W.E. Rise Mentorship Program

W.E Rise (Women Engineers) is a group of UF engineering alumni and friends who give back financially and with their time through mentoring in support of our mission. Once fully funded, every female student will have access to a mentor throughout their academic career.

The goals of the W.E. Rise Program are:

Increase the number of females enrolled in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
Improve the retention rate of female engineering students in MAE and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
Promote engineering as a career choice to young girls, their teachers, and parents
Promote participation of alumni in engineering education and outreach initiatives
Enroll 100 more mentors to make a philanthropic commitment to annually support these initiatives

Expectation for mentors and mentees: A 6 month (one hour per month) commitment is recommended. Mentors and Mentees may use discretion of additional meetings either virtually or in-person. The college believes in the diversity and inclusion of all engineers in our college and in the workforce. It is important to formalize relationship between two people and create a network that will help a mentee learn and develop a core understanding of leadership. A mentor will help mentees on how to fulfill a clear and mutually defined goals.

Our mission is to recruit, retain, reward and provide the necessary skills to our students so they are better prepared to rise to leadership positions in the workforce.

Recruiting– We are a society that benefits from diverse groups of engineers and these engineers solve our world’s problems both big and small. We believe that women bring a unique perspective to these problems. We want to see this percentage of representation increase in the field of engineering and we do this by recruiting more women to study engineering.

Retaining- Women may feel isolated or out of place in college that has traditionally been dominated by men. We wish to provide female engineering students with resources and support to stay in engineering when the going gets tough.

Rewarding- One of the main ways in which the MAE Department rewards outstanding achievement in female students is through the Robert and Jill Peterson MAE Women’s Excellence Fund. Scholarship funding is used to recruit top students and to reward students whose extracurricular activities promote women in engineering. W.E. Rise also provides leadership and diversity, study abroad, research and faculty research awards.

Rising- Whether a student decides to continue their education or they are ready to enter the workforce, this program will build confidence and skills that will be valuable to prepare for a leadership role in engineering. Our mentors are there to support and guide our students along the way.