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Last updated on Monday, February 25, 2013
(BLOOMFIELD) - A Bloomfield woman will be using a portion of the proceeds from her recently published book to fund a scholarship for local girls interested in the engineering field.
Sabrina Westfall of the Greene County Daily World reports that Tina Closser published her first book "Non-Compliance: The Sector" in October under the pen name Paige Daniels.
She originally released it as an e-book on her own, but was later contacted by publishing company Kristell Ink to publish the book in print and e-book formats.
Closser serves as the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) coordinator at Crane and president of the local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.
She has a bachelor's degree in Physics from Northern Kentucky University and an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Kentucky.
"(As STEM coordinator) I do a lot of research about how many kids are going into engineering. There aren't very many, but it's even worse with girls. Maybe 20 percent of engineers are women, and it really isn't getting any better," Closser explained. "In the fields of engineers and scientists, the projections of jobs in the future versus how many people are going into the field -- we are going to have a million person shortfall in the future."
Closser said the Society of Women Engineers have wanted to create a scholarship to help young girls interested in the engineering field, but finding funding in these tough economic times has become difficult.
The "Non-Compliance" series features a female engineer who uses her skills to fight back against a man trying to take over the sector reserved for those who deny a government-issued device implanted in the body.
"The protagonist is a female engineer. It just made sense for part of the proceeds to help with a scholarship," Closser explained.
She said so far there have been about 100 e-books sold, but was unsure about the number of print editions sold because the publishing company handles it. As soon as profits start coming in, the scholarship will be put in place.
The scholarship will be available to prospective female engineers in the Society of Women Engineers district, which covers Greene, Martin, Monroe, Orange and Daviess counties.
"My goal is to have it in place by next school year, but it all depends on how many books we sell," Closser noted.
The book is available at most online outlets, and the print edition can be ordered through bookstores such as Barnes and Noble.
"I would like to get it in local bookstores, but I'm kind of shy," Closser said.
The Society of Women Engineers work together with students throughout the district to explain what an engineer does, and helps put a face to the career.
Her job at Crane also helps get local engineers into classrooms, and gets students in touch with engineering programs like SeaPerch and the First Lego Leagues.
"I've always liked math and science, and growing up, I never knew what an engineer did. I got one semester away from graduating, I wanted to be an Astrophysicist, and I saw my friends getting good jobs with a physics degrees. I knew an engineer made good money, and with my credits all I had to do is go another two years. I've worked at Crane for almost 14 years now. That's part of my goal is to show kids what engineers actually do, so they don't go into it blindly like I did," Closser explained.
To learn more about Closser or to purchase the book, visit www.nerdypaige.com .
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