Technovation (Day 22)

I recently became a mentor in a program called Technovation Challenge, which is designed to expose high school girls to careers in technology and entrepreneurship. Of course, I have no experience in either of those areas, but this year the app they design has to be about science education, so the Lab hosted a site and invited its scientists to be mentors. I also qualify loosely as a scientist, but I guess that is neither here nor there.

Today we were unexpectedly joined by the Lab Director, Paul Alvisatos. I am not sure many of the girls comprehended how exciting it was that he had taken a few minutes of his busy time to speak to them, but after I squealed about it to my group of girls, they at least feigned some amount of interest.

I was extremely impressed by the director's talk; I thought it was perfectly suited to the audience. He talked about how the lab is designed to provide an environment in which people can do exciting science, particularly by allowing collaboration. He dispelled the notion of scientists sitting by themselves in a corner and talking to no one all day. He noted that even though all science and math classes may not come easy or be enjoyable, we have all been there, and there are always better things to come. Finally he got out his smart phone and talked about all the science apps he had on it, including of course a periodic table and scientific calculator, but also about climate change and other diverse topics. I had never even thought to download a science app before! The girls were also rather impressed, as they have a hard time believing that adults use smart phones and apps, probably more than students do. I am sure I am forgetting a key piece of his talk, but his presence there and the care he had clearly taken to prepare the talk certainly will leave a lasting, positive impression on me, as one of his thousands of employees.

We also heard from likely one of the highest ranking females at the lab, Kathy Yelick, who is the associate lab director for computing science and the director of the lab's large supercomputer. She gave a fascinating talk about world problems that can be solved with computing science, such as health and environmental problems. And she even showed similarities between video games and simulations.

My team previously expressed sadness that their app had to be about science, as they originally signed up for the program because of the technology side of it. I am glad that the lab was able to offer two enigmatic speakers and role models to share the benefits and fun of science with them.