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Community Project: STEM Summit
Please
click above to start the slideshow
"Opening
Doors, Opening
Minds -
to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math: A Seminar for Girls" was
organized by the Roanoke Valley Branch of the American Association of
University Women and co-sponsored by Roanoke City Schools at William
Fleming
High School on Saturday, December 4.Twenty-eight
ninth grade girls from six different high schools participated in
workshops,
teleconferences and video conferences with experts in STEM fields.
The
participants had the opportunity see what a day in the life of a
medical
researcher was like and then to talk to Katherine Grichnik, MD,
at Duke University via
teleconference. They
learned about NASA through a video conference.
In
small groups, the participants learned about marine
science from
Stephanie Salisbury, Virginia Institute of Marine Science; forensic
archaeology,
anthropology and forensic science from Drs. Cliff and Donna Boyd,
Radford University;
oceanographic and coastal
geology careers from Dr. Shelley Whitmeyer, James Madison University,
and Raindrops
to Water Faucets from Sarah Baumgardern, Western
Virginia Water Authority.
A
recent research report from AAUW,
Why
So Few? Women in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (available
online at http://tinyurl.com/24pj3ka) inspired
Roanoke Valley
AAUW to
organize this seminar. One
of AAUW’s
public
policy priorities is
a strong system of
public education that promotes gender fairness, equity, and diversity.
AAUW also
advocates
Increased support
for
programs that break through barriers for women and girls in science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
fields.
By
providing
girls with
opportunities to find out first-hand about careers in STEM fields the
Roanoke
Valley Branch of AAUW is encouraging 9th grade
girls to
continue to
develop their interests and skills in the STEM fields.
Earlier this
year AAUW released an in depth report on the scarcity of women in the
STEM fields. The number of women in science and engineering is growing,
yet men continue
to outnumber women, especially at the upper levels of these
professions. In elementary, middle, and high
school, girls and boys take math and science courses in roughly equal
numbers, and about as
many girls as boys leave high school prepared to pursue science and
engineering
majors in college
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