Girl Scouts add STEM Badges
Posted on July 18th, 2017 by Mary Lord
They can earn badges for community service, first aid, hiking, and car maintenance. Now, some 1.6 million Girl Scouts of the USA will be able to qualify for a new set of badges – focused on STEM.
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Tags: Citizen Science, coding, Engineering, Girl Scouts, informal science education, Internet Resources, Programs for Girls, society of women engineers, STEM badges, STEM education, Women in Engineering
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale, pioneered computer programming languages, discovered the first computer “bug,” and retired as the Navy’s highest ranking, longest-serving female officer in history. They even named a naval destroyer after her.
Had the WNBA existed during her childhood, Aprille Ericsson jokes that she might have gravitated to pro basketball as a profession. Instead, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native became an aerospace engineer and NASA’s first African American Ph.D. rocket scientist. 
She pioneered the field of time-motion studies and was the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Yet industrial engineer Lillian Moller Gilbreth remains best known as the domestic engineer who presided over her family in the beloved children’s classic written by two of her 12 children: Cheaper By The Dozen.
Million Women Mentors (MWM), a collaborative initiative launched for National Mentoring Month in January, aims to raise interest – and participation in stem by matching 1 million female engineers, scientists, and other successful STEM professionals with women and girls aspiring to pursue STEM degrees and careers. 
Are you the next Jane Foster? Marvel Comics has launched a contest to inspire more girls to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math like the fearless physician in the new Thor movie – and winners get to attend the Hollywood premiere.
Seeing is believing, but what about hearing? To encourage more girls to go into STEM fields, the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics has developed On The Air, an online radio series featuring stories of fascinating women scientists, engineers, and educators.
In recognition of Women’s History Month, 2012, the American Association for Engineering Education presents these milestones for U.S. women in engineering. Notable examples include Elizabeth Bragg, the first woman to earn an engineering degree, Arminta Harness, the first woman to become an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, and Eleanor Baum, the first female dean of an engineering school in the U.S.
Fewer than 18 percent of engineering undergrads are female. In an attempt to find the best ways to bring more women to the field, Arizona State University (ASU) education specialist Tirupalavanam Ganesh will soon begin a study of sixth grade girls as they explore hands-on learning experiences focused on engineering.
