The Catalysts for Change workshop idea was generated by students in the “Women in Science” focus course for freshmen at Washington University. For the last six years, on two Saturdays each Spring, this outreach program immerses 9th grade girls from the St. Louis region in the exploration of science.
The event was developed by Prof. Barbara Baumgartner (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) and Prof. Gina Frey (Chemistry). Part of the organizational team, Dr. Gaby Szteinberg, Dr. Jia Luo, and Dr. Megan Daschbach, wrote and were awarded a grant from the Wash U Women’s Society to the workshop again this year. This team, along with Mary Stewart (The Teaching Center), coordinate the workshop event every Spring. A group of graduate student women in the sciences develop and create the experiments, and the Women in Science undergraduate student group mentor and guide the visiting 9th grade students in the two days of workshops.
The Saturday workshops include six experiments, including an egg-launch, a squid dissection, and electric buzzer circuit building. Guest speakers visit during lunch to talk about their careers as women in science and engineering.
This year’s Catalysts for Change workshops will be on February 25 and March 4. Read more about the workshops:
