ALBUQUERQUE - There was a time when a man would never consider a career as a nurse, when a woman would not even think about being a police officer.

There were days when only women taught in the schools; when engineering was a men-only world.

Those times have changed, thankfully, for a group of Rio Rancho High School students, who had an opportunity recently to learn a lot more about what someday might be their chosen profession. Rio Rancho High School Engineering & Design Academy head Paul Stephenson accompanied about four-dozen of his students, many of whom will someday work in the field, on a bus trip to the University of New Mexico campus.

Among them were seniors Antoinette Cuaderes, who said she has had a little resistance from family members about her choice of engineering, and Dacia Dallago, who is on a path to become a third-generation engineer.

"I love concrete, I really do," said Cuaderes, who said she's been fascinated with engineering since she was in seventh grade. Her father has been a technician with Western Technologies for 23 years, so it's in her blood.

She isn't your typical teen, it seems: She gets a kick out of checking out construction sites and probably spends more time than she should observing cracks in the highway.

She said what she heard during her UNM visit was "reassuring" in her career decision; that when she hears a derogatory comment about her being too petite or too pretty to be in what many consider a man's world, "I brush it off. I'm very strong-willed," she said.

She said she loves research and applying that research to what she has learned. Her fall EXPO project, she said, is actually the fourth part in a series of projects; the latest one addresses the addition of polymers to concrete to make it stronger in a cost-effective way.

Dallago said she isn't sure whether she'd like to be a mechanical engineer or a civil engineer.

"I grew up around construction sites," she said. "My dad was a mechanical engineer in Gallup; a plumber, basically. He would take me around worksites."

She admitted to being at the controls of a backhoe and a Bobcat.

Her grandfather was the founder of Dallago Corp. in Gallup, from where she moved to Rio Rancho about five years ago. (Founded in 1968, Dallago Corp. specializes in plumbing, heating, air conditioning, engineering and construction contracts.)

Dallago also isn't a typical teen-age girl: She admitted to a love of examining blueprints. And, she added, her parents have fully supported her, telling her, "Go ahead for it."

"There are a lot of girls out there that are doing engineering," she said. Like Cuaderes, she has an engineering-like theme for her research project: comparing liquid cleaners on pipes. (She recommends a gel formula, by the way.)

"I think they were very excited and it looks like a good bunch of students," said Chaoki Abdallah, chairman of the UNM Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

The girls had an opportunity to hear a presentation from Abdallah, as well as tour a high-performance lab, attend a class with a Women In Science & Engineering (WISE) student - some of these just-graduated UNM students make $25 an hour, they heard - and engage in discussions with WISE students and faculty members.

The free event, in its second year, is designed to encourage more women to enter engineering, math, and science majors, while working closely with UNM women students pursuing degrees in these areas.

Deborah Chavez-Kennedy, coordinator of the WISE Program at UNM, said women are underrepresented in the technical fields and "this is an excellent way to expose girls from the Engineering & Design Academy at Rio Rancho High School to career paths and academic curriculum and match them up with active WISE members. WISE members are dedicated women intent on obtaining a degree in engineering, math, or science fields. They understand how important it is for girls to pursue math and science courses during their high school years.

"Research shows that girls and young women lose interest in subjects and the fields of study leading to engineering degrees long before they enter college," she said. "Role modeling, collaborative learning and hands-on activities in girl-team environments help female students to make the leap forward into non-traditional career fields."

"It's the only time we're doing it this year," Stephenson said, pleased with the reception on both ends. "It's a great partnership with UNM. The networking the girls get is incredibly powerful. Decisions have been changed. Do they have to go to UNM? No."

"Rio Rancho High School is the only school I invite," Chavez-Kennedy said. "The partnerships have been so positive, there's no need to go elsewhere."