Wolfinger, Female Student-Athletes Proud to be Engineers

First-year student-athlete Rebecca Wolfinger is one of 41 female athletes studying engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. A growing field amongst the women, as 44% are freshmen, engineering offers a hands-on working environment unlike any other.

Wolfinger first heard about Carnegie Mellon when she was researching universities where she could play volleyball and get an education in either engineering or computer science. The Pleasanton, California native's father grew up in Pittsburgh's North Hills section and knew of Carnegie Mellon and its reputation in the sciences.

"I visited the school and loved it," said Wolfinger, who has selected electrical and computer engineering (ECE) as her major. "My dad's family still lives around here so I can see them more often."

Wolfinger's dad is a software engineer, which helped peak her interest in the subject.

A middle blocker on the volleyball team, Wolfinger decided on ECE because of her interest in the future of technology.

"I really like the idea of physically getting my hands on things and ECE offers that," said Wolfinger. "ECE is more about physical, tangible things. Computer science is more about theory and programming and coding. ECE involves the programming but has the hardware to go with it."

In just her first year, Wolfinger believes there is no limit with what she can do with an electrical and computer engineering degree.

"I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I see everything I've learned about thus far as an option," Wolfinger added.

The freshman has joined the national group of Society of Women Engineers, Kappa Alpha Theta, a social sorority, and will be a lifeguard during her second semester. Wolfinger also enjoys hosting volleyball recruits, as she can get to know future teammates.

"It's great taking volleyball recruits around campus, showing them the buildings and things to do and taking them to class," said Wolfinger.