PRINCETON, New Jersey (March 14, 2016) – The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s Young Women’s Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), celebrates its 15th anniversary this year with a record number – 575 girls – scheduled to arrive at Princeton University’s Frick Chemistry Laboratory on Friday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., to learn about how fun and fulfilling science can be through a myriad of hands-on activities, demonstrations, and talks by female scientists.
Seventh- to tenth-grade girls from all over New Jersey, and as far away as Maryland and Pennsylvania, will join in the fun. They will take part in more than 30 exhibits and activities ranging from the F.B.I. to the Liberty Science Center to The Great Phytoplankton Race by a scientist at Princeton University’s Department of Geosciences.
The Young Women’s Conference, run by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, is designed not only to show young women how fun the sciences are but also to give them the opportunity to talk to women in the STEM fields about their careers and experiences. While the percentage of women in science and engineering has increased in the past decades, women still constitute less than 30 percent of all science and engineering occupations, according to a 2015 report by the National Science Foundation. Women are particularly scarce in certain science fields, such as engineering, computer sciences, and physics.
“Women are very underrepresented in the physical sciences and engineering,” said Shannon Greco, a program leader in Science Education at PPPL. “Events like the Young Women's Conference help to show girls that STEM fields are fields in which they can thrive and have fun. The exhibitors are all so excited about their work and eager to share that with the YWC students - it helps these girls seem themselves as scientists and engineers.”
A “2010 Report to the President on STEM” found that field trips and laboratory experiments are key to inspiring students. “Girls and members of minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering can find inspiration in these activities and mentors and role models that encourage them to study STEM subjects and enter STEM professions,” the report said.
Deedee Ortiz, Science Education’s program manager who organized the conference, said introducing young women to potential role models and mentors is the conference’s goal. “I see every kid soaking it in at the conference,” she said. “My goal is to get the girls who are kind of on the fence about STEM and help them realize that these women are just like you.”
Highlights of this year’s conference include a display on the “Physics of Sound,” by students from the Cultural Academy for Excellence in Mount Rainier, Maryland, which will show how steel drums are made. Students from the school will also give a brief concert on the steel drums.
Kamana Misra, president of the Association of Women in Science (AWIS) Central New Jersey Chapter and Sophia Gershman, of PPPL, will be discussing their research in breakout sessions.
Jin Kim Montclare, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, will give the keynote talk. Montclair will discuss her education and career, and her current research, and will talk about her STEM outreach work to youngsters from kindergarten through college.
The schedule of the event is:
9 a.m. to noon: Students will break out into groups for hands-on activities and break-out talks in Frick Laboratory.
12 to 12:30 p.m.: Lunch in Dillon Gym.
12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.: Steel drum mini-concert and keynote speaker.
PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas — ultra-hot, charged gases — and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. Results of PPPL research have ranged from a portable nuclear materials detector for anti-terrorist use to universally employed computer codes for analyzing and predicting the outcome of fusion experiments. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://www.science.energy.gov.
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