By Jane Ng

NATIONAL wushu exponent Tao Yi Jun, 24, has been able to tap her knowledge of engineering to take her performance to new heights.

The fourth-year engineering student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) rigged up a high-speed camera to record herself performing a kick, and then, by replaying the action in slow motion, analysed weak spots in her move.

'I used technology to analyse my kick so I can improve it,' she told 100 primary and secondary schoolgirls yesterday.

Her message to them: Engineering is not just for boys.

She was speaking at an event organised by technology company Agilent Technologies to attract girls to an engineering career.

Three other women in engineering also addressed the students, who were taken on a tour of a laboratory and shown a science experiment.

Agilent teamed up with NUS' electrical and computer engineering department to hold the event to mark International Women's Day.

The company's management knows a thing or two about busting the stereotype that engineering is male turf: One third of its engineers are women, a proportion far higher than in the United States, where only one in 10 engineers is female.

Agilent Singapore's general manager Rob Young said the skewed gender ratio was costing the engineering field the contributions that could have come from talented women.

He said: 'There aren't enough females in engineering, so we feel a need to help girls see the opportunities in the field and how exciting it can be. It's their decision at the end of the day, but we need to help them be enlightened about what's out there.'

Engineering used to be about designing buildings and bridges, he added, but new fields like nanotechnology have come about.

The programme seemed to have opened up vistas for the students from Greenridge Primary and three secondary schools - Outram, Junyuan and Bukit Batok: The girls were persuaded that engineering could be for them.

Lynn Chiang, 14, a Secondary 2 sudent at Junyuan Secondary, said: 'It's not too early to plan for the future. I was surprised there are so many female engineers and they actually enjoy the work. Chemical engineering sounds interesting.'

For Primary 6 pupil Tan Yu Xuan, 12, the day ended with her considering one more career option aside from accountancy.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.