Changing current: Klawe adds eclectic style as first female engineering dean

"Meet the Dean." When the University of British Columbia extended that invitation to students last fall, Maria Klawe, UBC's former dean of science, unleashed quite a surprise on first-year students. Klawe, who will become the University's first female dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science on Jan. 1, rocked in the school year by playing favorite classics on her electric guitar.

Klawe is not your typical engineer. In addition to her passion for music, her long bright skirts and funky jewelry make clear that she is as much an artist as a scientist. A mathematician, computer scientist, educator, painter, guitarist and mother, Klawe embodies the interdisciplinary thinking and experience that some consider the future of engineering.

"She's got an extremely open style," President Tilghman said.

Faculty members were optimistic about how her eclectic nature would affect the University's engineering school. Though always an educator at heart, Klawe has also worked as a computer scientist and mathematician outside of academia.

"I have an unusual background for a dean of engineering because I'm not an engineer," Klawe said.

After graduating with a math degree from UBC, she taught classes in her field at Oakland University in Michigan and at the University of Toronto. She and her husband, Nick Pippenger, a computer scientist who will begin teaching at Princeton in summer 2003, then dedicated themselves to research to ease their transition into parenthood.

After the births of their two children, Janek, now 20, and Sasha, now 17, the couple took a hiatus from academia. But after eight years at IBM Almaden Research Center in California, they were ready to return.

"Of all the things in her career, her greatest passion has been for students," Pippenger said.

For the next 14 years, Klawe climbed the ranks at UBC and eventually was appointed the first female head of a science department.

Klawe's experience in both industry and education coincides with the growing push from University students and faculty to make engineering education more focused on practical problem solving. Former dean of the University's school of engineering James Wei said he hoped to see the school dedicate more time to solving "problems that society would want solved."

Cristina Brosio '03, a civil engineering student, said she would also like to see the department offer more classes similar to CEE 461: Design of Large-Scale Structures: Buildings, which emphasizes the real-world applications of engineering. The class enabled her to design bridges and skyscrapers under the tutelage of engineers working in the field.

Klawe's appointment follows another trend in higher education — the presence of more female administrators both at the University and college campuses around the nations. According to a July 4 "New York Times" article, women have claimed more than half the University's top academic positions.

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Though Tilghman said Klawe's gender had nothing to do with her appointment, Klawe and Wei both said there was merit in increasing the number of women in administrative positions, particularly in engineering. Klawe said it makes sense for universities to have faculties as diverse as their student bodies.

Conversely, Klawe's appointment also has intimidated some women's colleges with strong engineering schools. Wei said Smith College — where he sits on the board of trustees — has expressed concern that a female dean will attract many female engineer applicants to the University who might otherwise have applied to all-female schools.

When Klawe first entered the computer science department at UBC, she was the only woman in the department. There are currently seven women in UBC's computer science department, and Klawe says women have enriched the department with a wide variety of ideas and working styles.

"My experience is that men and women are raised differently, so they bring slightly different perspectives to a job," she said.

Klawe also said she worries that a lack of gender balance in math and engineering may deter capable women from entering these fields. She recalls that as one of only three women undergraduates in the higher math classes at UBC, professors were skeptical that she would succeed in her field.

"I can remember the faculty saying when I was an undergraduate, 'You'll never stay in math,' " she said.

Though Klawe says she believes people are now more accepting of women in science and math than in the past, she does not think the playing field has been completely leveled.

"There are still professors in more traditional disciplines who think women don't belong in sciences," she said.

Brosio said while she, herself, has not been treated unfairly as a woman engineer at Princeton, she does consider Klawe a positive role model for aspiring women scientists.

"All of the professors I've had have always been very optimistic and motivating for boys and girls," Brosio said.

Klawe's most recent achievement in the corporate world further demonstrates her commitment to computer science and her desire to keep young women interested in math and science. She helped create Phoenix Quest — a math education computer program geared toward girls who are nine to 14 years of age.

Klawe also serves as president of the Association for Computing Machinery, working on a series of local hands-on computer workshops she hopes will attract more teachers, women and minorities to computer science.

Klawe's intelligence, leadership skills and vision for the school of engineering — not her gender — distinguished her from other applicants, Tilghman said.

Klawe considers engineering a "highly collaborative science," and has demonstrated at UBC that she is particularly adept at encouraging others to work together, Tilghman said.

At UBC, engineers take classes run by professors from several departments in order to formulate balanced opinions and well-rounded thinking skills. Though Klawe said she cannot be sure this approach will work at the University, she said she thinks more interaction between departments would benefit the University community.

"If Princeton is serious about continuing to be the best university in the U.S., it needs to take engineering and science more seriously," Klawe said. "Somehow, it needs to get integrated with the rest of the University. It is to everyone's advantage to have a good engineering school."

Klawe said that after integrating the engineering school with the rest of the University, she hopes to bring the school's rating "significantly up." Unlike the University, which was recently rated No. 1 by "U.S News and World Report," the engineering school was ranked much lower.

While Tilghman and Wei consider Klawe's many talents and career experiences a valuable asset, some view her lack of an engineering background as a cause for concern. Gaetano Cipriano '78, a graduate of the engineering school and member of the industrial adviser committee at New Jersey Institute of Technology said he thought the search committee should have considered training as an engineer a criteria for selection.

"I'm sure Dean Klawe is a magnificently talented individual, but would it not appear logical that the University hire a dean of engineering that is an actual engineer? Would they hire a baseball coach who never hit a curve ball?" Cipriano asked.

Wei said while he understands some people's concern that the committee did not select an engineer, he pointed out that this type of appointment is not without precedent. He gave the example of Daniel Tsui, a former professor of engineering, who had received the Nobel prize in physics.

"I'm sure she will do a good job, and I wish her the best," Wei said.

In her time off, Klawe continues the active and eclectic lifestyle she has always led. She loves running, outdoor sports, painting (she was putting her brush to a canvas while in the middle of a phone interview) and spending time with her family. Janek has followed in the footsteps of his parents into computer science, while Sasha is more interested in outdoor education.

Klawe's future colleagues say they have been impressed by her ambitious vision for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and open, energetic style. Students will meet Klawe in January — but first they will have to figure out whether she is speaking behind a podium or strumming her guitar in the middle of a courtyard.