The female factor: Program aims to introduce more girls to science

Shraddha Chaplot, an electrical engineering student at UC San Diego, has a hard time finding other women in her college courses.

"I'd walk into a classroom, and it was all guys," Chaplot said. "I used to go sit in my classroom and people would come up to me and ask if I was in the right class ---- just because I'm a girl."

Chaplot's classes are not the only places where women in the science and engineering fields are hard to find.

Only 11 percent of engineers are girls, according to Sally Ride Science. The program, founded in 2001 by astronaut Sally Ride, is designed to show girls positive examples of women in science and combat negative stereotypes that the field is boring and nerdy.

"What we try to show is that science is very relevant," said Francis French, director of events at Sally Ride Science.

In an effort to introduce more girls to science, Sally Ride Science will host a festival at 11 a.m. Nov. 19 at UCSD's Price Center.

The festival will include a street fair and various workshops aimed at engaging girls in grades five through eight, their parents and teachers in science-related activities and educating them about career opportunities in the male-dominated fields of science, math and technology. The featured speaker will be Capt. Wendy Lawrence, a Navy pilot, ocean engineer and astronaut.

Many girls take interest in math, science and technology in elementary school, but as they progress through school, that interest wanes.

Today, women constitute nearly half of the United States work force, but account for only 25 percent of the science, engineering and technology work force, according to Sally Ride Science.

"When they get into these middle school years, (girls lose interest)," French said.

He attributes the loss of interest to societal pressures.

"It's seen by their peers as kind of geeky to know a lot abut math and science," French said.

And while girls' enrollment in science and math has increased over the past decades, they still take fewer advanced courses than boys, especially in computers and physics, according to Sally Ride Science.

Many of the images children see of scientists reinforce the exclusion of women in science by representing scientists as older, nerdy males, French said.

Sally Ride Science tries to combat these images by providing positive female role models to girls. In addition to Lawrence, local chemists, biologists and veterinarians will be at the festival.

Fast Facts

For more information about the Sally Ride Science Festival, visit www.sallyridefestivals.com or call (800) 561-5161.

Preregistration is required for the festival. Tickets are $18 and include lunch and all festival activities.