400 Seventh-Grade Girls to Expand Scientific Horizons at NC State

On Wednesday, March 5, more than 400 seventh-grade girls and 100 teachers from 43 N.C. counties will come to North Carolina State University to learn about and do science at the 16th annual Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conference.

EYH is a one-day event featuring demonstrations and hands-on science experiments designed to get young girls interested in science careers.

Media are invited to attend the conference and to speak with the students, their teachers and the scientists. Media are asked to check in at the Witherspoon Student Center on NC State’s main campus (corner of Dan Allen Drive and Cates Avenue); volunteers will be on hand to escort media to the sessions, which begin at 10 a.m.

This year’s conference will include exciting demonstrations and workshops such as “Cool Chicks!” “Squish! (Not-Quite-So-Solid Science),” “Uncovering the IBM ThinkPad,” “Got Bones?” and “What’s that Curious Green Glow?”

The opening session will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Witherspoon Student Center auditorium. Dr. Laura Bottomley, director of NC State’s Women in Engineering, will lead a science demonstration and Dr. Christine Grant, associate dean of faculty development and special initiatives in the College of Engineering, will present the keynote address.

Students will return to the Witherspoon Student Center at noon for a “What’s My Line?” panel session that allows students to question professional women on the work they do and how they prepared for their careers. Students are given guidance about they can succeed as a scientists, mathematicians or engineers. The conference concludes with a drawing for a $100 savings bond.

– peake –