Published by the

Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education

Issue Sponsor:

ADC Foundation

This Week's Topics:

1. TODAY IS "INTRODUCE A GIRL TO ENGINEERING DAY"
2. EINSTEIN FELLOWS CONTRIBUTE TO FEDERAL AGENCY OFFICES
3. CHEMISTS HONORED DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
4. HELP YOUR STUDENTS SHOW OFF THEIR SCIENCE SAVVY WITH WIRED SCIENCE AND PBS
5. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS ANNOUNCES AWARDS FOR BEST SCIENCE WRITING
6. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ENGINEER BEIJING OLYMPICS
7. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN SCIENCE DEBATE 2008
8. PREVIOUS ISSUES

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Faced with a profound lack of women engineers, the National Engineers Week Foundation is calling upon its professional community to discard the myths surrounding what holds many girls back from becoming engineers and focus instead on fighting the problem during Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, February 21 -- a part of Engineers Week 2008, February 17-23. "Girl Day," as it's known among engineers, is the only outreach of its kind aimed at and organized by a single profession. Today, and in programs throughout the year, women engineers and their male counterparts will reach as many as one million girls with workshops, tours, on-line discussions, and a host of hands-on activities that showcase engineering as an important career option for everyone.

Currently only 20 percent of engineering undergraduates are women, and only ten percent of the engineering workforce is comprised of women. For years, false notions of girls' innate inability in math, lack of science preparation in high school, and assumptions about the effects of historical and institutional discrimination, have been offered as causes for the startling disproportion. Recent surveys, however, refute most of those theories, including the ones that question girls' academic readiness to study engineering when they leave high school. Girls and boys take requisite courses at approximately the same rate, with girls' enrollment often exceeding that of boys. Experts contend that the major culprit is one of perception among girls and the people who influence them, including teachers, parents, peers, and the media. In short, girls have to perceive they can be engineers before they can be engineers. Find out more about "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" at www.eweek.org.  

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Triangle Coalition member, the American Chemical Society (ACS), is saluting Black History Month with a look at three African American chemists whose accomplishments include new uses for common foodstuffs, a drug to fight blindness, and a sugar refining process. Each of these achievements have been designated National Historic Chemical Landmarks. The ACS established the landmarks program in 1992 to commemorate seminal events in the history of chemistry and to heighten public awareness of the role chemistry has played in the history of the United States and around the world. The three chemists profiled are:

* George Washington Carver: Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver (ca. 1864-1943) discovered hundreds of industrial uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans and developed new methods of soil improvement. Born a slave in Diamond Grove, MO, during the Civil War, Carver struggled to gain an education, finally graduating from what would become Iowa State University. In 1896, he joined the faculty of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he began his famed experiments with peanuts.

* Percy Julian: Millions of people owe their sight to Percy Julian (1899-1975), an African American who developed the anti-glaucoma drug physostigmine. Glaucoma, a disorder in which pressure in the eyeball increases, is a leading cause of blindness. Dr. Julian, who conducted his research at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, was born in Montgomery, AL, the grandson of slaves.

* Norbert Rillieux: Norbert Rillieux, (1806-1894), a free African American from New Orleans, LA, invented a process that revolutionized sugar refining. Rillieux's multiple effect evaporator, a device that harnessed the energy of steam rising from boiling sugarcane juice, greatly reduced the cost of sugar refining before the Civil War. Rillieux held several patents for his evaporators, but his application for one patent was initially denied because authorities believed he was a slave and thus not a U.S. citizen.

The American Chemical Society provides access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. More details are at http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content.

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The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has announced the winners of its 2007 Science Writing Awards. The winners -- a scientist, a journalist, a children's book author, and three radio broadcasters -- will receive a prize of $3,000, an engraved Windsor chair, and certificates of recognition. The winners and their award-winning pieces include:

* Tim Folger, who won the 2007 AIP Science Writing Award in the Journalist category for his Discover Magazine article, "If an Electron can be in Two Places at Once, Why Can*t You?"

* James Trefil, who won the 2007 AIP Science Writing Award in the Scientist category for his Astronomy Magazine article, "Where is the Universe Heading?"

* Jacob Berkowitz, who won the 2007 AIP Science Writing Award in the Children*s category for his book "Jurassic Poop," which was published by Kids Can Press.

* Bob McDonald, Pat Senson, and Jim Handman, who shared the 2007 AIP Science Writing Award in the Broadcast category for their production "Multiple Worlds, Parallel Universes," which aired on the CBC Radio show Quirks & Quarks.

"These outstanding writers and broadcasters have each improved the general public's appreciation of physics, astronomy, and related sciences through their creative endeavors," says James Stith, AIP Vice President, Physics Resources. Details about the 2008 Science Writing Awards are online. Triangle Coalition member, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) is a not-for-profit organization chartered in 1931 for the purpose of promoting the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare. It is the mission of the Institute to serve physics, astronomy, and related fields of science and technology by serving its ten Member Societies and their associates, individual scientists, educators, R&D leaders, and the general public with programs, services, and publications.

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This issue of the TCEB is made possible by grants from:

ADC Foundation

ADC Telecommunications provides network infrastructure products and services to businesses around the world. Connecting industry and community needs, the ADC Foundation focuses its charitable grants on science and mathematics education, and also on nonprofit technology assistance.

To find out how your organization can sponsor the TCEB or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/support.htm __________________________________________________________________________

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