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Horizon Conference to encourage women
By Drew Herron/Contributing Writer
The SCSU Society of Women Engineers will present its 13th annual Horizon Conference at 9 a.m Saturday in the Engineering and Computing Center.
The event is intended to encourage young women interested in mathematics, science and engineering, and create awareness of career opportunities for women in science-related fields.
"There are not many female students in engineering," said Israt Jahan, president of the Society of Women Engineers. "In one of my classes, there are five females out of about 40 total students. We want to invite middle school students to attend and encourage them towards engineering and science at a younger age."
The group sent letters to junior high schools and middle schools to publicize the event. The majority of the students attending will be 7th or 8th graders from around the St. Cloud area, as well as some groups from Monticello and Minneapolis.
The conference is an opportunity for young female students to meet and form personal contacts with women working in traditionally male occupations.
Eleven hands-on workshops will be offered. Active participation is encouraged.
Students can learn how to program a computer or take it apart and put it back together. There will also be a voice signal processor, a forensics activity and a robotic demonstration, among other activities.
"We have more people registered than we had originally expected," Jahan said. "Eighty-two students are currently registered, and we really only expected 60 or 70 girls. There has been a huge response. We hope to have more than 100 girls next year."
The group would also like to create more events at the conference to involve the student's parents.
The event's keynote speaker will be Maddy Flemming. Flemming is a 3M employee with a Ph.D. in physics and spoke at the event last year.
Flemming first became involved when she was approached by Society of Women Engineers Treasurer Julie Rosenberg.
"She was on campus to speak at a physics conference two years ago, when I asked her if she was interested to speak for Horizons and she agreed," Rosenberg said.
The fee for the event is $5 and it will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be provided as well as a Horizons t-shirt and door prizes.
After meeting in the Engineering and Computing Center lobby at 9 a.m., breakfast will be served until the first workshop begins at 9:30 a.m.
There will be three different rooms, 111, 126 and 128 hosting activities. Students are encouraged and will have to opportunity to attend any three of the workshops scheduled.
The SCSU Society of Women Engineers coordinated the event with assistance from the following departments: chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering and physics.
Next year the organization hopes that more departments such as aviation, biology and mathematics become involved.
"We'd like to see participation from other groups, " Jahan said. "We tried to integrate them this year, but it just didn't work out."
Students attending are urged to dress in casual pants and close-toed shoes.
For questions or to obtain information obtaining to the event: contact Israt Jahan at (320) 255-4522 or e-mail at [email protected].
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