender bias in the field of aerospace

Where Are We Today?

• In the U.S., women represent 10% of the workforce in aerospace-related fields

• Women make up 18% of engineering students

• Women still have a long way to go

Sending Thoughts• Amelia Earhart Fellowship fulfills Zonta’s

mission of improving the status of women• 75 years of a very successful program…let’s

keep this going!!