Making STEM Fun
Georgia Tech's Makers Club runs the Invention Studio, where equipment is made available to students for use on personal projects as well as coursework. Displayed are some "experiments" members of the studio created.
Erin Hodge wants to be a scientist or biomedical engineer when she grows up. She’s getting a preview as to what those careers would be like through a camp at Georgia Institute of Technology designed to encourage middle school girls to explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
This week Erin and about 25 other middle school girls from Cobb County will program robots, extract DNA from strawberries, create circuits and engage in other hands-on activities. The girls also will interact with female professors and students from Georgia Tech and female leaders from GE.
This is the second year the campus is hosting the GE Girls at Georgia Tech summer camp. GE sponsors similar summer programs at colleges around the country.
The program is just one of the many ways Georgia Tech and industry are working to encourage more women to study and pursue careers in STEM.
Georgia Tech has awarded more engineering degrees to women than any other school since 2007. The College of Engineering will host a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C. on June 11 about the challenges and successes in attracting more women to engineering.
Research shows girls begin to lose interest in STEM in middle school. That is the age many students begin thinking about future careers.
Erin knows what she likes about science. The rising seventh-grader wore a pink T-shirt emblazoned with Buzz that read: “I AM … a future scientist or engineer.”
“One day I know I’m going to invent something no one else has discovered before,” she said.
Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) worked with GE on the program.
“What we’re trying to do is inspire a lifelong passion and interest in science, math and engineering,” said Chris Thompson, associate director of Technology & Student Activities. “We want these girls to see and speak with women who have followed this path so they know it is something they can do.”
Only 4 percent of female college freshmen say they intend to major in engineering.
“The goal of the program is to foster a lasting interest in STEM among young girls in the Atlanta community, considering that women are under-represented in these fields,” said Lara Siopis, a GE engineer who helped coordinate the program.
Current Georgia Tech female students are working with the middle school girls this week.
“I really want to be able to influence girls to study engineering and see how exciting it is,” said Michal Anna Marble, a sophomore in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “We have a great group of strong, smart and confident women here. We want these girls to join us.”