Women represent a very small percentage of engineers in the US. Additionally, a recent statistic cites that about 1/3 of women entering engineering education programs leave and change concentrations.

Knowles is highly committed to the advancement of women in the workplace and gender diversity in engineering careers. We endeavor to be known as the Employer of Choice for Women in Engineering and have implemented strategic programs with the goal of increasing the representation of women in the engineering community. One intiative focuses on increasing the pipeline of women students pursuing an engineering degree. For example, we have partnered with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) as the perennial sponsor of their Women in Engineering Summer Program. This multi-week program gives female high school students a first-hand look at careers in engineering. As part of the program, Knowles hosts an annual event at its headquarters where students get a hands-on view of the company and a day-in-the-life experience as an engineer. Since the program's inception in 2015, we've sponsored approximately 150 female high-school students. We have also supported UIC's women engineering students with programs such as academic scholarships, summer internship programs, mentorship programs and full-time employment opportunities. Since 2015, Knowles has awarded 80 academic scholarships to women engineering students. Finally, we have a formal accelerated development program designed to advance our women engineers into senior technical and leadership positions. Our goal is to build a pipeline of multi-generational talent and accelerate the development of women engineers into advanced technical and leadership positions at Knowles.

Through the above efforts we have increased the representation of women engineers in Knowles.

Ray Cabrera, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer