My Amazing Future inspiring young ladies to pursue careers in STEM
The Idaho National Laboratory hosted its 10th annual My Amazing Future workshop. More than 150 eighth-grade girls were invited to the INL to take a look at what careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, would be like.
They got to interact with INL researchers, engineers and scientists — and were able to participate in 16 hands-on sessions and demonstrations.
“They were able to do cybersecurity, extract DNA from a strawberry, go into our CAVE (3-D Computer-Assisted Virtual Environment), do chemistry, do all sorts of robotics. Just kind of everything,” said workshop chair Michelle Thiel Bingham.
“It’s really awesome. I think it’s really good experience for all of us to learn and to do,” said participant Vivian Simon.
The young ladies really enjoyed some of the cool new things they learned about.
“We practiced this thing where we got shocked. And it was actually pretty fun to get shocked and shock other people with us,” said participant Jazmin Martinez.
According to 2013 U.S. Census Bureau data, among science and engineering graduates, men are employed in a STEM occupation at twice the rate as women — 31 percent compared to 15 percent. In addition, women make up nearly half of the workforce, but only 26 percent of STEM workers are women.
“What we want to do is inspire them that they can do anything they put their mind to. They are very under-represented in STEM, and with women making at 50 percent of the population, what we’re hoping to do is help influence more women going into the STEM fields,” Bingham said.
