Barbara Bogue, affiliate associate professor of engineering science and mechanics and former director of the Women in Engineering Program at The Pennsylvania State University, has been selected to receive the 2005 Founders Award from WEPAN.

The award recognizes Bogue's dedicated service to the advancement of WEPAN and her scholarship of women's studies that has contributed to an engineering infrastructure conducive to the success of women in the engineering profession. The Founders Award honors a WEPAN member who exemplifies the spirit of the WEPAN founders through her/his extraordinary long-term service to the organization. The award is named for the three founders of WEPAN, Inc.-Suzanne G. Brainard, Jane Zimmer Daniels and Susan Staffin Metz-and includes a $1,000 cash prize, a plaque, and an opportunity to serve as a keynote speaker at the next WEPAN national conference.

In addition, (WEPAN) has named Clemson University's Women in Science and Engineering Program as the recipient of the Women in Engineering Initiative Award. This award recognizes an outstanding program or project that serves as a model for other institutions.

In selecting Clemson's WISE program, the WEPAN Awards Committee used several criteria:

• Serves as a model for other WIE programs and actively shares experiences and materials with other programs;

• Serves as a model for WIE programming for formal pre-college or retention activities/projects;

• Demonstrates improvements in the educational environment for women in engineering; and

• Provides programming that offers professional guidance to students and/or faculty who seek engineering and science as a career or profession.

Also, Sheryl Sorby, Ph.D., chair of engineering fundamentals and associate dean of engineering at Michigan Technological University, has been selected to receive the 2005 Betty Vetter Research Award.

The award recognizes achievement in research related to women in engineering. The award is named in memory of Betty M. Vetter, longtime director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, who served as the first treasurer of WEPAN, Inc. and was a founding member of its board of directors. One award is given annually and includes a $1,000 cash prize, a plaque and an opportunity to serve on an experts' panel at the next WEPAN national conference. Sorby has conducted significant research in gender differences in 3-D spatial skills. She has developed and assessed materials and strategies for improving spatial skills, thereby enhancing the success of women engineering students. Her research has resulted in a textbook, a workbook, and multi-media software.

WEPAN also announced that Worcester Polytechnic University's (WPI) Diversity and Women's Programs has been selected to receive the Engineers Week Award for its significant contributions to Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. "Girl Day,"