The Path of Science and Engineering!

When I was a kid, I was in Girl Guides. One unforgettable thing I learned at Girl Guide camp when I was ten was a lesson from my leader about why we stay on the path during a hike. She told us that it only takes ten people to walk on a patch of the forest before the foliage there starts to thin out. Now, my leader meant this in a forest-conservation kind of way; but a recent experience  made me think of this lesson in a whole new light...

During my reading week this fall, I volunteered with the Carleton Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) at a career convention for eighth graders in the city. The convention was meant to give these students an opportunity to learn about different career paths and meet professionals in these fields. At this convention, I was manning (ironic word choice, I know) an info table on EWB with another girl from our Carleton Chapter. Our table happened to be located next to one on masonry, which had an interactive area where students could try their hand at building part of a wall with some bricks and mortar. The girl I was with is an engineering student, but she always loved the trades and working with her hands. She enthusiastically went over to the next table and joined the brick-laying lesson. What happened next made me smile! The masonry booth had been occupied mostly by groups of boys all day. But, as my fellow EWBer scraped around mortar and laid bricks, a few eighth grade girls came over and joined her, and then a few more. These girls seemed much less timid and self-conscious, and more engaged in the lesson than any of the previous solitary girls who had tried the booth earlier that day. All it took was one other girl there, one other person like them to make the girls realize that they could do masonry too, that working with your hands isn't just for boys!

I know masonry isn't STEM, but the trades are male-dominated fields, just like Science and Engineering. And here is where the forest lesson comes in: Each one of you, a woman in Science and Engineering, can play the same role for young women interested in STEM as my EWBer friend! You would be taking a step off the path into the forest and treading into the foliage! With every woman who does what she loves and pursues a career in STEM, the foliage thins out just a little bit more. With time, the new path becomes easier to find and follow for the next girl. You are one more female face in an engineering class that stops the next girl from thinking "I'm not a boy. I don't belong here". You are the successful older student or prominent figure in your field that reminds those girls in the initial struggles of Science and Engineering that "I can do this!"

     

 In my Psychology class last year, I learned about how stereotype threat (the fear that if you fail, other people will say you failed because you are part of some minority or social group) can actually make people perform worse and fail more often. It has been said for years that women are not as smart as men and worse at math. This is not true, of course, but it can still trigger stereotype threat in girls and women in STEM; they worry that their failure will be attributed to them being a "dumb girl". Yet, every example they have that contradicts the stereotype, makes the stereotype threat diminish more and more. Every one of you is making that girl less and less afraid of being herself, and less scared of failing.

That's part of the reason I love Science! It lets me be a role model and encourage tones of young girls to pursue their love for STEM. And this is simply achieved by doing what I love and find SO interesting.

So stay inspiring ladies and keep treading that widening path through the forest!!!

-Sarah

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Sarah is in her second year of Neuroscience combined honors at Carleton. She loves introducing young minds to the mind-blowing amazingness of science and encouraging girls and women to be whatever they want to be.

What Do Women Want in Games?

I happened to stumble across this article by the well-known game designer, interactive storyteller, and author Chris Crawford called What Do Women Want (Again)?

I’m intrigued by the renewed interest in this old problem, and dismayed by the complete lack of progress I see. The games community just keeps spinning the same old wheels, getting the same old wrong answers. Really, folks, some community memory would behoove us all. Nearly twenty years ago Midway addressed the problem by creating Ms. Pac-Man. Their market data showed that more women seemed to play Pac-Man than other games, so they put a bow on Pac-Man’s head and voila! the first woman’s game was created. This unpromising beginning has set the standard for all subsequent discussion, a standard that has been rigorously adhered to.

This was written back in 2001, and I can't help but wonder how much progress has been made.  Certainly some I would think, given that it seems more women are playing games than ever before.  Perhaps the advent of social games on the Wii and Kinect have helped by getting more people over the "I'm not a gamer" hump.

What do you think? What games are well designed for the female audience? What games do you adore?

Games for Change Festival 2011

I just got back from New York City for my first visit to the Games for Change Festival. In its eighth year, this year’s festival was held on June 20-22 at New York University.  I wasn’t able to attend the entire conference, but thanks to live streaming I caught most of the Tuesday talks I would have missed otherwise.  (You can watch the archives of the live stream, too!)

I wrote a complete blog post summarizing the event on my own blog, which was also syndicated on BlogHer, which I encourage you to check out.

Here are some other great resources to learn more about the event:

• Livestream video archives
• My (very) rough live notes
• Games for Change: Jesse Schell Keynote
• Video of Jesse Schell's Keynote
• Al Gore champions gaming at Games for Change
• Games for Change 2011: Furniture Forest
• Games for Change 2011: Public Media and Games
• 10 Good Minutes with Dan White of Filament Games

WIE at Carleton University

Check out this wonderful video about women in engineering at Carleton.  CU-WISE is mentioned a few times as well! :)

The Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering is Just Around the Corner!

Last year's Celebration was pretty awesome, but this year is going to be something special.  You see, we've made a big effort to ensure our talks are fun and exciting no matter what your background is.

So, for example, if you're in biology, you'll understand what the computer scientists and engineers are talking about.  Even if you aren't in science or engineering at all, you will enjoy what we have to offer!

Even better, we've invited a group of high school girls to be in our audience this year.  We've already got more than 25 signed up.  We're hoping that we can ignite a love of science and engineering in these students, and show them the awesome choice that Carleton is for post-secondary education.

The full schedule with talk titles and descriptions is now posted online, so go check it out and we'll see you on April 6!

What's it All About?

The link above describes it like this:

The Carleton Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering is a showcase of graduate students, faculty, and alumni of Carleton University. The number of women who enrol in many science and engineering programs is quite low, so the amazing things they do can easily go unnoticed. This day puts them in the spotlight.

The goal of this event is two-fold. First, we aim to provide networking opportunities for all female science and engineering students. Second, we would like to see members of the greater Carleton community and the general public attend these talks and learn about some of the great things happening in science and engineering. We want the world to know that there really are successful women in these fields!

This year's Celebration will showcase research and projects done by female students and faculty from Carleton in a way that is accessible to the general public, including high school students.

Everyone is invited!

Video Games as a Stealth Learning Tool

My PhD research is all about using augmented reality in games designed to teach you something.  I think educational games has had a bit of a bad rap for a while, and maybe this is for good reason.  There so seem to be memories among many students of basic skill and drill activities thinly disguised as games.

But game designers are getting better at making their players smarter.  For example, there's been a lot of cool research happening in the area, and we seem to know a lot more about how to create a compelling experience that teaches you something at the same time.  (Take a look at this article I wrote on my own blog about educational games.)

Even better, more and more research is coming out that games is actually a really effective way to learn. There's a recent article in Psych Central News that says this:

To kids, such games would remain a pleasant diversion. But to Mom and Dad, they would provide reassurance that their child is acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to excel in an increasingly competitive world.  “The concept is known as ‘stealth assessment,’” said Shute, a professor of instructional systems. “Essentially what we try to do is disguise educational content in such a way that kids aren’t even aware that they’re being assessed while they’re engrossed in game play.”

I say it's never been a better time to be in this field, and if you're in computer science or anything related, then maybe it's the right time for you to join us and study educational games in graduate school. ;)

Finally, a reason to watch game shows

Computer scientists have a reason to cheer tonight for Watson, IBM's artificial intelligence that is attempting to beat two of Jeopardy’s human champions and expand the frontiers of artificial intelligence. Last night's broadcast ended with Watson at $35,734, Brad Rutter at $10,400, and Ken Jennings at $4,800 after a fascinating game (in which Watson strangely thought Toronto was a U.S. city.)

I've been closely following Watson's progress because of the implications "he" has for computer science. I like the idea of "grand challenges," as IBM calls their ambitious projects - not only for the innovation they produce, but also because of their power to engage the public and promote interest in computer science. For those interested in learning more, IBM.com/watson has many interesting videos on the project. The videos cover the actual tech behind the system (dubbed "DeepQA" by IBM), and its implications for data management and analytics in various industries. The human element is given special attention, too - my favourite segments are the ones profiling the various teams of IBM researchers from different disciplines, and showing how each of them contributed to this ambitious project.

The videos are entertaining, fascinating - sometimes even amusing. In one of the video commentaries, one of the developers said his favorite misparse of a question was when the clue was:

"Category: Bottoms Up!:
It's made with equal amounts of champagne and orange juice."
and Watson said "What is breakfast?"

Ottawa IBM employees and Carleton students (including yours truly) will celebrate tonight with a party and screening of the final game at Oliver’s Pub. For A.I. enthusiasts, it's perhaps a more exciting broadcast than the Superbowl!

Chemistry Professor Maria DeRosa Honoured for Research

From the Carleton University newsroom:

For the millions of people worldwide who suffer from psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia, Carleton Professor Maria DeRosa’s next research initiative provides hope for a new treatment. DeRosa is one of 10 Carleton professors who will be honoured with a Research Achievement Award from the university for her innovative research that helps find solutions to real-world problems. The other winners will be announced throughout Carleton’s Research Days celebration that runs until Feb. 11.

Read the rest here and join us in celebrating the amazing accomplishments of all Carleton women in science and engineering!

Water Watch

CU-WISE Outreach Officer Natalie Linklater and faculty advisor Banu Örmeci were recently featured in Carleton University's Research Works:

Banu Örmeci is the Canada Research Chair in Wastewater and Public Health Engineering. Together with grad student Natalie Linklater, she’s developing an innovative new monitoring system for water supplies that uses real-time methods to assess change in quality, and achieve rapid screening of water for toxic substances and pathogens.

 Way to go ladies! Keep up the great work.

Bacteria in a petri dish

The recent (excellent) Green Energy Symposium put together by the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Society of Carleton University got me wondering about the issue of sustainability. Everyone has heard this buzz word by now. Sustainable energy is generally being taken to mean an environmentally benign renewable energy source capable of satisfying energy demands of the entire world population now and in the future. If you have ever been to any green energy talks you have certainly seen the graph of standard of living vs energy consumption

and the increase in energy consumption worldwide over the the past couple of centuries

Both undoubtedly seem to imply that to live well more energy is needed. Here is where the awful truth comes out that we don't really have a large enough supply of the conventional energy sources left to sustain our standard of living much longer and especially to improve it in the developing countries. And the general theme of any such green talk will surely be that of tightening our energy belts and thinking hard about alternative energy sources like wind and solar. Though the is no simple answer, if we conserve energy and learn to rely on solar power we are sure to arrive at a sustainable solution, right?

(The theme of energy conservation always revolves around the need for us to change our mentality and behaviour when it comes to energy use. We have to change the way we think! Communism tried and failed at restructuring the human mind, so why should the sustainable movement succeed?)

Certainly there is some room for power usage improvement, but is Iceland really that energy-greedy or is it just cold? And have we really been getting increasingly power-hungry since the industrial revolution or are there simply more of us now? For some reason no one seems to ever show the population growth data to go with the energy consumption graph. And the world population exploded after world war II just as the power consumption did. Could there be a connection?

People have certainly gotten crafty at exploiting the Earth to the max, making the most of the available resources such that an ever increasing population can be sustained. Thus if we include solar and wind and biomass into our energy arsenal we are bound to push the envelope even further. But when the population doubles again will that be enough? Ultimately, we are not that different from bacteria in a petri dish. No matter how far we can push our resource envelope, we will eventually hit the resource ceiling and the population will level off in the stationary phase where the birth rate equals the death rate.


So perhaps it's not our resource management that's not sustainable. Perhaps it our population growth?

Amazing fuel sources

I thinks it’s really cool how the search for fuel sources that replace petroleum has evolved in the last decade. There are so many researches to find ways to sustain our ever growing need for energy. Some of these are almost unreal. For example it’s really hard to believe that algae can be good for anything yet research has shown that a lot of oil can be gotten from algae. An article in the IEEE spectrum talks about "Green gold". It talks about using algae as a biofuel in the coming years. An article in the London times talked about a bug that excreted oil.

IEEE spectrum Article
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/betting-on-algal-biofuels/3

The video shows how algae is used to power a toy car.
http://science.discovery.com/videos/invention-nation-algae-biofuel.html

Sunday Times article
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece

Santa's Dirty Socks

CS Unplugged is a series of activities designed to teach computer science without a computer.  I've used them many times for outreach activities and even in an undergraduate course I taught.  The creators have been uploading some great videos relating to computer science topics, and I wanted to share this one:

This original story introduces the idea of a divide-and-conquer algorithm using a narrated picture-book verse about the serious problem of finding a pair of dirty socks that have been accidentally wrapped with a child's present. The idea is that this can be played or read to students, and then can be used as the basis for a follow-up discussion. A set of discussion starter questions is available (http://csunplugged.org/divideAndConquer­) to encourage students to engage in computational thinking and think about algorithm analysis in the story 1024 presents are searched in 10 steps, and students can be asked to extend this to other cases, and generally think about the implications of having an algorithm with logarithmic complexity.

 Check out all the videos.

Go ENG Girl

This past weekend I had a chance to share my passion for engineering when Go ENG Girl took place at Carleton University on Saturday October 16th. Go ENG Girl is hosted every year at universities across Ontario as an opportunity for girls in Grades 7-10 to learn more about the field of engineering.
The day started off with a welcome and keynote speakers. Students and their parents heard from women studying and practicing engineering and learned more about what it meant to be an engineer. The girls were introduced to the many types of engineering and the opportunities that could arise within the different fields.

While parents heard from a panel of speakers about such things as entrance requirements, academic support, campus life, and career expectations, the students headed off to participate in a hands-on activity.

The grade 7-8 students were given a small design project involving snap circuits. They were asked to create a morse code generator and were then given the freedom to create their own circuits. One group created a lie detector test in which the ‘liar’ would answer a question and then would be required to place their index finger and thumb at a given location on the circuit, which would then detect if they were in fact telling the truth. The detector would hum if they were telling the truth and would make a loud high pitched sound and flash a light if a lie was being told. The circuit detected a ‘lie’ if there was enough moisture on the finger or thumb from nerves and sweat. I have included a picture of this particular circuit. The grade 9-10 students had a chance to use their design solution skills as they were asked to create a catapult which would launch a small mass the greatest distance while having a cost effective design with minimal materials. The projects were presented to the parents and it was clear that there were some future engineers among us!

Students and their parents were given a pizza lunch while being able to browse engineering exhibits and speak with current students. Lunch was followed by an engineering lab tour where some of Carleton’s engineering and research and project labs could be seen.

Go ENG Girl was measured a success when the girls whose parents had ‘forced them to come’ had declared that they would be returning next year and had become interested and excited about engineering. It was very rewarding to volunteer at an event where I could help answer student’s questions and be a representative for my field of study.

I strongly encourage prospective students to seek out opportunities to learn more about their educational interests – it is never too early to start! I also encourage current students to find ways in which to become involved in sharing their experiences and passions – it is never too late to start!

GHC10: HCI Track at Grace Hopper

From the Communications of ACM blog:

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing had two special technical tracks added to the program this year: open source and human-computer interaction. While I was definitely happy to see the open source track, it was the HCI talks that really got me excited. I'm just getting into HCI myself, choosing it as one of my topics for my PhD comprehensive exams and submitting my first CHI paper. There was so much to learn from a variety of great speakers!

Read the rest of my post here.

GHC10: Usable Security

From my blog:

One of the sessions I attended on Wednesday at GHC was a PhD forum. In this special type of session, three PhD students present their research in an hour, and the audience fills in feedback forms to give them suggestions and/or praise. It's a great opportunity.

The first presentation in this particular session was given by Laurian Vega, studying HCI at Virginia Tech. Her research is all about usable security, with a focus on day cares and doctor's offices. Although I'm not a security person by any stretch of the imagination, I found the topic quite interesting.

Read the rest here.

Tips for Choosing a Career in Science

This guest post is contributed by Beatrice Owen, who writes on the topic of bachelors of science. She welcomes your comments via email: owen1.beatrice(@)gmail(.)com.

If you love science and have a natural curiosity, you have a wide range of educational and professional opportunities to tap. It’s easy to choose a career in science today because the field is so varied and vast – the subjects are many, so even if you’re not interested in one kind of science, there’s always another related, yet different branch to jump to. Science careers are both lucrative and fulfilling, and if you’re thinking of one, here are a few tips that are sure to come in handy.

• Know what you want: While it’s ok to take some time and think about your career choice before making the final decision, it’s not wise to keep changing majors as you try to figure out what interests you. Ideally, if you’re interested in a career in science, you must know this during your last few years in high school and plan your college degree accordingly. Also, if you’re prepared and willing, you could take up additional college-level courses while still at school – this allows you to complete your degree faster and save on tuition costs.
  
  
• Decide on a specialization: Science is a vast field, one that encompasses hundreds of subjects and sub-categories. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage – you have many options to choose from, but the plethora can make the choice confusing as well. If you know which field of science you favor, it’s easy to find the path you should take and focus on achieving your degree and finding a job in that sector. Some areas of science overlap, so it’s easy to major in one yet find a job in the other. So make your choice based on your interest and the opportunities available.
  
  
• Focus on technology: No matter what kind of science you choose to major in, it’s important to pick up some technological knowhow if you don’t want to be left behind. Technology is a part of every aspect of our lives, and when it comes to science, it’s even more important because it forms an essential part of every kind of advancement and innovation. If you neglect technology, it is at your own peril.
  
  
• Don’t count out the value of experience: When you envision a career in science, you’re not going to be thinking about an entry-level job; however, you have to start somewhere in order to make it big in your chosen field. So instead of wasting your time searching for the perfect job, accept offers that are relevant to your chosen career just so you can add to your experience. Use your free time to earn a graduate degree – you’re improving your educational qualifications and gaining experience at the same time.

How I landed in Earth Sciences

This guest post was written by CU-WISE Advertising Officer Judy Lam.

How I landed in earth sciences... and developed the inability to see outcrops along roads without wondering about what kind of rock it is, its composition, and its geologic history.

I love geology (synonymous with earth sciences), but I didn't know that until first year university. My high school didn't offer the Earth & Space Sciences, so I only took Biology, Chemistry and Physics. After taking them in grade 11, I didn't want to work on living things or how things move but I liked what things are made of... so I applied to Chemistry when it was time to apply for university. At first I didn't seriously consider going to Carleton so I just applied to whatever sounded interesting, like Environmental Science with a concentration in Chemistry. I ended up switching that to Chemistry and Earth Sciences at the deadline, thinking that the latter was similar to Environmental Science... Not quite!

Hey, it worked out! I ended up choosing Carleton because I figured that I might get bored doing pure Chemistry, and it also helps that I was awarded an Earth Sciences scholarship in addition to my entrance one... Getting paid to go to school definitely helped.

Heading into first year, I took some Earth Sciences courses and realized I love it! Minerals, rocks, and all that jazz lured me into the field. I went to field camp shortly before second year, and met pretty much everyone in my year who I'd eventually share core Earth Sciences classes with. It was a great experience - nothing beats field work!

Then came second year, and after a week, I realized that I dreaded thinking about taking some of my chemistry classes in third year... After mulling it over for a bit, I figured that I'd just switch to pure Earth Sciences because anyone who asks me what I want to do with my degree, I reply, "I want to be a geologist." (Not a chemist...) Naturally, I made the switch. I haven't regretted it - in fact, switching required me to take the second field course, which was another amazing experience. (It was so different from the first one, and of course, tons more work to do!)

It just goes to show that sometimes you just have to take a chance because you never know how well it might work out!

E-Waste Recycling

This guest post by Jesse Herman of Repair Launch is all about how to recycle your electronics responsibly, and why you should care.

The overall issue of recycling has placed a high importance on plastics. This is important because of the volume and ultimate long term problem it poses. What has been overlooked is electronics recycling. It is estimated that only 3% of electronics are disposed of correctly. While these devices don't occupy much of the physical space occupied in landfills, they account for over 70% of the toxins.

This all is staggering but even more troubling is our methods of disposing, which is often to ship the materials to countries like India, where cost goes down and profits go up, due to regulation standards, which are very poor.

Keeping all of that in perspective, the stage is set for a movement, provided that measures are taken to preven the exporting of electronic waste to under regulated countries. 13 new e-waste recycling centers have been opened in the United States recently and there are a number of services (in larger populated areas) that may offer pick-ups or nearby dropoffs. It is important to do your research first. Some of these 'services' are a disguise for improper disposal, with companies like Target being accused of not knowing where their 'recycling drive' ewaste is going.

It is important that the public grows a conscience in order to properly dispose of these materials on an individual and corporate level. Here is a good place to start for recycling.

Digging further it can be said that consumers are fully aware of the parameters that have been set. A reaction to job losses and pay cuts people have reduced their spending on new items. Compounded with that is an overall eco-minded general public, who has spent a ton of money the latest gadgets over the past 20 years, along with a quickly growing DIY repair resources base to compliment services and it's easy to see that there is a real market on all levels.

The more popular the device, the more information you can find for repairs. On the cell phone end of thing iPhone repair is a well documented issue. If the information war is any indication, Apple is doing very well.Blackberry's are firmly established online as well, along with a bunch of other models. Repair services at every level are rapidly growing though, right along with a proactive role from users to preserve their purchases and as a result, value there electronics.

DIY Information is searchable for many products and repair services are forming to generate profitable options for those looking for local repairs or those wanting a local business to walk into.

Celebration a Success!

Wow. Our Carleton Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering last week was AMAZING. I ended up writing it up on my own blog before I had the chance to write here:

My main goals were to showcase what the Carleton ladies in science and engineering have been up to, and to give us an opportunity for us to network, since WISE spans so many technical and scientific disciplines. I think we succeeded on both counts!

Read the rest here!

Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering is TOMORROW!

I can't believe the Carleton Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering is finally here. Less than 20 hours from now, I'll have arrived on campus to set up and get ready for the welcome note!

I'm really proud of what we've accomplished with this event. In only about a month, we put out a call for proposals, got more amazing abstracts than we could schedule in our original time frame, somehow put together a schedule that worked, booked a wonderful meal for speakers and their guests after the event, and got the word out to the Carleton and Ottawa communities. Just this morning I came back from recording an interview with Terri about the event to be played on CBC tomorrow morning!

If you are anywhere near the Carleton campus, it would be well worth your time to take a few minutes and listen to a few of our speakers. Pick a topic you're interested in and see what cool research is being done. Come to the professional development talks later in the day. Have your say at the round table discussion happening in the evening.

A full schedule of the talks and their abstracts are available on our website.

I sincerely hope to see you there!