Book Nook: Ara the Star Engineer

There is a significant lack of women and people of color in STEM, and the roots of this problem begin in childhood. Many girls start doubting their abilities and intelligence in STEM fields as early as first grade, which leads to fewer women going on to pursue these fields as careers - currently only a quarter of the STEM workforce is female, and only 5% of scientists are black (male or female).

This was unacceptable to Komal Singh and some of her fellow female Google engineers, so they wrote Ara the Star Engineer, a new picture book designed to inspire girls and children of color to explore STEM from a very young age. (The book isn't an official Google project, it just happens to have been created by Google employees). All profits from the sales of the book will be donated to charities encouraging girls’ and underrepresented groups’ participation in STEM fields. 

The book is great. I think it's an excellent way for girls to see themselves represented in a STEM book. The illustrations are bold and kid-friendly. I had a chance to do an interview with the author to learn more.

1. Why did you decide to write this book?
1. I have been working in tech for the past 15 years and as a woman on color, have always felt strongly about the lack of diversity, and have always felt the desire to inspire young girls to pursue fields in tech. But it something that my 4 year old daughter said to me - “Mamma, engineers are boy”, that really bummed and upset me. It was then I decided to write the book. I feel books are a universal and a loved medium to gain entry into the lives and minds of kids, and hence a direct channel of inspiration. I wanted to write a story that was whimsical and based on real-life role models, and had an engineering problem-solving narrative.
2. Did you face obstacles or criticism for being interested in STEM when you were younger?
1. Throughout my high school, undergrad, grad I was amongst the minority girls/women in the room. At times *some* of my teachers wouldn’t even take us seriously and would think it was by fluke that we ‘got the answer right’ or scored high on a test. The challenge was thus, not losing my own self-esteem and self-confidence and stay the course, and not quit. Luckily, both of my parents were very strong supporters of me and always pushed me to pursue whatever I wanted to. It is because of them I have been able to accomplish whatever humble I have in life.  
3. What can parents of girls do to help nurture STEM interests?
1. First is to encourage them, by increasing their access to resources such as books, museums, critical-thinking games. A lot of this is based on just sitting with your kids and building lego with them, and feel euphoric when you’ve built something you’ve been working on for a week - this shows them the magic of persistence and innovating things.
2. For slightly older kids, I feel is try to find them real-life mentors who are in their field of interest. This may not always be accessible, but now a days there are many “coding clubs” such as Black Girls Code, Made With Code, Girls Who Code etc. For kids to be able to interact with such role models goes a long way in boosting their self-confidence and give them a vision/path of what they’d like to become.
4. What are the benefits of having girls interested in STEM, even for those who don't have daughters?
1. We are struggling with diversity in tech - the girl population in the world is about 50% but we only have ~25% women in the tech workforce. When women are no represented, we do not end up designing/building inclusive products for the world that reflect the real needs and challenges of the users.
2. Besides, for kids to have exposure to STEM, even if they don’t pursue such careers later on in life, makes them critical-thinkers, problem solvers and powered with knowledge on how the world around them works. Such smarts are beneficial in any field they’d like to pursue later on life.

Komal, a Program Manager in Engineering and a mother of two, was inspired to launch this project when her four-year old daughter proclaimed, "Engineers are boys!” 

About the Author: Komal Singh works at Google as a Program Manager in Engineering. As a techie, a mother, and an immigrant, she’s passionate about using technology as an enabler and an equalizer for all. She takes part in kids’ coding clubs, sits on hackathon judge panels, and volunteers with nonprofits on technology development.