Student wants to break stereotypes

She arranged a program to expose women and minority students to engineering.

YOUNGSTOWN — As a mechanical engineering major at Youngstown State University, Andrea Fryda knows what it’s like to be a woman in a field dominated by men.

And now, as she prepares to graduate and leave YSU, she wants to help other females following her footsteps.

Fryda is among nearly 1,100 students receiving diplomas at YSU today.

“I want to help break down the stereotypes that society has in regards to female engineers,” said Fryda, a resident of Boardman and a 2002 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School.

She’s already started that process.

Fryda applied for and received a $1,500 grant from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to sponsor a program in April at YSU aimed at exposing women and minority students to engineering.

“My goal was to provide these students with a program that highlighted engineering and technical degree programs, namely YSU’s,” she said. “I feel that I have been provided with many opportunities here at YSU and wanted to show high school students how many doors YSU can open for them.”

What the event was

The event included information tables, panel discussions, a design competition, student project demonstrators and speakers from NASA, First Energy and Delphi, as well as lab tours and hands-on demonstrations in Moser Hall, home to YSU’s Rayen College of Engineering and Technology.

“I think females coming into this degree program just need a little more support from their peers than males do, and my hope was to show all of the girls that attended the program the great student organizations here that are geared toward women in engineering,” Fryda said.

Hazel Marie, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, said Fryda has a keen sense of how to apply her knowledge and how to apply it well.

“Andrea’s organizational skills will take her really far with her engineering knowledge,” Marie said. “She typifies what we like to see in a well-rounded student. And she’s humble about it.”

Her life in college

Fryda began her college career at the University of Akron.

“Like most high school seniors, I wanted to move away from home, being a resident of Boardman my entire life,” she said. “After two years, I soon found out that the University of Akron was not for me.”

In her sophomore year, she transferred to YSU and became active within the engineering college. She is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was its 2006 president. She was named YSU Female Mechanical Engineer of the Year for 2007.

“From my start here at YSU, my extracurricular activities have been extensive, and I would like to, hopefully, give some students a different perspective through my experiences,” she said.

Fryda has accepted a position with the Novelis Corp. in Warren at its Russellville, Ky., facility, where she will move after graduation.