Mini-Grant Awards
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Passing the Torch: Diverse UC Undergrads Inspire Girls to Pursue STEM Degrees Through COSMOS Program
Collaborating Organizations: COSMOS: California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science, UC Berkeley LEADS & Pass The Torch
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Females Age 6-8, 9-12
Selected underrepresented minority UC Berkeley female students, who are doing high level undergraduate or graduate work in STEM fields and who participate in the UC LEADS Science Research Program, will role model leadership and bring the message to their former high schools about the COSMOS summer program in math and science for high achieving high school students. COSMOS is a UC residential summer program at four UC campuses: Davis, Irvine, San Diego and Santa Cruz. COSMOS (California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science) is a University of California program. This four-week summer residential immersion program serves high school students from throughout the state who excel in mathematics or science. Participants attend college level lectures, participate in labs and field trips, engage in special events and pursue a research project. -
Pass the Torch Math Teacher Training Program (PTT TTP)
Collaborating Organizations: UC Berkeley LEADS & Pass The Torch, EYH Consortium
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Females Age 9-12
Pass the Torch (PTT) is a program designed to provide support services and upper-division tutoring for Math and Science to diversity (diversity = African-American, Native-American, Hispanic, low-income, first-generation, academic obstacles, and disabled students) students at UC Berkeley. Within this program, there is a group of ten female mathematicians who are interested in pursuing careers as K-12 or Community College Math teachers. With this cohort, we established the PTT TTP program last November so that we could provide teacher training to these students while they are undergraduates to help establish an educational foundation that will keep them interested in the field of Math, but also connected with their long-term goals of becoming Math teachers. -
Hello? Is Anybody Out There? An Introduction to the Fascinating World of Astrobiology
Collaborating Organizations: ASA Community Science Center, SETI Institute
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Females Age 6-8, 9-12
Description: ASA Community Science Center and NASA Astrobiology Institute EPO will sponsor a daylong event for girl's grades 6 and up titled, "Hello? Is Anybody Out There? An Introduction to the Fascinating World of Astrobiology." This event will consist of viewing the film "Aliens of the Deep", a science talk and discussion with Dr. Dijanna Figueroa about the film and her experiences as a marine biologist. The day will also include an introductory Astrobiology workshop session for the girls, as well as a workshop for teachers. Background Information: Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe. It uses multiple scientific disciplines and space technologies to address three fundamental questions: (1) How does life begin and evolve; (2) Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? (3) What is the future of life on Earth and beyond? -
Increasing Impact of Role Models: Collaboration Between UC Berkeley Alumni Relations and Techbridge
Collaborating Organizations: Techbridge, Roosevelt Techbridge
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Students Age K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Chabot Space and Science Center’s Techbridge program and University of California, Berkeley Engineering Alumni Relations Office proposed a collaborative outreach effort to promote girls and underrepresented minorities in engineering by increasing the participation of Berkeley alumni and students as volunteers to be role models. Engineering alumni and students will be recruited by the Alumni Relations office and trained by Techbridge to become role models. -
Girls on the Bay
Collaborating Organizations: Monte Vista High School, Bay Model Association
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Students Age 9-12
Girls on the Bay will engage 40 Monte Vista students in an interdisciplinary, standards-based, hands-on inquiry study of the San Francisco Bay with a focus on water quality, plankton, benthos, and fish through the Bay Quest Program sponsored by the Bay Model Association. The students will be exposed to real world applications of the sciences they are currently studying including physics, geology, chemistry, biology, and courses they plan to take in the future. -
Launch into Technology-Aeronautics Institute
Collaborating Organizations: Girl Scouts of Northern California, NASA Ames Research Center
In collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center, the Girl Scouts of Northern California has designed Launch into Technology—a week-long residential program at NASA Ames from June 22 to June 28, 2008. Girls in grades 9–12 will choose aeronautics, robotics, or astrobiology as a specialty. The main goal is to enable girls, especially those from underrepresented populations, to explore the technology used in aeronautics, robotics, and astrobiology in an engaging, hands-on, noncompetitive environment. Through interactions with subject matter experts, girls will increase their confidence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and be encouraged to consider STEM fields as career options. This Mini-Grant project will focus on the Aeronautics Institute. Girls who choose this specialty will explore and experiment with all facets of aeronautics and aerospace engineering: airport operations and air traffic control, aircraft design, wind tunnel testing, aerodynamics, and simulators. As a team, the girls will plan a flight from Moffett Field to a destination of their choice and through the course of this virtual flight, explore the fascinating aspects of aeronautics. These topics will be covered in workshops throughout the week. -
Fly-Away
Collaborating Organizations: Girl Scouts of Northern California, NASA Ames Research Center
Target Age Groups/Sub Groups: Females Age 9-12
Motivated by the underrepresentation of girls in STEM, the Girl Scouts of the San Francisco Bay Area and NASA Ames Research Center's Office of Education have collaborated to create Fly-Away, a week-long residential program taking place at NASA Ames June 25 – July 1, 2006. Fly-Away is an opportunity for girls entering grades 9-12 to explore, investigate, and simulate real problems faced by aerospace engineers and discover the fascinating fields of aeronautics and engineering. Through a virtual flight from Moffett Field to a destination of the girls' choice, the girls will encounter, explore, and experiment with all facets of aeronautics and aerospace engineering. They will experience hands-on flight planning, aircraft design, the physics of flight, aerodynamics, propulsion, aircraft maintenance, aircraft restoration, air traffic control, women in aeronautics, and the history of flight. -
When I Grow Up: A Girls Go Tech Career Exploration
Collaborating Organizations: Girls Incorporated of Alameda Co., Girl Scouts of Northern California
This year the Girl Scouts of Northern California will invite 40 girls and their chaperones from Girls Inc of Alameda County to the third annual “When I Grow Up: a Girls Go Tech Career Exploration” event of the Girl Scouts of Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area region. Professionals and college students from a variety of STEM fields will be invited to present table activities in order to give girls (K-12 grades) and their families an opportunity to see and do what a professional in a particular career does in her job. In addition to participating in the table activities, each participant also will view a special museum show (planetarium or Mega dome presentation) and explore the museum’s exhibits. There will be a special Science Café for middle school and high school girls. A career panel will be available for both groups. -
Happy Hollow Park and Zoo
Collaborating Organizations: Santa Clara Unified School District
At Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose, California nine "Animal Facts" exhibits were designed and built in the 1970's by the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. The exhibits were designed to be interchangeable so that they could be pulled out and replaced periodically with new exhibits. These exhibits need to be repaired and/or updated to the current audience. Two of the exhibits have been covered with poster paper because they do not work, two have been completely removed, one has been transformed into a secondary viewing portal and the remaining four have mechanical and electrical failure. This is an opportunity for a fun, interdisciplinary engineering project that will benefit the local community. -
Collaborating Program UCSC-Expanding your Horizons
Collaborating Organizations: LULAC Youth Council 2080, Expanding Your Horizons-Sonoma County
UCSC EYH Conference for 8th to 12th grade girls will provide transportation for at least 25 girls to attend the UCSC Expanding Youth Horizons Conference on March 1, 2008. Attendees will spend the day on Science Hill with women professionals in STEM who will lead hands-on activities and act as role models, sharing their path to their careers.
