[ Applause ]

>> Debbie Sterling:

I'd like you all

to close your eyes.

Closed? Okay.

Now, you can't see me right now;

but I'm actually riding a

unicycle, juggling hundreds

of balls.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling: No.

Keep your eyes closed though.

It's really great.

But okay. So close your eyes,

and picture an engineer.

Every got a picture

in their head?

Nod. Okay.

Open your eyes.

Raise your hand

in you pictured a guy sitting

alone at a computer.

Okay. Maybe kind of nerdy,

pocket protector.

Raise your hand

if you pictured a train driver.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

That's a lot of hands.

Raise your hand

if you pictured a young guy

in a hoodie,

maybe looks a little

like Mark Zuckerburg perhaps.

Raise your hand

if you pictured someone

who looks like me.

Okay. Not a lot of hands.

Well, if you didn't raise your

hand for me, I would like you

to please get up and leave.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling: No,

just kidding.

If you didn't raise your hand

for me, it's all right.

I get it all the time.

Usually when I tell people I'm

an engineer, they look at me

and they say, "No, really,

what do you do"; or they look

at me and say, "Oh, whoa,

you must be some kind

of genius"; or my favorite is

when I told my mother I wanted

to major in engineering,

she said, "Ewe, why?"

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

The truth is I'm a female

engineer, and I'm a minority.

Only 11 percent of engineers

in the U.S. are women.

So why does this matter?

Why do we care.

So what. Let's just have the men

do all the engineering.

Well, engineers are making some

of the biggest advances

in our society.

They're solving things

like global warming,

making medical breakthroughs,

some of the biggest technologies

that are changing our lives.

These are things

that we use every day as people

that make our lives better.

And with half the population

being female,

we deserve to have the

female perspective.

It will only get better

with the female perspective.

But today engineering really is

a boys club, and I don't fit in.

But I'm here today

to share my story

about how I discovered a passion

for engineering, and I'm here

to make a bold claim:

I don't fit in, but I believe

that our little girls will.

So this is me

when I was a little girl,

age six.

I was a pretty normal kid.

I loved ballet and drawing

and riding bikes.

I grew up in a small town

in Rhode Island, age six.

Coincidentally,

this is around the age

where most girls start

to lose an interest in math

and science, this young.

And it's interesting,

some people think, well,

biologically maybe girls just

aren't as good as those subjects

and that's just the way it is,

you can't fight nature.

Well, there was a study done

very recently

across 65 countries

around the world

where they tested boys and girls

on the same science test.

Around the world the girls

out-performed the boys,

but not in the U.S. What the

study suggests is

that it's not a

biological thing.

This is a cultural thing.

And this is our culture.

This is what we grow

up in as girls.

The toy aisle,

the perfect example

of our culture,

where we are taught

from a very young age

that we want

to become princesses.

I remember when I was a little

girl, adults would pat me

on the head --

well, actually I come

from a Jewish family;

so they would grab me

by the punim and say, "Debbie,

you are so smart, good for you."

And I remember

as a little girl being

so disappointed,

wishing that they told me I

was pretty.

I wanted to be pretty.

I didn't want to be smart.

And by the time my senior year

of high school rolled around,

I was applying to college;

and I asked my math teacher

to write my

recommendation letter.

And she said, "Okay, Debbie,

well, what do you plan

to major in?

I will write it in the letter."

And I said, "I don't know."

She said, "How

about engineering?

I think you would really excel

in it."

And I thought, engineering.

I closed my eyes --

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

And I pictured a train driver.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

I had no idea what engineering

was, and I was way too

embarrassed to ask her.

I didn't want to sound stupid.

But I thought, "Yuck, no way,

ewe, engineering.

That's for boys.

It's intimidating and boring.

And why would she ever think

that a creative, artistic girl

like me would ever

like engineering.

No way." But I went off

to Stanford,

which was a big deal.

In my high school they actually

announced it

over the loud speaker.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

And when I got

to Stanford my freshman year,

I had no idea what to major in.

And that --

that message

that that math teacher had said,

"Engineering,

you should give it a try,"

it stuck in my head.

And so I thought, what the heck,

I'm going to take ME101,

just give it a try

because I couldn't shake

that advice

that she had given me.

And I was so worried

that it was going

to be my first F. I was

terrified, but I went

into the class;

and in that class I finally

learned what engineering

really was.

And to my surprise,

we weren't fixing train engines.

>> [laughter]

>> Debbie Sterling:

In that class we got to invent

and design things.

We had assignments

like make a catapult

out of a soda bottle and a piece

of string and five paper clips

and a piece of foam core.

It was so cool and so much fun.

And in that class,

I learned that engineering is

really the skill set

to build anything you dream

up in your head,

whether it's a website

or a mobile app to a bridge,

to a highway, anything.

That's what engineers build.

And what an amazing skill set.

How empowering to be able

to build whatever you want.

But the problem was I felt kind

of alone.

I was always one of a handful

of girls in my classes,

and I did not fit in.

In fact, only 20 percent

of undergraduate degrees

in engineering and tech

and science are awarded

to women; so it's a

real problem.

But I stuck with it.

I loved the major,

and I wanted to do it.

That is, until I took an

engineering drawing class.

This was about halfway

through my major;

and I thought engineering

and drawing, this is going

to be great.

I love art.

Finally, I'm going

to get to draw.

The problem was

in this class you had to draw

in perspective, draw in 3-D;

and for some reason I had this

total mental block.

I was really struggling

with the material.

And our final assignment we had

to put our drawings

up on the wall for critique.

And you could tell, all the guys

in the class --

there were about 80 of them

and five of us girls --

the guys had scribbled their

drawing ten minutes before

and slapped it up on the wall.

Meanwhile, I had spent hours the

entire weekend.

I didn't even go

to any parties working

on my drawing.

And when the professors went

around the room and they got

to my drawing, they took a look

at it; and they looked

out into the room.

And they said, "Raise your hand

if you think Debbie should pass

this class."

And I just stood there beet red,

humiliated, looking around.

Some people are kind

of half raising their hands.

I was horrified.

And they're like, "Come on,

raise your hand

if you think Debbie should pass

the class."

The room was silent.

Finally, my good friend piped up

and said, "How dare you.

How dare you humiliate her

in front of this room.

She, obviously, has put a lot