Home of the Soul Cookie

Got an email from my good friend Lindsey a few minutes ago that the Sally Ride Science Fair is still looking for female presenters for an event at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field on May 21.

Since I’m entirely the wrong gender to present (Curse you, Y chromosome; you win again!), I asked if I could repost this far and wide. Lindsey checked with the contact she’d named in the email, who gave us a thumbs up.

Here then, in its entirety, is Lindsey’s email.

Sorry to send out such a blast email, but this is a really good cause. I’m working with the Sally Ride Science Fair through my job at Carnegie Mellon. Basically, there is going to be a science fair held here on the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field on May 21 (it’s a Sunday), for 5th-8th grade girls, trying to get them more interested in the fields of Science, Technology (all forms, inc. Computing), Engineering and Math, since they are so underrepresented in those fields at a professional level. Even though I am utterly incapable in those fields myself, I think its a good thing to get more girls interested!

The festival consists of a street fair, a keynote speech by Astronaut Janice Voss, and workshops.

This is where hopefully some of you can come in:

They still need presenters. They have quite a few, but more are always needed. They are expecting about 1,700 people, including parents — who do not go to the same workshops as the girls.

The workshops for the girls are 20-25 participants max, as they are very hands-on, so you can see how they need a lot of workshops! I was thinking that some of you might know of someone who would be willing to present.

• Hands on presentation that the girls (5-8 graders) can get involved in.
• 45 minutes, twice during the day (2:15-3:00pm, then again at 3:15-4:00)
• It’s voluntary, but it’s a great cause, and good exposure for a company name – companies like NASA, Glaxo, Sun Microsystems, IBM, etc., are sponsoring it and will be present (networking possibilities…?). Plus, of course, we here at Carnegie Mellon West are giving them free use of our building and utilities.
• Presenters must be female, and prominent in their field, so fairly high level within their company, or working on/completed a Master’s. If they want to have a male helper, that’s cool, but they need women to lead as good role models.
• Present on topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering or Math

If you know of anyone, the contact I have there is Jennifer Kremer, 650.604.4052, jkremer@mail.arc.nasa.gov.

It’s also possible to have a stall outside at the street fair, and I’m pretty sure thats free, so if your company is working on something cool, like robotics or sound engineering or whatever you guys are all involved in, you could exhibit like that, and there are no gender restrictions on who mans the stall either, though of course, at least a few women would be best. So if you think this is something your company might like to support, please let your PR/Marketing teams know about it.

Thanks for reading. If you know of any girls who may be interested in attending, its $18, including lunch, street fair, workshops and keynote speech. Their website is at www.sallyridefestivals.com, or you can get information for the NASA location specifically.

Feel free to repost this information as you see fit, and let’s see if we can’t make a difference in some girls’ lives.

Update: Thanks to Jan Kabili for reposting the call to arms in her blog!