It's no secret that men largely outnumber women in STEM fields, but The Next MacGyver is here to help change that -- and with more than just a paper clip.
USC Viterbi, the creator of MacGyver, Lee Zlotoff, and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) have partnered to search for and help create the next great engineering TV series, this time starring a female engineer lead. Anyone can submit ideas for this global competition and the final five winners will be invited to write a pilot script with the help of a Hollywood producer.
Below is a sampling of recent of media articles about this project.
 |
Hollywood and top engineers are crowdsourcing ideas for a TV series with a female MacGyver, the brainy 1980s small-screen secret agent who used little more than a paper clip to solve tricky problems. (View article) |
 |
With all his homemade gadgets and cool scientific tricks, MacGyver is an engineering superhero. Seriously. Who else could make a heart defibrillator out of candlesticks? Or blow up a jeep with mirrors and the sun? (View article) |
 |
A crowdsourcing competition called “The Next MacGyver,” which seeks ideas for a TV show with a female engineer as the lead, begins today. Less than 20 percent of engineering bachelor degrees go to women, the National Academy of Engineering says, and the show aims to help raise that number. (View article) |
 |
It's been a couple of decades since "MacGyver," the once-ubiquitous series starring Richard Dean Anderson as the world's most handy secret agent, went off the air. Time for a new MacGyver. But this time, it'll be a woman. (View article) |
 |
I could statistic you to death about how women are still underrepresented in science and engineering, but let me just give you this one about what dismal progress we’re making: between 2000 and 2011, the proportion of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to women remained flat. And worse, it actually declined in computer sciences, mathematics, physics, engineering, and economics. (View article) |
 |
Less than 20% of engineering bachelor degrees are currently going to women, and that number’s only been getting lower in recent years. So what are we as a society to do about this when we need engineers more than ever? Obviously changing the culture to be more welcoming to women would help, but that’s a slow process. In the meantime, giving kids a badass engineering idol to look up to in movies and TV might do wonders. (View article) |
 |
Hollywood is reaching out for your help to create the next “MacGyver” (or, for the younger future engineers, the next “CSI”). To kick off National Engineers Week, the National Academy of Engineering today launched a worldwide crowdsourcing competition seeking ideas for a television series with a female engineer lead. (View article) |
 |
In celebration of National Engineers Week, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering (USC Viterbi), in collaboration with The MacGyver Foundation and Lee Zlotoff (creator of the TV series MacGyver), today announced the launch of a worldwide crowdsourcing competition called “The Next MacGyver.” (View article) |
 |
The creator of the original MacGyver, Lee Zlotoff, has teamed up with the National Academy of Engineering and top Hollywood TV producers to launch a crowdsourcing competition. Anyone around the world can submit ideas for the fictional character. Five winners will get the chance to work with a Hollywood producer to develop the character and write a pilot script. (View article) |
 |
The United States has too few engineers and people skilled in science and math. It seems to have a surplus of people who love to watch TV. That’s a national challenge, as many see it. But MacGyver could probably solve it. (View article) |
 |
The Next MacGyver, a joint initiative of the National Academy of Engineering and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, hopes to offer a new face in problem-solving under extreme pressure: a lady MacGyver. A contest has being launched to find the exciting new voices that will help create a TV show featuring a female engineer in action. (View article) |
 |
The Internet is abuzz with rumors that MacGyver (America’s favorite duct tape-wielding secret agent) is planning a return to primetime. As mind-blowingly awesome as that would be, it isn’t exactly true. (View article) |
 |
Hollywood is reaching out for your help to create the next “MacGyver” (or, for the younger future engineers, the next “CSI”). To kick off National Engineers Week, the National Academy of Engineering today launched a worldwide crowdsourcing competition seeking ideas for a television series with a female engineer lead. (View article) |
 |
It's hard to believe if you were alive when it was on the air, but MacGyver is 30 years old. For seven seasons, he fought evil with science — and he made it cool. The character MacGyver, played unforgettably by Richard Dean Anderson (and his mullet), used his incredible expertise of science, engineering and mathematics as a sort-of secret agent, rescuing hostages, stopping dictators, and dismantling dangerous weapons all over the world. (View article) |
 |
Miss MacGyver? Hollywood, engineers looking for ideas for female MacGyver TV series. (View article) |
 |
The creators of the classic 1980s TV series MacGyver are asking fans to come up with an idea for a similar new show. All you’ll need is a pen and paper, a piece of chewed gum, four paper clips, a strip of duct tape and your Swiss Army knife. (View article) |
