(Pictured above: Members of Howard's Engineers Without Borders Chapter)
 

As Howard University joins the global community in celebrating International Women in Engineering Day on June 23, Howard women whose innovation and leadership continue to shape the future of STEM as architects and engineers reflect the university’s commitment to preparing engineers to lead with purpose. The commitment is rooted in a long legacy of service, excellence, and representation. 

Women across the College of Engineering and Architecture contribute to the Howard legacy every day through research, global service, industry internships, and community impact. Their presence strengthens a field where women, especially Black women, remain underrepresented. Howard continues to expand opportunities for women in civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering through rigorous academic preparation and hands on, experiential learning.

Howard’s experiential learning regiment extends across continents. For example, recent chemical engineering graduate Monica Maya led a group of Howard engineering students, including Soya Pearson, Karma Parsons, Esra Omar, and Halayah Vann — all young women — on a mission to help provide water for a community in rural Kenya. Guided by faculty advisor John Tharakan, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering, the group led phases of a multi-year project through the Howard Engineers Without Borders Chapter to eventually provide clean, desalinated water in Kogwari community in Homa Bay County, Nyanza, Kenya. 

After a site visit to Kenya in 2025, the group designed a borehole water retrieval system, through which a solar-powered pump pulls groundwater through a narrow pipe for distribution and the system is already saving community members from the need to collect water from muddy ponds nearby. The next phase of the project will involve water treatment. 

Maya’s purpose grew from a commitment to ethical and community centered engineering.

“The community now has access to their groundwater,” she said.