Watch a recent interview with Stacey Roberts-Ohr, EYH/N Executive Director.
News
Stacey Roberts-Ohr, EYH/N Executive Director gets interviewed on Comcast Cable Newsmakers!
July 26th, 2010Daring to Discuss Women in Science
July 18th, 2010The New York Times | John Tierney | June 7, 2010
The House of Representatives has passed what I like to think of as Larry’s Law. The official title of this legislation is “Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering,” but nothing did more to empower its advocates than the controversy over a speech by Lawrence H. Summers when he was president of Harvard.
Related
This proposed law, if passed by the Senate, would require the White House science adviser to oversee regular “workshops to enhance gender equity.” At the workshops, to be attended by researchers who receive federal money and by the heads of science and engineering departments at universities, participants would be given before-and-after “attitudinal surveys” and would take part in “interactive discussions or other activities that increase the awareness of the existence of gender bias.”
I’m all in favor of women fulfilling their potential in science, but I feel compelled, at the risk of being shipped off to one of these workshops, to ask a couple of questions
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/science/08tier.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1
Confessions of a newbie blogger
July 1st, 2010Here is a blog I did as a guest blogger for a recent mommy blog. Feel free to share your comments.
Confessions of a newbie blogger by Stacey Roberts-Ohr, Executive Director, Expanding Your Horizons Network and guest blogger
Confession part one… this is my first experience as a guest blogger or as any blogger for that matter.
Confession two…I’m a childfree by choice chick. My husband and I never really wanted kids. Since we don’t have them, I have never experienced the joys and tribulations of motherhood. I don’t know if this makes me any less qualified to contribute charming witty banter to a mommy blog. You be the judge.
What possibly can a happy, childfree by choice, 44 year old woman possibly contribute to a mommy blog? Well, I actually got some good advice, on how to raise a confident and happy teen daughter who one day might want to change the world- I’ve been asked to share this advice with you today as the Director of a non- profit that works with teenage girls to motivate them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
I work at The Expanding Your Horizons Network, motivating young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Fact… girls tend to lose interest in science and math during middle school. During these turbulent years, girls often subconsciously feel that “pretty” is better than being smart. Smart girls don’t have boyfriends and they don’t get asked to school dances or to parties. Yes, that’s the message many girls internalize, even if it’s not the true.
Enter The Expanding Your Horizons Network. Through our one-day hands-on math and science conferences, we present a safe and fun environment where girls can become innovative and creative thinkers, ready to solve 21st century challenges. Middle school girls gather at a local university and meet with professional women engineers, computer scientists, and even female astronauts. They listen to their stories, learn about their career paths, and glean some cool details about their personal lives, (fact: some astronauts and physicists sport stylish tattoos, skydive and some are even moms themselves) Then the girls dive in and participate in an interactive hands-on activity. They might build lego robots and then participate in a robot demolition derby, or they will extract and then bottle their own DNA, whatever the activity, these women are amazing role models and the girls have a blast.
Sometimes, I wish I was one of the smart scientists I interact with in my job. I wish I was designing buildings that are impenetrable to terrorists, or inventing a new medical device to help improve the lives of the disabled, I wish I could develop a new mathematical formula that would do something cool, And, if I had a teenage daughter, I would want her to pursue a STEM focused career and I would do everything in my power to help her understand that these careers pay well and are within their reach.
If I did have the darling teenager, that you have, (let’s call her Clementine– my secret, cool girl’s name) here are a couple of smart, subtle things I would do to influence her choice of career.
- First, I would send her to the nearest EYH conference. They cost as little as $10 and they are located worldwide. Visit the EYH website at www.expandingyourhorizons.org.to find one near you.
- Secondly, I would introduce Clementine to STEM role models every chance I got. I would help her interact and meet female STEM professionals both in social and professional environments. I would encourage Clementine to spend a few days shadowing a successful female scientist at her place of employment. I would also encourage Clementine to participate in her school science fair and sign up to attend a rad” summer sleepover science program where the kids would call her “Clem.”
Okay, it’s true that Clementine only lives in my head, but if I did have a daughter like her, I would do everything in my power to convince her that it’s Okay to be smart, and that math and science careers are a cool career option.
Do you have someone like Clementine living in your house? What have you done to encourage her interest in STEM? I would really like to know. Send me an email at Stacey@expandingyourhorizons.org.
Check out more about the Expanding Your Horizons Network at www.expandingyourhorizons .org. And, learn more about our recent honor. We recently won the 2010 Public Service Award of the year from the National Science Board.
Expanding Your Horizons keeps eyes on goal
June 2nd, 2010Anjali Bajaj, a Bay Area eighth-grader, hopes to be a professional writer someday and already has her own blog. So when her mother suggested three years ago that she attend a one-day science conference for girls at a local community college, she was less than enthusiastic. ”I was not excited,” Bajaj said. “I was not into science. But after going, I thought maybe I should try more science because I had so much fun.”
So much fun that Bajaj has now attended the annual math and science conference three times.
Mission accomplished. That’s just the response the coordinators of the conference — Expanding Your Horizons Network, an Oakland-based nonprofit — hoped to inspire. Established in 1976, the organization has worked to encourage young women to pursue careers in what are known as STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. For their efforts, the group was honored recently in Washington, D.C., with a public service award by the governing board of the National Science Foundation, the federal agency charged by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science.”
Steven Beering, chairman of the National Science Board, said the award, given May 4, was in recognition of the Oakland network’s long-standing commitment to the early development of interest in mathematics and science among young girls.
The math and science conferences are the main tool Expanding Your Horizons uses to reach out to learn about what they do in a typical day.
Expanding Your Horizons board President Rachel Sheinbein studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate and received her MBA as well as a master’s in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sheinbein said she was lucky that her parents encouraged her interest in math and sciences when she was young and took her to participate in enrichment programs.
Many girls miss out on such encouragement. A study released earlier this year by the AAUW, formerly known as the American Association of University Women, called “Why So Few?” noted that while the number of women in STEM fields is increasing, they are still outnumbered by men.
With math scores for girls rapidly increasing, the report puts much of the blame for the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering on such external factors as negative stereotypes about girls’ abilities in math. Who can forget the Barbie doll released in 1992 that was programmed to say “math class is tough”?
Since its inception, more than 800,000 girls have attended a conference, Sheinbein said, adding that the organization is not content to rest on its laurels.
“We’d like to be in every state,” she said.
Why so few women in STEM?- A new report
April 19th, 2010Why are so few women in STEM? Read a recent 2010 report by the American Association of University Women.
EYH Impact Report
April 13th, 2010This impact report was prepared by Irene Lang, a statistic intern for The EYH Network in conjunction with the EYH/N Executive Director. This report can be used in a wide variety of ways. You may print it out in in its entirety, but please credit EYH/N. You may also use excerpts of it to educate your donors about EYH’s mission.
EYH Congratulatory Club!
April 12th, 2010The EYH “Congratulatory Club” was created recently to honor the EYH Network winning the 2010 National Science Board’s Public Service Award for 2010. We thank the following donors who generously donated $100.00 to EYH to support our efforts to introduce more young women to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We are appreciative of their on-going support of Expanding Your Horizons in science and mathematics conferences.
Congratulatory Club Members
Susan Boone
Melanie Brown
Pat Campbell
Cathy Carroll
Jane Day
Laurie Edwards
EYH Sonoma County
Rebecca Failor
L.J. Ferderber
Carol Langbort
Helene Last
Richard Leder
Barbara Lewis
Eileen Lewis
Betty Levitan
Barbara Peterson
Helen and Alan Ridley
Janet and Victor Schachter
Jean Schuler
Rachel Sheinbein
Cherrill Spencer
T.K. Subramanian
Betty Toole
Joan Winters