1. Amelia Earhart Program 75 Years and Counting Sharon Langenbeck, Ph.D. Amelia Earhart Fellow 1977 and 1978 Amelia Earhart Fellowship Program Chair 2010-2014

2. 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

3. A New Era for Women 1919-1920 U.S. Congress proposes 19 th 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Amelia’s Fame Belgian King and Queen President Hoover Eleanor Roosevelt

9. 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.

10. Scholarship Announcement 1938 Radio broadcast on Zonta’s 19 th 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. AE Fellows – Future Contributors Emily Arnold (2010 & 2011) –University of Kansas Claudia Moreno (2012 & 2013) –University of Minnesota

19. 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

20. AE Fellowships To Date Zonta International’s Longest Running Service Project To date, Zonta has: Funded 1403 Fellowships Awarded $8.3 Million US Recognized 983 women from 68 countries

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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!!