Promoting STEM and women in the Netherlands.

‘We Love STEM’ event in recognition of Girlsday* sees students enjoy interactive educational activities at Emerson facilities across the Netherlands

Continuing its global commitment to promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and women in STEM, Emerson hosted a “We Love STEM” event in recognition of Girlsday at five of its facilities in the Netherlands. A total of 190 girls aged 10-17 from local primary and secondary schools visited the Emerson facilities in Rijswijk, Ede, Breda and Boxtel for a fun-filled and educational day, focused on providing exposure to STEM careers.

The students from GSR Randstad, Pieter Groen, Het Streek, Veluws College and Twizon/De Wentelwiek took part in factory tours and enjoyed a varied programme of activities and interactive workshops, giving them an insight into how the STEM subjects are applied to real-life situations in the manufacturing sector. The workshops demonstrated how automation technologies enable modern production plants to operate more efficiently, including ways that different instrumentation accurately measures parameters such as flow rates and density, and why valves are critical to plant safety.

“Emerson is renowned for the extensive support it gives to STEM education, and we greatly appreciate our students being invited to attend this exciting event,” said Jasper Vlierberg, team leader at Het Streek. “It was not only great fun, but also enabled them to engage with industry professionals, and showed how the knowledge they gain from STEM subjects can be applied in real work scenarios. The students really enjoyed their day and found the activities stimulating and highly beneficial.”

Although young women are increasingly being encouraged to study STEM subjects, there is still a significant gender gap in engineering. Emerson is committed to helping close that gap, and through its acclaimed global “We Love STEM” initiative, aims to encourage talented women students to pursue a career in engineering. In addition, Emerson’s “Women in STEM” group promotes opportunities for employees to connect, grow and promote opportunities for women in STEM at the organization and in the community.

“Manufacturing is not only facing a shortage of engineers, but also a gender gap because not enough girls are pursuing STEM subjects,” said Ximena Ariasm, regional leader for Emerson’s Women in STEM organisation in the Netherlands. “Emerson is proud to support STEM initiatives around the world and places great importance on engaging with girls to highlight the importance of STEM and develop their interest in these subjects. We hope this will lead to more talented young women joining the workforce of tomorrow, closing the gender gap and creating innovations to help the industries Emerson supports.”

* See The Netherlands Girlsday on April 12th.

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