Spring Break
The Daily OrangeFestival promotes high school females' interest in math, sciences
By Melanie Hicken
Posted: 10/23/05, 11:59 PM EST Section: News
Sounds of female voices filled the normally silent Carnegie Library Reading Room Oct. 22, when the Syracuse University mathematics department and the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science hosted the seventh annual Sonia Kovalevsky festival.
The festival brought female high school students to the university from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, where they were able to interact with female professors in mathematics and the sciences. The festival was organized by Marjory Baruch, an adjunct professor in computer science at SU.
The original idea of the festival came from the Association for Women in Mathematics, a national organization. The festival honors Kovalevsky, the first female to receive a doctorate in mathematics, Baruch said.
This year's festival was funded by SU and the Technology Alliance for Central New York, Baruch said.
The festival was open to female high school students in grades 10 to 12 from all high schools, public and private, in Onondaga County. The event was attended by 35 girls and the 10 math and science teachers who invited them.
Stephanie Ladd, a math teacher at Nottingham High School, has brought girls to the event every year since it was started.
"This is an important program for any girl who might be interested in the fields of math or science," Ladd said.
The program emphasizes the idea that math and science are areas that people in general can excel in, not just the male gender, Baruch said.
"I think that the world could use the talents of women as well as men. Women can express themselves and contribute to math and science fields," Baruch said.
At the festival, the girls each chose to attend two of five workshops led by female SU professors in math, science, computer science and engineering, Baruch said.
The workshops offered were "Making Everyday Access Control Decisions with Logic"
with Dr. Susan Older, "The Magic of Electrostatic" with Dr. Alessandra Di Credico, "Biometrics: Recognition of Humans Through Faces" with Dr. Lisa Osadciw and Yanjun Yan, "Primes" with Dr. Maritza Branker and "What Color is My Hat?" with Dr. Susan Cooper.
The festival brought female high school students to the university from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, where they were able to interact with female professors in mathematics and the sciences. The festival was organized by Marjory Baruch, an adjunct professor in computer science at SU.
The original idea of the festival came from the Association for Women in Mathematics, a national organization. The festival honors Kovalevsky, the first female to receive a doctorate in mathematics, Baruch said.
This year's festival was funded by SU and the Technology Alliance for Central New York, Baruch said.
The festival was open to female high school students in grades 10 to 12 from all high schools, public and private, in Onondaga County. The event was attended by 35 girls and the 10 math and science teachers who invited them.
Stephanie Ladd, a math teacher at Nottingham High School, has brought girls to the event every year since it was started.
"This is an important program for any girl who might be interested in the fields of math or science," Ladd said.
The program emphasizes the idea that math and science are areas that people in general can excel in, not just the male gender, Baruch said.
"I think that the world could use the talents of women as well as men. Women can express themselves and contribute to math and science fields," Baruch said.
At the festival, the girls each chose to attend two of five workshops led by female SU professors in math, science, computer science and engineering, Baruch said.
The workshops offered were "Making Everyday Access Control Decisions with Logic"
with Dr. Susan Older, "The Magic of Electrostatic" with Dr. Alessandra Di Credico, "Biometrics: Recognition of Humans Through Faces" with Dr. Lisa Osadciw and Yanjun Yan, "Primes" with Dr. Maritza Branker and "What Color is My Hat?" with Dr. Susan Cooper.
