Girls Rule Google Science Fair!

Winners (from left to right): Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose, Naomi Shah

Girls swept all three age categories at Google’s first science fair!

CONGRATULATIONS!

* Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group. Lauren studied the effect of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken.
* Naomi Shah in the 15-16 age group. Naomi endeavored to prove that making changes to indoor environments that improve indoor air quality can reduce people’s reliance on asthma medications.
* Shree Bose in the 17-18 age group. Shree discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients when they have built up a resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs.

Here’s their brief project descriptions:

Shree Bose, Grand Prize Winner:

i-00bb559cff0753b170ed8b950539b5e3-Abstract-thumb-600x686-67151.jpg

This is welcome news, especially in light of these data showing under-representation of women in the physical sciences:

{In my own field: “In 2007, a total of 2,606 students earned a doctorate degree in chemistry in the United States. Of this number, 37% of chemistry PhD earners were women.”}

Comments

#1 Bill
July 12, 2011

I work hard to include and promote girls in my science classroom. They sometimes seem put off but I encourage them and praise them. Generally the girls seem to do better overall. I feel that sometimes it is the teachers that have low expectations for girls in the science classroom. Also, there are many male teachers in the sciences who seem to be better teaching boys than girls.
#2 Sebbe
July 12, 2011

@Bill
Girls are normally more mature and serious at younger age compared to boys and that shouldn’t be a reason to mistreat the guys. Girls and boys should in my opinion be treated equally in a classroom environment.
#3 Jim Thomerson
July 12, 2011

I have noticed that recent science competition winners are largely of recent Asiatic origin.
#4 tütüne son
July 12, 2011

I work hard to include and promote girls in my science classroom. They sometimes seem put off but I encourage them and praise them. Generally the girls seem to do better overall. I feel that sometimes it is the teachers that have low expectations for girls in the science classroom. Also, there are many male teachers in the sciences who seem to be better teaching boys than girls.
#5 Douglas Kennedy DC
July 13, 2011

Amazing work for such a young group! I am very happy to see the women winning; it is about time they claimed some more power…Men haven’t always done a good job using their’s.
#6 MacTurk
July 13, 2011

Excellent! Rogadh na mBan!*

*Which roughly translates as “The Rule of Women”.
#7 fantolasearchengine
July 15, 2011

girls are usually good in education tutune sone. At this age they are i guess more competitive than boys.
#8 Keek the Sneak
July 15, 2011

Hey laaaaaaaaaaaaadies!

[/Beastie Boys]

Let’s formulate some hypotheses and make observations of physical phenomena!

[/PZ]
#9 Jennifer
July 16, 2011

Jeff – Thx for covering this great news. It’s exciting to see girls excel in science – esp because men dominate the field. Check out my blog about “Girl Power” in soccer, science and the boardroom: http://ow.ly/5G4zs. Thx!