Girls in Science and Engineering Day returns to UAH

A participant in Girls in Science and Engineering Day at UAH examines the inner workings of a project featured as part of the robotics STEM workshop.

Michael Mercier | UAH

Following a four-year absence, Girls in Science and Engineering Day returned on April 2, 2022, at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System. This popular program brings together rising third through fifth grade girls from across North Alabama for science, math, engineering and technology activities.

UAH Interim President Chuck Karr welcomed the group and encouraged them to dream big and to work hard to achieve their goals. Two hundred registrants rotated through four different STEM workshops in groups of 11 to 14 girls. These workshops were organized and led by university faculty, local industry volunteers and UAH campus student groups.

Workshop topics featured the breadth of STEM fields and included propulsion and the principles of flight, robotics, extraction of DNA, making ice cream with liquid nitrogen, using a wind tunnel to demonstrate flight, programming, cybersecurity and more.

Lisa Bates, Senior Principal Engineer, Systems Engineering at Raytheon Technologies, spoke with the participants at snack time about her own journey in professional STEM. The girls took home bags of goodies donated by Lockheed Martin, Gray Analytics, Boeing, Talon Engineers, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Jacobs and Women in Defense.

The planning committee is already working on next year’s events which will include a fall event for rising third and fourth grade girls and a spring event for rising fifth and sixth graders. If you would like to be involved, please reach out to gsed_planning@uah.edu.

This event was made possible by the financial support of Raytheon Technologies, Gray Analytics, Thompson Gray, Northrop Grumman and the Tennessee Valley chapter of Women in Defense.