The Glass Ceiling: Research documents a dearth of minorities and women at senior management levels of the engineering profession. The point at which this happens has been termed the "Glass Ceiling." One can see the next level but cannot get there. Women and minorities enter the profession and are promoted, but only up to a point - they are not part of the policy or program defining body. The National Society of Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers worked on a Task Force to explore this issue and to develop a training tool on the Glass Ceiling for managers. This talk will summarize their efforts.

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Patricia L. Eng, P.E. is currently Chief of the Transportation and Storage Inspection Section of the Spent Fuel Project Office (SFPO) of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Her organization reviews and inspects Quality Assurance programs governing the design, fabrication and use of casks used for the transport and storage of specific radioactive materials. These reviews and inspections are to verify that radioactive material containers are properly designed, reviewed and certified against Federal regulations and to ensure that the public health and safety are appropriately protected. Ms Eng also developed all the inspection procedures for spent fuel storage and coordinated the development of several NRC guidance documents on this subject.

Prior to joining SFPO, Ms Eng served as Senior Operations Engineer for the Human Factors Assessment Branch where she assessed the role of human performance in nuclear power plant operations. Prior to that, Ms Eng served as Technical Assistant to NRC Commissioner E. Gail dePlanque, the first female commissioner to serve at the NRC, where she advised the Commissioner on NRC policies and programs,

proposed agency activities, and diversity related issues.

Ms Eng previously served as the NRC Resident Inspector at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant where she reviewed and inspected selected plant activities. While at Zion, Ms Eng received the NRC Meritorious Service Award for outstanding resident inspector effort - the first woman so honored.

Ms Eng joined the NRC in 1983 as the first female reactor inspector in the NRC Region III office's Division of Reactor Safety, located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Prior to joining the NRC, Ms Eng worked at Garrett AiResearch where she conducted structural stress analyses on a nuclear gas centrifuge. Before that, she worked at Westinghouse Hanford where she conducted research and development activities and coordinated construction efforts at a prototype materials research facility.

Ms Eng has been actively involved in the Society of Women Engineers since college. She is a charter member of the Eastern Washington Section and has served in the leadership of the Chicago Regional and Baltimore Washington Sections. Ms Eng is a Fellow Life Member of SWE and has served on SWE*s Board of Directors as Region E Director, Secretary and Vice President of Special Services.

As SWE*s Statistics Chair for 6 years, she conceived and conducted a national survey on the similarities and difference between women and men engineers. This survey was the first of its kind which confirmed widely held beliefs on the differences between men and women engineers. She has authored a number of articles related to the survey, presented the survey findings before many different audiences and testified as an expert witness on this subject before Congress.

Ms Eng also served as a member of the joint National Society of Professional Engineers' and Society of Women Engineers' Steering Committee, where she served as an advisor for the preparation of a management training video, "The Glass Ceiling." The video is designed to explore various views of women engineers as executives and to elicit candid discussions amongst corporate executives on the subject.

Ms. Eng is a registered professional mechanical engineer with a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois. She currently serves as SWE*s Washington Liaison, Commissioner-At-Large on the Engineering Workforce Commission and Section Representative for the Baltimore Washington Section.