Jill Tietjen visits with students, sharees positive message

Fifth grade girls were full of questions after guest speaker Jill S. Tietjen gave a short talk during their lunch period at State Street School today.  Tietjen is an engineer and one of the top historians in the country on scientific and technical women.  As an engineer she loves to problem solve.  One of her biggest challenges, she said, is to encourage more students – especially girls – to go into STEM related fields. Engineering is the economic engine of this country, she said.

She talked about how people can make a real difference through science and engineering.  As an example: In 1900, the average life expectancy was 45 years old. In 2000, it was 77 years. “You can expect to live to be 100,” she told the fifth graders. “Half of that is due to the availability of clean water … and we have clean water because of the work of engineers.”

“Research shows that young women like you will pick careers based on value to the world,” she said. She told them to imagine having the skills to help bring clean water to villages in third world countries so that young girls no longer have to spend their days carrying water to their homes. “Those little girls can then go to school and get an education,” she said. “That’s value.”

When asked what single message she would most want the fifth graders to take away with them, she said:  “I believe every single person has the ability to make a difference in the world. That means that if you see a problem, you have the ability to make change.”

Tietjen is a frequent keynote speaker at engineering, science, and women’s conferences and is often profiled in the media. The culmination of Tietjen’s diverse background is the bestselling and award-winning book Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America .

The President and CEO of Technically Speaking, Inc., Tietjen, PE, nominates women of achievement for professional and national awards. Tietjen has been inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.

Author, national speaker and engineer Jill Tietjen is sharing her story and the stories of women inventors today with students in the middle school and high school.

She is a frequent keynote speaker at engineering, science, and women’s conferences and is often profiled in the media. The culmination of Tietjen’s diverse background is the bestselling and award-winning book Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America .

She will be the keynote speaker at tonight’s 6 p.m. Rotary Club meeting at the Sherwood Inn. The meeting is open to the public. Dinner, dessert and keynote address all for $15.

Tietjen regularly speaks on women’s contributions, women in engineering, historical women in engineering and science, and leadership topics. Her positive energy and her ability to relate to the audience result in inspired and energized listeners. Tietjen has written articles for and been profiled in SWE: Magazine of the Society of Women Engineers, Graduating Engineer, U.S. Woman Engineer, Woman Engineer, and Engineering Horizons. As Jill S. Baylor, she is a contributing author to the 1995 book She Does Math! Her other books include the Setting the Record Straight series, which explores the history of women’s accomplishments in accounting, engineering, and professional achievement, and an introduction to engineering textbook (for use by college freshmen), Keys to Engineering Success. She blogs for The Huffington Post. Tietjen served as the 1991-1992 National President of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She serves on a number of non-profit boards. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Transmission Corporation of Tucker, Georgia and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Merrick & Company of Greenwood Village, Colorado. She is a Fellow Life Member of SWE and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power & Energy Society. Tietjen is listed in Who’s Who in Engineering, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, and Who’s Who in Technology. She graduated from the University of Virginia (Tau Beta Pi, Virginia Alpha) with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics (minor in Electrical Engineering) and received her M.B.A. from the University