I was nine years old when I first wanted to be an astronaut, and my first hero was Sally Ride. I looked up to her as a woman, a scientist, and an astronaut. Sally Ride’s integrity never faltered, even as a woman in a male-dominated profession for much of her career.
Continue ReadingGeneral Motors recognizes the importance of having women involved in the development of its cars and had a whole team of mom engineers working on the new Chevy Malibu. GeekMom Nicole Wakelin talks with two members of that team and discusses what it’s like being a woman in a predominantly male field as well as how to encourage kids to pursue their dreams in spite of stereotypes that might tell them otherwise.
Continue ReadingWhen you think moms and cars you likely think minivans. There are lots of stories of moms going from their pre-kid car to the minivan that holds the kids, their friends, a dog, a stroller and just about anything they can think to cram inside the thing. What you don’t think of when you hear moms and cars is engineers, but the 2013 Chevy Malibu aims to change that perception with their team of mom engineers.
Continue ReadingAs a woman in technology, I hear a lot about the lack of women in the field. While I was in college I noticed that I was usually the only female in the class. My teachers treated me the same and the guys never cared. After I graduated and I started attending events like Microsoft’s annual Tech Ed, I realized just how much of a minority we are. The thing that keeps catching my attention, though, is how much of an issue people want to make out of it.
Continue ReadingI think it is incredibly important to encourage girls to get involved with science, engineering, math and technology (STEM). Looking just at the screen snap above, I would have laughed it off as a poor attempt at trying to appeal to girls. Then I sat and watched the full ad released by the European Commission as part of campaign to attract girls to STEM careers. Go ahead and watch it… I’ll wait.
Continue Reading“Don’t be bored… Make Something!” This is Joey Hudy’s mantra. Joey first came to my (and most of the rest of the world’s) attention when he and President Obama shot a marshmallow cannon in the White House during the 2012 White House Science Fair. I even reported on a video about the incident shortly after […]
Continue ReadingI recently got wind of a new mentoring program called NASA G.I.R.L.S., organized by Women@NASA. The program is so new that they are still building their website, but I knew I just had to contact them to find out more! I was able to reach the NASA official responsible for this new project, Mamta Patel Nagaraja, […]
Continue ReadingI’ve never talked to anyone who has talked with the president before, much less directly after they’ve talked with the president. But all that changed on Tuesday when I had the chance to chat with Intel Science Talent Search finalist Rachel Davis. The Intel Science Talent Search is a prestigious national science competition for high […]
Continue ReadingIf you only watch the news you might think that the astronauts are the only members of the NASA manned space program, but you would be wrong. I’m guessing that since you are reading this blog you are aware that there is a lot of science and engineering that goes on behind the scenes in […]
Continue ReadingI am happy to be tackling once again the subject of getting girls into the STEM majors, this time in honor of Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day. To better understand the problem about why so few women are going in engineering, Intel conducted a study among 1,004 teens to determine their perception of engineering. […]
Continue ReadingNothing like flying marshmallows to keep the secret service busy protecting President Barak Obama. Tuesday was the second annual White House Science Fair. The president seemed to have a blast playing with science yesterday, he even caused a little bit of innocent trouble with 14 year old Maker Faire veteran, Joey Hudy of Phoenix, AZ, […]
Continue ReadingIt’s a pretty uniform feeling among geeks with daughters: We want to raise strong, smart, independent girls who can stand above stereotypes. So when I’m faced with marketing geared toward girls, I feel a mixture of emotions. Part of me is excited to see something cute and girly, and part of me is outraged at […]
Continue ReadingAs a GeekMom, I’m extremely choosy about what and how much children’s television and online programming my child consumes. After all, time is my family’s most precious commodity. Therefore, when my child engages with children’s programming, it has to be great. I am delighted that the entire Emmy Award-winning animated video series, Cyberchase, is now […]
Continue ReadingGeekMom Ariane shared with us this week that NASA has started their search for the 2013 class of astronauts! Want to get in on the action? Click here for the announcement on the NASA.gov website. You can learn more about what today’s astronauts will be doing, such as building and testing the next generation space […]
Continue ReadingEarlier this year, GeekMom Kathy recommended I contact one of her colleagues, children’s author Heather E. Schwartz, about reviewing her two books about women in the U.S. armed forces that were published earlier this year. She thought I’d be an appropriate candidate, not only as a military member myself, but because I have elementary-school aged […]
Continue ReadingFor this month’s Muse of Nerds, I quickly grabbed onto the STEM to STEAM movement (adding ‘arts’ to the technical.) Creativity is the foundation for advancement in all fields. The arts — writing, music, art, theater and dance — paired with science, technology, engineering and math, foster a relationship between both sides of the brain […]
Continue ReadingI want to be a math teacher when I grow up. (I also want to be a Hurricane Hunter, but that’s for another post.) Back before I became a mother, I used to set elaborate long-term goals…and then medium- and short-term goals to get me there. Among my plans was to become a school teacher […]
Continue ReadingLegos are internationally cherished small plastic interlocking building blocks and minifigures that can be taken apart and used to build other objects. Over the years, Lego has expanded its creations to include products like gears and pulleys and even electronic parts for constructing programmable robots. As a result, there are popular Lego robotics leagues and […]
Continue ReadingWhen I was a little girl, a box of Tang changed my life. I didn’t want to try it at first – because like many things marketed to children in the 1980’s, it looked and smelled like toxic waste – but the clerk told me that astronauts drank it. And then he explained what astronauts […]
Continue ReadingGeekMom is thrilled to bring our readers another column by Kari Byron, the female face on the hit Discovery Channel show MythBusters and host of the Science Channel’s new Head Rush. Kari sends us regular updates on life as a MythBuster Mom. Science is hot right now. Everywhere I travel parents are in a panic […]
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