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White House Event Encourages Girls in STEM

The White House hosted a panel on Tuesday highlighting women trailblazers in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The panel was held to encourage young women to enter these fields. The panel included Jocelyn Goldfein, director of engineering at Facebook, Dr. Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut and retired colonel in the US Air Force, Bianca Bailey, President of the Howard University chapter of Engineers without Borders, and Dr. Jean Hernandez, President of Edmonds Community College. The panel was moderated by Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency. The White House also announced collaborations with private-sector partners to encourage STEM opportunities for girls. Among these partnerships is one with the Girl Scouts, which has been conducting research on girls in STEM. CEO of Girls Scouts of the USA, Anna Maria Chavez, said, “America has a huge opportunity for economic growth when looking at girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math. It is in this country’s best interest to make girls feel supported and capable when it comes to involvement in STEM fields–and anything else they set their minds to and have traditionally been steered away from.”

Sources:

White House Newsletter 4/26/12; White House Blog 4/24/12; PR Newswire 4/24/12

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