Argonne National Laboratory, one of the many employers that hire at the job fair during the annual Women of Color STEM Conference, is hosting an event today to mark this year's Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED).
Argonne will give 8th-grade female students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) a unique opportunity to discover engineering careers alongside the laboratory's scientists and engineers.
According to the announcement, each student will be paired with an Argonne mentor, who will be her guide for the day. Throughout the day, the students will be encouraged to participate in large and small group activities that provide them opportunities to learn about a number of STEM careers. Lunch and a light afternoon snack will be provided.
The research laboratory, which is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest, conducts research in clean energy, the environment, technology, and national security.
In 2018, Leslie Collins, executive director of DiscoverE, spoke the day's growth and development.
"The day grew from the need to increase the number of women in engineering and has since turned into a worldwide movement," she said. "DiscoverE’s Girl Day event is a fun, upbeat event geared at uniting the nation’s leaders and partners and volunteers to share that there still remains a growing need for diversity and inclusion in the engineering and other STEM fields.”
DiscoverE's network of volunteers in the US and abroad is drawn from the DiscoverE coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations, and government agencies. Together they meet a vital need: introducing students, parents, and educators to engineering, engaging them in hands-on engineering experiences and making science and math relevant.
Some of the highlights of the Argonne IGED include motivational presentations by female Argonne employees, tour of Argonne’s research facilities, hands-on engineering experiments and a team challenge – all designed specifically for middle school-aged girls.
