Sitting in the Halligan Hall conference room, wearing matching pastel polo shirts, the Nerd Girls are experiencing a taste of fame.
"Is there something you would say to 17- year-old girls who think that they could never be engineers? Is there something you would tell them about being an engineer and a girl?" asks Jenny Block, a writer for Elle Magazine.
"You can be smart and cool and pretty, and it will be better if you're an engineer, because you'll have money to buy all the things you want, and you won't need a guy to buy it for you," junior Marianne Stark answers.
"I don't think people realize how much money you can make as an engineer," junior Jillian Warner adds. "And girls love to shop."
Nerd Girls is the brainchild of Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Karen Panetta, who created the group to combat the idea that females who strive towards careers in engineering are simply women trying to pursue men's work-or "nerds." Rather, they are "normal" girls who happen to like math and science.
"We've had girls who are star track runners, ballet dancers who have performed in the Nutcracker, and who are ballroom dance champions," Panetta says.
This is perhaps the very heart of the Nerd Girls program - the desire to break down the stereotypes surrounding females involved in math, science or engineering and show that they are indeed "real" girls.
"The idea behind Nerd Girls was to prove the stereotype wrong. Women can be engineers and still be women," senior Torre Bydlon says. "We're not nerds in glasses. We're on athletic teams and into art and music."
The team of mostly female undergraduate engineers, along with their two new male recruits, was started two years ago. The group works together on independent projects and labs, often presenting their work to government officials in order to "stretch" their engineering skills.
The team is currently at work on two projects: an environmental energy project on Thatcher Island, which is situated off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts, and completion of their second solar car, the Anne E.B. II.
"Every girl has to participate in a research project 'bigger than yourself,' meaning that they can't do it themselves," Panetta says. "This teaches girls the value of teamwork."
Thatcher Island, the last operating twin lighthouse in the United States, has no power or electricity. The girls have in turn designed renewable energy sources to provide electricity to the lighthouses and filtrating systems for the island's water tanks, which are polluted with bird droppings.
"On Thatcher Island, we're working on a couple of projects. The first is the lighthouse. And the second is that we're trying to power two houses with solar power through solar panels," senior Stephanie Anastopoulos explains.
The current solar car project is named the Anne E.B. II, and is named after a former Tufts student who was murdered shortly after she graduated.
"I tell the girls that life is more important than a homework assignment or test," she explains. Naming the car after Anne emphasizes her belief in the importance of living life to the fullest.
Panetta says that the women of Nerd Girls have more graduate and career opportunities than any other graduates on campus. Since its creation, Nerd Girls' members have presented their work to the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA, working closely with the organizations on a peer level.
Nerd Girls has also been named "the most innovative, sustaining, and entertaining program in the United States" by ABET, a board that accredits all engineering programs nationwide.
The group's taste of fame may not end with Elle magazine. Karen Johnson, an independent film-maker from Dallas, Texas, is currently producing a documentary featuring the Nerd Girls. The documentary, which will be done in the style of a reality show, will feature the girls both working on their projects and living normal lives.
Johnson has been covering the girls for the last year and has already put together a promotional trailer to distribute to networks and broadcast companies, including the Discovery Channel, MTV, and ABC Family.
"A lot of girls still think math and science are not for them or believe that girls who are interested in these subjects are one-dimensional. My goal is to dispel these stereotypes, especially for the younger teen or 'tween' audience," Johnson says.
The Nerd Girls are also involved in outreach presentations that include demonstrations for kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
"Tomorrow we are having a group of students come in," Panetta tells the group. "We are doing a presentation on the car. But it is front of high school girls, and these are girls who don't think they could go to Tufts. Their greatest aspiration is community college or a state school, because they think they're too stupid or can't afford it."
"But we need to encourage them and really talk to them," she adds, and the Nerd Girls applaud.
