ALEXANDRIA, VA-With a sharpened focus on diversifying the ranks of engineering, Engineers Week 2006 (Eweek), February 19 to 25, will spearhead an all-out effort to reach young women and girls, particularly during the sixth annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day on Thursday, February 23.

Girl Day, as it is known among engineers, is one of the most crucial components of the EWeek outreach. Women engineers, with help from their male counterparts, are planning to reach as many as 1 million girls through workshops, tours, speaking engagements, on-line discussions and a host of other activities aimed at showing that engineering is an important career option for everyone.

Currently, about 10% of America's engineers are women, despite the fact that women make up 46% of the nation's workforce. To counter that, Engineers Week-a 55-year-old consortium of professional and technical societies and major corporations-launched Girl Day in 2001. By all counts, it has become one of the most significant and well-received programs in EWeek's history.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is led by Engineers Week 2006 co-chairs, the Society of Women Engineers and Northrop Grumman Corp., with major sponsors Agilent Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin and the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation.