'Science Wide Open' Aims to Change the Game for Girls In Science
We're big believers in the saying "if she can't see it, she can't be it," so we were thrilled to see the book series Kickstarter Science Wide Open succeed wildly, exceeding its goal by more than ten times.
Science Wide Open, by John Coveyou, will teach "some basic concepts in chemistry, biology and physics in simple and memorable terms by using the natural questions and curiosity of a young child"--but the coolest thing is that the series will do so by telling the stories of women scientists throughout history. The author hopes to inspire a generation of young girls to strive to explore the mysteries of science, just like boys and men have always been encouraged to do.
Coveyou has covered science for young minds before, and has a passion for tapping into the well of wonder and curiosity that drives young people to learn and discover the world around them. It was his daughter that motivated him to represent women in his latest series. Click through to learn more, and keep teaching our young girls and boys to explore and care for the world!
observer.com - Despite the fact that women-led companies perform three times better than those with male CEOs, women in the U.S. earn only 28 percent of computer science degrees, own only 5 percent of tech startups and hold only 11 percent of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies. They make up only 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce, and only 11 percent of physicists and astronomers are women. No matter which part of the STEM world you look into, women are underrepresented. And throughout history, many of the discoveries of female scientists have been actively diminished and sometimes even stolen. That’s not to say girls and women aren’t interested in science, though—a 2012 study from the Girl Scout Institute found 75 percent of girls were interested in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math.
So where are the women scientists? The gender gap in STEM certainly has to do with bias, but the real reason there are so few women in science starts long before they’re ready for careers. It starts when they’re toddlers.
From an early age, girls are—both indirectly and directly—discouraged from pursuing math and science. They’re given (or at least marketed) dolls and play kitchens, while boys are naturally thought to want LEGOs and microscopes. A new Kickstarter from Genius Games, however, is trying to change that with a series of children’s books about women scientists that is both educational and inspiring. It’s called Science Wide Open and has already raised over $30,000 in just the first three days, which is five times its goal.
These Georgia Tech physicists helped prove Einstein right - Atlanta Magazine
Deirdre Shoemaker, director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, and longtime researcher Laura Cadonati discussed their findings recently. The breakthrough confirmed predictions made 100 years ago, by Albert Einstein. Their team confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity. The finding will affect how physicists study and describe the entire universe going forward.
If you find gravitational waves a bit tough to understand, you're not alone—we're a bit fuzzy on the details. But it's a fascinating, inspirational read, and just one more way women are—excuse the pun—making waves. Read more at the link to learn about their amazing work.
atlantamagazine.com - Deirdre Shoemaker has known from the time she was a 12-year-old science fiction fan that she wanted to spend her life studying black holes. But when she came to Georgia Tech in 2008 as a founding faculty member of the university’s Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, she found few other female postgraduates.
“You see women in biology, life sciences, and even math, but physics is still lagging for whatever reason,” says the bubbly Shoemaker, who in 2013 became director of the center, which researches cosmic mysteries like dark matter and particle physics.
This past February, Shoemaker and Laura Cadonati, a veteran researcher who joined Tech last year, were part of the international team that confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, a long-elusive cosmic feature first predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
A few days after the scientific breakthrough made headlines around the world, the two women delivered a presentation on the findings during a Sunday afternoon event sponsored by the Atlanta Science Tavern. Before an improbably standing-room-only crowd at the Decatur Recreation Center, they explained that the first gravitational waves ever to be detected had come from the collision and merger of two black holes—each about 30 times the mass of the sun—that occurred 1.3 billion years ago.
“The gravitational wave discovery,” Cadonati says, “has opened up new ways to study the universe” because the waves can be used to collect data about distant objects like neutron stars and cosmic events like the Big Bang.
The Movie About NASA’s Black Female Scientists That’s Been A Long Time Coming—ThinkProgress
Women, especially women of color, do not always enjoy the notoriety and recognition of their male peers—even when they are instrumental in the scientific progress of humanity. One movie, Hidden Figures, focuses on black women mathematicians working for NASA during the 1960s. ThinkProgress has more about the movie, the nonfiction book upon which it's based, and the movement to recognize women, especially women of color, as central players and leaders in the human story. Check out the trailer here, and read more at the link.
thinkprogress.org - The movie trailer premiered to Twitter fanfare on Sunday night during Olympic prime time. Sandwiched between two Olympic events, the timing of the new trailer seemed aimed at generating buzz for these long-overlooked women among the widest audience possible.
The trailer for Hidden Figures, an upcoming movie focusing on three black female mathematicians working at the NASA during the days of Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, attacks this erasure head on.
The highlights of the space race still loom large in the American imagination. John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, are both household names. But behind those celebrated men were legions of scientists and engineers, among them scores of brilliant women of all backgrounds, whose brainpower made it all possible. Those women, for the most part, have been forgotten — until now.
In the trailer, a white cop comes across the movie’s three central women — Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) — marooned on the side of the road thanks to car trouble (the alternative, one of the women says half-joking and half-not, would be to “sit in the back of the bus”). When the cop asks for ID, they hand over a NASA ID card.
Celebrating women’s contributions to science
researchgate.net - While gender parity remains a significant problem in STEM research—according to UNESCO, women account for just 28% of researchers worldwide—female scientists are also making major contributions in male-dominated fields. We speak with some of those women about their work and ask them what advice they have for aspiring scientists.
Brooke Anderson Thornton Mission Operations Manager - NASA
ResearchGate: Could you tell us a bit about your work?
Thornton: I am the Mission Operation Manager for the Stratospheric Aerosol Gas Experiment (SAGE) III on International Space Station (ISS). I oversee the operations of the instrument on the space station. The number one priority is to ensure the instrument is working properly, and we do this by monitoring temperatures, voltages, currents, and other information from the instrument to ensure it is operating within its limits. We also develop and execute the commands that operate the instrument, download the science data from the instrument, and coordinate ISS activities and special science requests.
RG: When you were entering your field, were there women you looked to as science role models?
Thornton: When I first began at NASA, I was performing radiation analysis on new concepts for space suits and habitats. During my research, I encountered some of the work that Dava Newman had done at MIT. Her use of multi-disciplinary research on the space suit gave me the motivation to look into how different materials could not only provide radiation protection, but also support other systems including structural and thermal support. Now it’s great to see that her hard work has propelled her to Deputy Administrator at NASA, and this continues to motivate me to work hard knowing the possibilities I could reach.
RG: What advice would you give young women thinking of pursuing careers in science?
Thornton: My advice to young women is to have determination and not take things personally, especially negative feedback. Know that you will make mistakes and people will call you out on them. When this happens, it’s easy to take it personally and let it lower your self-esteem. Criticism doesn’t mean you’re not a good scientist or engineer! You need to have determination: learn from it, correct it, and continue to work hard; then you will earn respect from your colleagues.
NSF launches long-awaited diversity initiative
STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) have had a problem with diversity since long before the term "STEM" was en vogue. Even with women and people of color studying in STEM fields, white men still make up the majority of the workforce at 51 percent--far greater than their share of the general population. It's refreshing, then, to see the National Science Foundation encouraging diversity through a program calling for projects designed to increase the participation of women, racial minorities, disabled individual and other underserved groups in STEM fields. Greater diversity will not only help combat inequality like the wage gap, it will benefit companies. It will ensure the inclusion of additional, missing perspectives and will ensure that the best people will fill the positions, no matter who they are.
Preliminary proposals are due April 15. Click through to read more.
sciencemag.org - The National Science Foundation (NSF) wants to make the U.S. scientific community more inclusive. And the more ideas, the better.
NSF announced its intention to hand out small grants later this year to dozens of institutions to test novel ways of broadening participation in science and engineering. Winners of the 2-year, $300,000 pilot grants will be eligible to compete next year for up to five, $12.5 million awards over 5 years. NSF is calling the program INCLUDES. (The acronym stands for a real jaw-breaker: inclusion across the nation of communities of learners of underrepresented discoverers in engineering and science.)
The underrepresentation of women and minorities in the scientific workforce is a problem that has persisted for decades despite many well-meaning federal initiatives. NSF Director France Cordova has spoken repeatedly about her intention of moving the needle on the issue since taking office in March 2014. And this initiative, totaling roughly $75 million, could well be the signature program of her 6-year term.
Read more here.
Photos: Girls rule at Ocean Science conference
We're always happy to see girls encouraged to get their hands on some science—literally. So we loved discovering the Girls in Ocean Science Conference. As part of its ongoing effort to get girls excited about ocean science and involved with hands-on reserach, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography welcomed more than 100 middle school girls to an ocean science conference. Women scientists from UCLA, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Algalita Marine Research and Education and more teach workshops and discuss careers in areas like oceanography, marine ecology, biochemistry and deep sea science. Learn more about the workshop, and the Institute's ongoing effort, by reading the full article.
ocregister.com - DANA POINT – Serena Chuc couldn’t get enough of looking at the bright green and blue species of coral on the ocean floor.
Thanks to special software from a researcher at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the 13-year-old Capistrano Beach girl could see the different types of coral and find out why they look the way they do. She also learned about key components of reef habitats and why coral can be found in so many spots in the world’s oceans.
“I thought it was really interesting because coral is so beautiful and it can adapt to live in all different waters,” Chuc said.
Chuc, a student at Shorecliffs Middle School in San Clemente, was among more than 100 middle school girls from Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties who took advantage of a girls-only ocean science conference Saturday at the Ocean Institute.
The event was part the institute’s 11-year effort to get girls in middle and high school interested in all types of ocean sciences with hands-on training and workshops. Presentations were held aboard the institute’s research vessel, the Sea Explorer, and at the institute’s labs.
Eight female scientists from institutions including UCLA, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Algalita Marine Research and Education were on hand to help the girls explore careers in such areas as oceanography, marine ecology, biochemistry and deep sea science.
Read more here.
The Incredible NASA Astrophysicist Teaching Kids All About Science
Amy Mainzer; an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the host of "Ready Jet Go!," a new 3-D animated series on PBS; is a great example of what girls--or any kids--can accomplish when they dream and aim big. And she's aiming to help kids reach their goals and explore the universe. Mainzer discusses her own childhood fascination with space, kids' curiosity and how it can drive the next generation of scientists, and the importance of kids having up-to-date and engaging information about the ongoing journey of science.
Her focus on exploration, engagement, and changing perceptions is inspirational. Learn more at the link!
forbes.com - NASA’s Dr. Amy Mainzer is on a new mission – but it’s not into space, yet.
Having developed a young curiosity for space science into a phenomenal career in the field – including as the principal investigator on a major project to study asteroids – Dr. Mainzer has a new goal of educating children in the field and creating the scientists of the future.
As the host and science consultant of PBS’ new TV series, Ready Jet Go!, Dr. Mainzer tells me she is determined to help nurture the natural curiosity of kids around science, technology and space.
“A lot of science and engineering professionals made the decision to work in these fields when they were younger than ten – meaning that small children are making big life decisions,” she explains.
“By making a science show for very young kids, I hope we can foster a love for learning about the universe that stays with them as they hit middle school.”
The series is currently airing on PBS Kids and is aimed at children aged three to eight, with games and further resources online. Marvelously, it follows three kids, one of whose family includes aliens from another planet. They all decide to explore the solar system together, and find out about space science along the way.
Women in Science: Meet the Stemettes star inspiring more girls into STEM
Anne-Marie Imafidon, a child prodigy in math and science, has spent the past three years leading an organization dedicated to helping girls follow in her path. She spoke with International Business Times UK about her work championing the cause of women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). She's the co-founder of Stemettes, an organization working to get more girls and women into STEM careers by starting them early: If girls are encouraged to love and pursue science and math, it will pay off down the road.
Even as she received honors and invitations to speak, Imafidon came to realize that being a woman in tech was much more of an anomaly than it should be. She co-founded Stemettes (originally the Stemettes Project) in 2013, and the organization has already helped increase the number of girls taking STEM subjects and GCSE exams.
Imafidon discusses her organization, as well as why so few girls are pursuing STEM subjects—and why even fewer women stay in STEM careers. From stereotyping and culture to scheduling conflicts and internal biases, the deck can seem stacked against girls who want to pursue STEM subects. However, the benefits to doing so—for both girls and a world that needs educated girls—are too important to ignore.
Find out much more about Stemettes and Imafidon's insights in the article, excerpted here and in full at the link.
ibtimes.co.uk - If there was ever someone to inspire girls into science, Anne-Marie Imafidon is the woman for the job. Imafidon is the co-founder of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise encouraging girls into the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, and she has an intimidating CV.
Having passed GCSEs in maths and ICT aged 10, she holds the current world record for the youngest girl ever to pass an A level in computing – she was 11. Two years later, she received a scholarship to study maths at a top US university. Imafidon then went on to become one of the youngest to be awarded a Masters degree in maths and computer science at Oxford.
Yet despite the incredible successes of the likes of Imafidon, women are still chronically underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The problem starts young: more boys take science subjects at school, and studies have shown the girls who do take them, and so often excel, lack the confidence to pursue the high-paid STEM careers. Too many talented young scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians are walking away from exciting, rewarding and well-paid jobs.
"I graduated, worked for two years and then it was only when I was sent to speak at a conference in the US that it hit me – I was a woman in tech," Imafidon tells IBTimes UK on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Read the rest here.