Girls learn about careers in math and science

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Students at last year's event test the spatter of ‘blood’ in the “Blood Drops Tell Tales” student workshop, where they discover how forensic scientists use blood residue left at a scene of a crime. Inset photo: the shape of blood drops can provide clues about how a drop of blood fell. During this workshop, students tested dropping blood at different heights, angles and on different materials, keeping track of the results.   enlarge image
Credit: File photo

Expanding Your Horizons

More than 150 girls from throughout Northern New Mexico can learn about careers in math and science at the annual Expanding Your Horizons conference on March 14.

Expanding Your Horizons is designed to introduce girls to a variety of different careers available in math and science, and to stress the importance of taking math and science classes during high school. In addition, speakers and presenters are women, so the conference provides the girls with female role models, said Wendee Brunish of Geophysics (EES-11), president of the Los Alamos Women in Science.

The conference is at the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos campus and is sponsored by the Los Alamos Women in Science organization with the help of several Laboratory associate directorates. It is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and includes science-related activities for girls in eighth to tenth grades, said Brunish.

At EYH, girls attend two workshops that include hands-on activities related to math or science. Research areas at this year’s conference include robotics, chemistry, veterinary science, forensics and geology, said Brunish.

“Our country needs many scientists and engineers to maintain its pre-eminence in these areas, so we should not exclude 50 percent of our population from careers in these areas,” said Brunish.

Karen Daniels is the conference’s keynote speaker. Daniels is an assistant professor at North Carolina State University and has a doctoral degree in physics from Cornell University. She performs experiments in laboratory settings and also has a passion for sharing her excitement about physics and nature with young girls, said Brunish.

Registration and information packets were sent to twenty Northern New Mexico area schools, but those interested in registering also can call Jutta Kayser of Ethics and Audits (EA-DO) at 5-3104.

For more information, contact Brunish at 7-5724 or at wb@lanl.gov or go to http://nmnwse.org online.

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