Science careers start with young girls

From the Globe and Mail (Canada):  Science careers start with young girls

On a recent morning, in a spacious boardroom at the Mozilla office in Toronto, 25 girls experimented with writing code that would bring an animal to life on their laptops. The girls, who ranged in age from nine to 14, were taking part in a twist on Take Our Kids to Work day, aimed at empowering girls to become the next generation of software developers and designers.

The event at the Canadian headquarters of the software company was organized by Ladies Learning Code, which offers workshops in designing Web pages and developing other computer skills. Shortly after starting the group, director Laura Plant realized that encouraging tech career paths required targeting a younger demographic by showcasing role models and providing hands-on experience. So was born Girls Learning Code, which offers one-day workshops and summer camps.
“We’re trying to position technology to girls in a way that helps them see it as a creative outlet, and something that can help them change the world,” said Ms. Plant, a former technophobe and human-resources consultant who was encouraged by friends to experiment with technology.
On university campuses, women make up 60 per cent of those enrolled in life sciences, but 39 per cent of undergrads in math and physical sciences and only 17 per cent of undergraduates in engineering and computer science, according to data from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Efforts to attract high-school seniors to STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) come too late. Learning experts say it is crucial to reach girls before their enthusiasm wanes and they drop science and math courses which are optional in high school.
As girls grow up, they are socialized to believe that women are caring and empathetic, making careers that nurture others appealing; more abstract fields like math and physics do not seem as female friendly. Drawing women to these areas requires countering these perceptions.
“When girls think they want to contribute to society, they want to work with people. There are other things that probably say that more than physics,” said Marie-Claire Shanahan, an associate professor of science education at the University of Alberta. “But physics is the basis of a lot of biomedical testing. Communicating about that hasn’t been as successful as it should be.” Then there is simple gender stereotyping: In a culture that prizes physical attractiveness, women in lab coats are not frequently depicted as role models.
“Whether it’s obvious or not, there’s still a picture in everybody’s head of what a good scientist or what a good engineer looks like. And it’s often not a pretty young woman. There’s a responsibility among adults to show kids role models that reflect the reality, which is that there’s lots of women in science,” said Sandra Eix, vice-president of programs for the non-profit Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology.
Changing the culture and a girl’s perception of appropriate careers is a long-term project. Establishing mentor relationships is one of the fastest and easiest ways to dispel myths and show young women that female scientists and engineers exist. “It’s about having the capacity to identify with somebody, to aspire to what they’ve been able to achieve because suddenly you see you can do it,” said Bonnie Schmidt, president of Let’s Talk Science, a non-profit organization that engages young people in science.
Nicole Bowal is hoping that talking to female engineers will help with her career path. Three years ago, Ms. Bowal, who lives in Calgary, joined Cybermentor, which matches young girls with women who have chosen careers in math, science and engineering. The program was the brainchild of Elizabeth Cannon, former dean of engineering at the University of Calgary and now president of the institution.
Ms. Bowal, 16, heard of Cybermentor through one of her siblings, who is now studying chemical engineering at the University of Calgary. In the past two years, she has been linked with two undergraduate engineering students, and more recently is talking to Melanie Swanson, in Edmonton, who works in the telecommunications field.
Ms. Swanson hopes the young girl sticks with her decision to enter engineering. When Ms. Swanson attended school a couple of decades ago, there were only 10 girls in her engineering class of 100 – and the situation has barely changed.
“I want to get more girls involved in science and technology. We have a lot to offer,” Ms. Swanson said. “We have different ideas. We have a different take on life. And I want to see that mentality around engineering change.”
Still, the process is challenging. Elisa Patel, 14, who participated in Girls Learning Code, was more interested in becoming a doctor, and finding a cure for cancer. Why did she come? “I don’t really know a lot about it [technology], so I want to learn some new things,” she said.
That gives Ms. Plant hope. “[Technology] was not positioned to me in a way that was attractive to me. I think that is the biggest part of the problem, and why there are fewer women than men getting into the field of technology,” she said. “We’re trying to be pro-active and connect with young girls to help get them excited about technology and feel confident with it.”

 

Iris Critchell

Ever day, I check Ebay to see if anyone is offering anything about the Powder Puff Derby.  Today someone was offering a Pilot magazine from 1958, which talked about the Derby (then in its 11th year) and Iris Critchell. Whi is Iris Critchell?


From Harvey Mudd College : Iris Critchell Celebrates 90th Birthday

Feb 24, 2011 - Claremont, Calif. - 
Community members gathered Feb. 19 to celebrate their favorite aviatrix—Iris Critchell, instructor of aeronautics emerita, on the occasion of her 90th birthday.
In attendance were over 100 people, including family, many alumni, faculty and friends, who shared personal stories about Iris and her husband, Howard ("Critch"). HMC students receiving aeronautical scholarships were also in attendance.

• Claire Robinson '11- The Hale Chapin Field Memorial Aeronautical Endowed Scholarship
• Joseph Min '12- The Lois & Joseph Marriott Aeronautical Endowed Scholarship
• Johnson Qu '12- The Adele & David Foley Aeronautical Endowed Scholarship
• Keiko Hiranaka '12- Isabel Bates Aeronautical Endowed Scholarship
• Christopher Cotner '13- The Adele & David Foley Aeronautical Annual Scholarship
• Benjamin Liu '12- The Iris & Howard Critchell Aeronautical Annual Scholarship

Included among the guests were Bates Aeronautics Program alumni whom Iris and Howard had taught to fly. In 1962, Iris prepared the curriculum for the Bates Foundation for Aeronautical Education, which later became HMC's Bates Aeronautics Program and was run by Iris and Howard, until 1990. The two-year curriculum of classes and flight was designed specifically for the needs of the science and engineering students at HMC. Critchell, who was named the local FAA Instructor Pilot of the Year in the early 1970's, served as the chief flight instructor of the flight portion and on the faculty as Aeronautics Program Director.
Critchell, who served as a designated pilot examiner for the FAA FSDO for more than 20 years, began flying in 1939 at Mines Field, now known as the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). From then on, her diverse flight experience helped define the role women were able to assume in the field of aeronautics.
In 1941, Critchell's became the first woman to complete the Civil Pilot Training Program at the University of Southern California (USC), where she also earned a degree in physical sciences and mathematics.
As a member of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), Critchell went on to ferry military planes across the county during World War II for the U.S. Army.
Following the WASP disbandment, she continued her flight training and designed the curriculum for USC's aeronautical courses for veterans at its College of Aeronautics in Santa Maria in 1946. While there, Critchell served as chief ground instructor and chief instrument rating flight instructor for three years.
After retiring from HMC as instructor emerita of aeronautics in 1990—the year the college's Bates Program officially ended—Critchell continued to serve as a faculty advisor on numerous projects. Over the years, she also assisted the HMC Engineering Clinic's aeronautics projects and performed equipment flight tests.
Critchell's lifetime achievements also include swimming in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, winning the 1957 Powder Puff Derby (a transcontinental race performed by women pilots) and being inducted into the National Flight Instructors Hall of Fame in 2000 and receiving a Congressional Gold Medal in 2010 along with fellow members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Today, she lectures and consults on various phases of aviation education and history.

The Engineering Toy That Teaches Girls There's More to Life Than Being a Princess

From YahooNews:  The Engineering Toy That Teaches Girls There's More to Life Than Being a Princess

When Debbie Sterling graduated from Stanford with an engineering degree, she was the only woman in a class of 181 students. She then entered a field where women account for only 11% of its population. Always bothered by that, the young engineer decided to do something about it.  And that something was “GoldieBlox,” an engineering-based toy geared at getting girls interested in science.

In a particularly moving video that recently went viral, Sterling says she was never encouraged as a child to pursue anything other than traditionally feminine roles. In fact, she didn’t even know what engineering was until her senior year in high school. But after graduating from Stanford, she decided her purpose on earth was to get girls interested in science, and so she invented GoldieBlox, the toy she wished she had been given as a child.

What is it? GoldieBlox is a toy set that includes a pegboard, axles, cranks, wheels and washers, which are joined by an accompanying book series starring “Goldie, the kid inventor who loves to build.”  As girls read along, they get to build whatever Goldie builds along with her ragtag group of colorful friends. In the first story, they build a “belt drive,” which Sterling cleverly names a “Spinning Machine.” Later in the series, they erect a pulley elevator, design a vehicle, and so on.

It may sound like a simple idea, but it’s actually radically different from any building-based toys available.  After taking a look at what was out there, Sterling quickly discovered when toys like LEGOS or Lincoln Logs try to sell to girls, they generally just paint the sets pink and call it a day. But as Sterling says, “Yeah it’s true, girls do like pink, but there’s a lot more to us than that.”
In fact, having spent a year researching how girls learn and what appeals most to them, she found the differences in children can be boiled down very simply and they have nothing to do with color choices. Instead she found that boys like to build, girls like to read.
And that’s why GoldieBlox isn’t just an erector set, but a set with accompanying books, because for girls the narrative is what first engages them and gets them hooked, and then while that’s happening, they learn to love building.
So far, it’s been a radically successful endeavor. After Sterling’s video went viral, the attention spurred her Kickstarter fund to top $285,000 in five days, taking her creation from dream to prototype to production. In the interim, she’s racked up some pretty impressive media exposure through outlets like Forbes, FastCompany and TIME.
Sterling isn’t alone in her quest to make science more accessible to girls. Jennifer Kessler, Alice Brooks, and Bettina Chen (also Stanford engineering alums) were so disappointed that there weren’t more women in classes with them, they too created a toy (and a quickly-funded Kickstarter campaign) called “Roominate,” a buildable dollhouse with a customizable infrastructure and wiring capability. And for girls in their teens, nonprofits like “Girls Who Code” are establishing free summer programs to teach them marketable computer science skills.
Why the push? Why not just let girls keep playing with pink nailpolish and Barbie if that’s what they’re drawn to? Because they’re not only drawn to those things―it’s that they’re offered almost nothing else outside of those traditional toys during the time they’re establishing their core interests. And when we normalize ideals like, “Science is for boys” other facts, like “Girls are very spatial and naturally geared for engineering” go unnoticed, even disbelieved.

But obviously the most important reason behind encouraging girlsto pursue science is their future. Just as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained to Abby Cadabby on a recent episode of Sesame Street, “’Princess’ is not a career.” And though there is nothing inherently wrong with a little girl wanting to be a princess, there is everything wrong when she believes that’s all she can be.

 

Future Female Scientists Converge on Texas University

From  HispanicBusiness.com:  Future Female Scientists Converge on Texas University

In one classroom, a group of schoolgirls inspected the brain of a dissected shark Saturday afternoon at Schreiner University, while in others, girls extracted DNA from strawberries, built rockets and robots and learned the basics of crime scene investigation.

The sixth, seventh and eighth grade girls were among 190 female students from across the Hill Country who signed up for the university's annual Expanding Your Horizons career conference, intended to get more girls interested in and ready for math and science-related careers. A $12 fee let each student see presentations by women in scientific professions and attend labs led by Schreiner University students. Girls learned the basics of crime scene investigation and diagnosing illnesses, examined local marine life, designed logos with Photoshop, built marble roller coasters and made silly putty, ice cream, beauty products and environmentally-friendly cleaners, among other activities.

Diana Comuzzie, director of the conference, said the day's activities will help girls choose high school classes and give them role models. Parents attended a section of the conference and learned how to better prepare their daughters for high school, college and careers in science.

Comuzzie, dean of the university's School of Science and Mathematics, said women continue to be underrepresented in math and science.

"Girls sometimes don't know that they can be smart, pretty, popular -- all those things together," Cormuzzie said. "Particularly smart -- it's hard to let people know that you're smart. It's great for these girls to be looking around the room and see there's 50 other girls that look just like them and that also like science, and they get to be in this environment where they all get really excited about science."

Kendall Elementary students and Boerne residents Janelle Gallego and Cassandra Muniz said their experiences at Schreiner helped solidify their goals. Together, the friends spent time learning about chemistry and computer graphic design. Muniz, who attended the forensics lab, said she wants to travel the world as an archeologist. Gallego, who attended the aquatic biology lab and caught a frog at the Guadalupe River, is considering a career as a marine biologist.

Asked whether having a scientist as a daughter would make him proud, Tom Gallego said Janelle makes him proud every day. "But it wouldn't hurt," he added with a laugh.

Attending the conference as a sixth- and seventh-grader inspired Jocelynn Machis to major in biology and premedical studies at Schreiner University. On Saturday, the college junior taught a group of girls about closed currents by helping them assemble "Bristlebots" made of toothbrush heads, batteries, pager motors, wires and tape.

"I very much believe that women are underrepresented (in math and science)," Machis said. I think that girls think ... they aren't smart enough to get through the course work, or they weren't exposed to it to see what massive amounts of different opportunities there are in these fields. The only way the trend can be reversed is to get girls interested in math and science, especially during the middle school years, and to support them, challenge them to continue their education and expand their minds. I also think that another big thing to reverse the trend is for these young girls to have role models, to see that these careers are possible, and to not be intimidated by what others say or think."

Comuzzie said having more female scientists will help increase humanity's knowledge and establish more of a balance between competitiveness and cooperation in the scientific community.

"Science is a way of knowing, asking questions, exploring," Comuzzie said. "Scientists ask questions from their own experience, so tackling problems and making discoveries benefits from diversity. If you have a diversity of people trying to solve different kinds of problems ... the more questions we can answer."

The conference was sponsored by the university and by the American Association of University Women. 

 

Seeing sexism in academia - moving up the ranks opens the eyes

From Female Computer Scientist Blog:  Seeing sexism in academia - moving up the ranks opens the eyes

A few years ago I remember reading an article about the fact that as women become more senior in their disciplines they start to encounter more sexism. For a long time I've been trying to figure out how that worked - was it that senior women encountered senior men more often, and were thus encountering old attitudes?

Recently, after a particularly upsetting incident, I realised what it is. It is that as we become more senior and have more experiences, we simply see sexism more. We are more aware. As junior women, when we encounter a microaggressive comment, it's just one papercut. Maybe it's one of those very subtle papercuts that you don't even notice until a few days later when you use rubbing alcohol.

But as you become more senior, you become more aware. You start counting these comments, and noticing them more and more.

"What's the big deal? Who cares what they say?" the well-intentioned male colleague says. The big deal is that at work I am Scientist first, Woman second. Men that treat my science as secondary (or even peripherally) to my gender insult my intelligence and insult my years of hard work to get to the place I am at.

Furthermore, the fact that these comments are unequally delivered is particularly infuriating. If, when my male colleagues had newborns, people said, "OMG! How will you survive as a professor??? How will you keep your research program afloat?! AUGH!!!", it would be ok. If, when my male colleagues wore colorful clothing, their senior colleagues stopped them in the hallway and said, "Please don't take this in the wrong way, but that shirt really brings out the color of your beautiful eyes.", it would be ok.

But it's not equal. Women-as-mother, women-as-sexulized-object - these take first place. Women-as-scholar, woman-as-professor is in the back seat.

So what do I do in these situations when they happen to me? First, my heart starts pounding. I think, "This is A Moment! I am supposed to Say Something!" Then, I stop. I realize this person is just clueless. They have no idea that they are saying all this dreadful stuff only to women and not men. They honestly have no earthly idea. Finally, I ask myself if this is a Teaching Moment or not. It usually is not, at least not right then. 

These attitudes are so ingrained in our culture, they are just a part of how many people think. Publically humiliating the offender will not suddenly make them change their ways. But sometimes I desperately want to.

 Why do gender stereotypes persist?  Because these guys watch a lot of TV, I have no doubt. Ever watch Big Bang Theory, with the beautiful but dumb Penny, the plain but smart - unless her boyfriend gives her a tiara Amy Farrah Fowler, and Bernadette (whom admittedly I don't know much about since I watched the show after Amy Farrah Fowler's character degenerated from a female Sheldon to a female-who-wants-to-get-into-any-man's-pants) . 

Look at any cartoon show - 90% of them have male heroes. 80% of them have male heroes with female sisters who are portrayed as bossy, clueless know-it-alls.

The drama shows? 80% male heroes, 20% female. I don't watch Covert Affairs, but we've got a spy whose not supposed to admit to anyone, let alone her family , that's she's a spy. But she does! (In other words, women are weak.)

House - I really don't understand the popularity of this show. In real life House would have been kicked out of the hospital, but in the show he gets away with everything including his disrepect for his female boss - who is of course in love with him...

But the sit-coms are really egregious. Two Broke Girls? A woman who used to be rich can't figure out how to get a good job so she won't be broke anymore? No, she's too dumb to be anything but a waitress? (Not that there's anything wrong with being a waitress when you're first starting out or earning money while you're going to college - but not something to make a career out of!)

I blame mass media for the continued marginalization of women at a time when women can be anything they want - but don't scale the heights because they've been taught - even subliminally where they don't realize why - that they mustn't and still be liked by the men who surround them.

Male bias persists in female-rich science conferences

From Science Codex:  Male bias persists in female-rich science conferences

Women scientists in primatology are poorly represented at symposia organized by men, but receive equal representation when symposia organizers are women or mixed groups, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Lynne Isbell and colleagues from the University of California, Davis.

The authors analyzed women scientists' participation at major scientific conferences for primate scientists and anthropologists, where symposia are largely by invitation but posters and other talks are initiated by participants. They found that within the field of primatology, women give more posters than talks, whereas men give more talks than posters. Their analysis also shows that symposia organized by men on average included half the number of women authors (29%) than symposia organized by women or both men and women (58 to 64%).

They describe their results as particularly surprising given that primatology is a field with a significant history of women scientists. In their discussion of these findings, the authors say, "Regardless of the cause of gender bias against women in invitations to prestigious symposia, its discovery requires attention in a field that is exemplary in being gender-blind in so many other ways."

Lynne Isbell adds, "It is difficult to imagine in this day and age that a gender bias by men against women in primatology could exist, but the evidence clearly reveals the sad truth. If it is still happening in a science that is so heavily represented by women, what does that mean for other sciences where women remain in the minority?"

 

Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists

From Reuters.com:  Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists


(Reuters) - A dozen kung fu nuns from an Asian Buddhist order displayed their martial arts prowess to bemused scientists at CERN this week as their spiritual leader explained how their energy was like that of the cosmos.
The nuns, all from the Himalayan region, struck poses of hand-chops, high-kicks and punches on Thursday while touring the research centre where physicists at the frontiers of science are probing the origins of the universe.
"Men and women carry different energy," said His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, a monk who ranks only slightly below the Dalai Lama in the global Buddhist hierarchy. "Both male and female energies are needed to better the world."
This, he said, was a scientific principle "as fundamental as the relationship between the sun and the moon" and its importance was similar to that of the particle collisions in CERN's vast "Big Bang" machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The nuns, mostly slim and fit-looking teenagers with shaven heads and clad in flowing burgundy robes, nodded sagely.
But the 49-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, head since the age of four of one of the new independent schools of Tibetan Buddhism centered in India and Nepal, stressed that their visit to CERN was not just scientific in purpose.
GENDER EQUALITY
By taking the nuns around the world and letting people of other countries enjoy their martial displays, he told physicists and reporters: "I hope to raise awareness about gender equality and the need for the empowerment of women."
The nuns themselves -- who star on Youtube videos -- have benefited from this outlook, he said.
For centuries in Tibet -- incorporated into communist China since 1951 -- and its surrounds, women were strictly barred from practicing any form of martial art.
In his homeland Himalayan region of Ladakh, the Gyalwang Drukpa said, women were mainly servants, cooks and cleaners to monks.
About three years ago he decided to break out of this pattern and improve the health and spiritual well-being of women by training them in kung fu and even allowing them to perform sacred rites once also restricted to men.
"And a very good thing too," declared CERN physicist Pauline Gagnon, who recently wrote a blog study pointing to the low, although growing, proportion of women in scientific research around the world.
The visit to CERN, whose director general Rolf Heuer recently sponsored a conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to discuss the tense relationship between science and religion, was not the first by a top religious leader.
In 1983 the sprawling campus on the border of France and Switzerland hosted the Dalai Lama, Buddhism's most revered figure, who argues that most scientific discoveries prove the truth of the view of the cosmos expounded by his faith -- sometimes dubbed by outsiders an "atheistic religion."
Pope John-Paul II preceded him in 1982 and the present Pope Benedict has a standing invitation from Heuer.

 

UO's Geri Richmond named to National Science Board

From OregonLive:  UO's Geri Richmond named to National Science Board

University of Oregon chemistry professor Geri  Richmond has been appointed to a six-year term on the National Science Board, the UO announced Friday.

President Obama appointed Richmond to the 25-member board, which sets policies and approves programs for the National Science Foundation. The board also advises the president and Congress on science and engineering policy and education.

Richmond specializes in chemistry, materials science and chemical reactions on liquid surfaces, according to a UO news release.

"Dr. Richmond's appointment is the result of outstanding excellence in research, coupled with her significant contributions to the sciences nationally and internationally," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school at the UO, according to the release. "She brings a wealth of experience -- as a scientist, an educator and as an advocate for women in science -- and we are proud that she will be serving the nation's top science policy organization."

Richmond joined the UO faculty in 1985 and served on the Oregon State Board of Higher Education from 1999 to 2006. She co-founded the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists and is working on projects with women scientists in developing countries. Richmond was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2011, according to the news release.

 

from sugar and spice to the glucose cycle

From The Family That Reads Together Blog:  from sugar and spice to the glucose cycle 

My high school science education consisted of the following memories: breaking a flask (not a big deal, the teacher said), breaking a thermometer (kind of a big deal), breaking many other kids of lab equipment (increasingly a big deal), never (not once) getting the correct results on any physics or chemistry lab despite being studious, careful, and the last to finish pretty much every single time. I had a mild interest in biology but I always assumed I was “bad” at science. Despite good grades, which obviously didn’t reflected the trail of broken equipment I left in my wake, it never (NEVER!) occurred to me that I could be good at science.
Then enter college: I took an introductory biology course and fell in love. Bird migration! Ants who farm aphids! These were stories whose magic nobody could ignore. And to the surprise of everyone (especially myself and my professors who were wary of me from the first moment I refused to dissect a cat (I mean, really, a cat?), I became a bio major.
WHICH IS WHY I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Author: Jacqueline Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age: Middle School and Upper Elementary
So many reasons to buy this book for your daughter (and read it yourself!):
1. It’s historical fiction, set in Texas in 1899, but it doesn’t whop you over the head with that fact. There are some interesting details: the first telephone and the woman operator with her long arms, Granddaddy sitting in a car for the first time, etc. But the historical fiction gives you, the parent, an edge: You can talk about societal expectations for girls and your child will likely be very comfortable talking about them in the book, as it was over 100 years ago. Then, once the conversation gets going, you can talk about how things have changed, but how we still have a long way to go.
2. It’s a science-nature story, but you don’t have to be a scientist to like this book. Any girl reader who enjoys character-driven books will like this one. And they will be getting a great female scientist role model on the side! It’s mostly a girl-growing-up story, and this girl, the only one amongst a myriad of brothers, is struggling against the expectations of her family (she’s supposed to learn to sew and cook or how will she ever get a family?), wondering if she might ever be allowed to have dreams beyond that.  And if your girl does get hooked on science after reading this book, don’t let it die out! Give her a field guide and start looking up plants or insects or birds or stars. Or grab some jars and start collecting bugs.
3. The book is beautiful; the sentences read like honey dripping down…well, dripping down something honey would drip down. Trust me, the prose is gorgeous. And that’s good for anyone. (And it is a Newbery Honor book. So there.)
P.S. I did sit through only one dissection. There was this guy in high school who would spend free time working on his frog for AP Bio, and I would hang out and watch him. It was probably disgusting. Maybe unethical. But in his defense, he’s a surgeon now. And in my defense, I’m married to him.

 

Student Who Named The Mars Rover 'Curiosity' As An 11-Year-Old Gets Space Exploration As Well As Anyone

From LA-ist:  Student Who Named The Mars Rover 'Curiosity' As An 11-Year-Old Gets Space Exploration As Well As Anyone

Clara Ma at age 12 (Photo via NASA)

More than three years before the Mars Rover Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet, an 11-year-old in Kansas was only dreaming about how she could get involved in space exploration.
Now that Clara Ma has grown up and had the chance to see the rover touch down, she hasn't lost her sense of wonder. In a column that she penned for Mashable, she writes about how she came up with the name. She says she first read about the contest to name the newest Mars Rover in a kids' issue of TIME Magazine while she was at school one day. It didn't take her long to come up with the perfect name: Curiosity. She says she rushed home to pen the winning essay:

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, 'Why is the sky blue?', 'Why do the stars twinkle?', 'Why am I me?', and I still do.

Based on her latest essay, we'd venture to say she probably gets science and space exploration as much as anyone who works at JPL or NASA (including the dude with the crazy mohawk). She writes about how she first became fascinated with space:

My grandmother lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess a certain degree of mystery.

She reflects on how space exploration means something different now than it did during the midcentury Space Race:

In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like — you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.

The entire essay is worth a read.

On Aug. 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.
My name is Clara, and when I was in 6th grade, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.
I still remember that chilly December day, sitting in science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a TIME for Kids magazine off of Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.
I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer, and typed until my fingers ached. It turns out I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.
Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face.
When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being. I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being. I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. She’d tell me stories and point out constellations.
Here in the heart of the country, my grandmother would say, there were no bright city lights to compete with the brilliance of the stars. There was just the chirping of the cicadas and the soft summer breeze.
My grandmother lived in China, thousands of miles awa
The Curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science.
Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing, intertwining and unifying; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.
This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their dedication and fervor inspire me immensely. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.
And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.
y from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess a certain degree of mystery.
In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like — you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can. Because we’re curious. Because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

The New York Academy of Sciences Hosts Science & the City 9th Annual Gala

From the Sacramento Bee:  The New York Academy of Sciences Hosts Science & the City 9th Annual Gala

N EW YORK, Nov. 13, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Last evening, the New York Academy of Sciences brought together more than 400 global leaders in science, education, government, industry, and academia, as well as a host of special guests—including middle school students, science teachers, and graduate student mentors—at its Science & the City 9th Annual Gala. The theme of the Gala, which took place at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, was "Strengthening the STEM Pipeline: Mentoring the Innovators of Tomorrow."
A robust STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) pipeline that nurtures future scientists and engineers from "cradle to career" is vital to the nation's economy, as well as to the future job prospects of current students. The Academy has committed to strengthening the STEM pipeline through a series of ground-breaking initiatives that provide much-needed interventions at critical drop-out points along the STEM pipeline.
"The Academy's STEM-related programs focus on repairing the cracks and bolstering the weak areas in the existing STEM pipeline—from inspiring a first love of STEM subjects in school-age children, to providing opportunities for established scientists to network with peers across fields and organizations. These efforts are vital to creating the next generation of capable scientists who will be able to positively contribute to tackling the world's most pressing problems," said Academy President and CEO Ellis Rubinstein.
A special series of films was premiered, highlighting the Academy's programming in the areas of K-12 education, higher education, professional community building, and international collaboration ("science beyond the city").
On hand to introduce each programmatic area and provide remarks about the Academy's contributions and partnerships in these areas were the following distinguished guests:

• Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor, The State University of New York; Board Chair, The New York Academy of Sciences;
• Dennis M. Walcott, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education;
• Barbara Murphy-Warrington, CEO, Girl Scouts of Greater New York;
• Alice Gast, President, Lehigh University; Governor, The New York Academy of Sciences;
• Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson; Member, Johnson & Johnson Executive Committee; Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson; Governor, The New York Academy of Sciences;
• Laurie H. Glimcher, Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medical College Provost of Medical Affairs, Cornell University;
• John Sexton, President, New York University; Governor, The New York Academy of Sciences; and
• Dato' Sri Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor, Prime Minister's Office, Malaysia, and Professor Emeritus.

K-12 Education The Academy's Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program in New York City and Newark, NJ, trains and places young scientists (who need critical teaching experience) in low-income middle schools (where the majority of students receive little to no hands-on STEM education). The mentors inspire the middle school students to take an interest, and gain confidence, in STEM subjects through engaging, hands-on activities that take place in community-based afterschool programs.
The Academy and the State University of New York (SUNY) recently received a prestigious $2.95 million grant from the National Science Foundation that will allow them to scale the Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program throughout New York State. The Academy is also working with the Girl Scouts of the USA to scale the program to hundreds of Girl Scouts Councils nationwide, for which the Girl Scouts of Greater New York is currently serving as a pilot site.
The Academy also supports science teachers through its Pathways to Science programming, which connects teachers, provides helpful resources for teaching STEM subjects, and holds events on timely education-related topics.
Higher Education The Academy, the U.S. State Department (represented at the Gala by the Deputy Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Frances Colon), and a consortium of 39 U.S. women's colleges are collaborating to empower women from countries with predominantly Muslim populations to pursue STEM fields at the undergraduate level through the NeXXt Scholars Initiative, which was launched in December 2011 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton via video address. The international scholars have been matched with American "STEM-sisters" at their respective colleges; all women receive mentorship from a STEM professional, Academy memberships, and ongoing program support.
The Academy's Science Alliance, a consortium of universities, teaching hospitals, independent research facilities, and organizations, connects more than 8,000 graduate and postdoctoral students to the Academy community. The Science Alliance helps scientists-in-training attain successful and rewarding careers by providing career development courses, as well as unparalleled networking opportunities through events with leaders in academia and industry.
Professional Community Building The Academy creates unparalleled networking opportunities for scientists in a variety of fields and disciplines through Frontiers of Science, its core program for scientific conferences and symposia. Bringing together international experts and partners from academia, industry, government, and beyond, Frontiers of Science provides a neutral forum for participants to exchange information on basic and applied research and to discuss the broader role of science, medicine, and technology in society. In addition to organizing 12–14 international interdisciplinary conferences each year, Frontiers of Science also runs an extensive schedule of events organized around interdisciplinary discussion groups focused on current topics in the life sciences, physical sciences, and green science and sustainability, totaling approximately 80 meetings each year.
International Collaboration The Academy's membership is global and so too is its outreach; it has a rich history of collaborating on pressing social and scientific challenges with countries like Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom, Qatar, and most recently, Malaysia. The Prime Minister of Malaysia has invested heavily in all stages of the STEM pipeline and is partnering with the Academy to create programs in Malaysia that will foster the next generation of global innovators. Dato' Sri Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid, the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, traveled from Malaysia to convey the Prime Minister's support for global partnerships, including an initiative led by the Academy, the State University of New York, and leading Malaysian education institutes to support the next generation of scientists from cradle to career.
The Blavatnik Awards for Young Sciences Gala attendees celebrated 11 promising young researchers who serve society with their work. "Their exceptional discoveries represent our future and our hope for a better world for all," said Academy Governor Len Blavatnik, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, who congratulated this year's winners and finalists of The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.
Established in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, this awards program recognizes researchers who make innovative, impactful, and interdisciplinary advances in the life and physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The concept of the awards is unique in that it bridges more than 30 scientific disciplines from the natural sciences to engineering and math.
Out of approximately 170 high-caliber applications, 60 judges named four faculty members and five postdoctoral fellows as winners and two faculty members as finalists. All winners and finalists receive unrestricted cash prizes.
The 2012 Faculty Winners are:

• B. Andrei Bernevig, Condensed Matter Physics, Princeton University;
• Jason Fridley, Ecology & Ecological Economics, Syracuse University;
• Alison Galvani, Public Health & Applied Mathematics, Yale University; and
• Assaf Naor, Mathematics & Computer Science, New York University.

The 2012 Faculty Finalists are:

• Michael Collins, Computer Science, Columbia University; and
• Wei Min, Physical Chemistry, Columbia University.

The 2012 Postdoctoral Winners are:

• Andrey Feklistov, Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University;
• Michael Hahn, Astrophysics, Columbia University;
• Robert Johnston, Developmental Biology, New York University;
• Elisa Oricchio, Clinical Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and
• Nicholas Stavropoulos, Genetics & Genomics, The Rockefeller University.

Nominations for the 2013 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists will be accepted from December 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013. To nominate a researcher or for more information about the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, visit www.nyas.org/blavatnikawards or contact Awards Coordinator Marley Bauce at mbauce@nyas.org.
The 2012 Gala was underwritten by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Jim & Marilyn Simons, with additional funding from a host of generous corporate and individual supporters.
About The Blavatnik Family Foundation The Blavatnik Family Foundation is an active supporter of educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and throughout the world. Recipients of Foundation support include, among others, Oxford University, Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, Tate, The Royal Opera House, The Hermitage, The National Portrait Gallery, The British Museum, The National Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New York Academy of Sciences, The White Nights Foundation, The Center for Jewish History and other Jewish causes as well as many other philanthropic institutions. The Foundation is headed by Len Blavatnik, an American industrialist. Mr. Blavatnik is the founder and Chairman of Access Industries, a privately-held U.S. industrial group with global interests in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, and real estate.
About the New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization that since 1817 has been committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. With 25,000 members in 140 countries, the Academy is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. The Academy's core mission is to advance scientific knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with science-based solutions, and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large. Please visit us online at www.nyas.org.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/13/4982028/the-new-york-academy-of-sciences.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/13/4982028/the-new-york-academy-of-sciences.html#storylink=cpy

Women and Ag

From UTM Pacer:  Women and Ag

Women’s role in agriculture is an important topic for an area like Martin, Tenn.
That was the topic of the guest speaker, Dr. Paula Gale, at the Women’s Center on Nov. 13.  Dr. Gale is a professor at Soil Sciences at UTM.  As a female, she is an advocate for women in the agricultural field.
When Dr. Gale was a student, she had a male mentor.  When discussing her future in agriculture he asked her if she wanted to be a woman in soil science or a soil scientist.
"I'd rather be recognized as a good soil scientist than a female soil scientist", says
Gale told the audience about a woman named Vivien Allen.  She was the first woman to graduate from The UTM with a bachelor degree in General Agriculture in 1962.  She chose UTM because it offered everything she would need to be a successful farmer in the future.  She continued to receive a master’s and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in Agronomy and a minor in Animal Science. She currently teaches at Texas Tech.
Over the years, things have gradually gotten more positive for women in agriculture.  In 1988, 81% of agriculture degrees went to male graduates.  In the 2010 survey, 61% went to male graduates.  It is moving closer to 50/50 for men and women.
Women receive more degrees in animal science, pre-vet, and agriculture education degrees.
Gale expressed the lack of women in agriculture by passing around agricultural publications.  In the many different publications, there were very few women in advertisements and articles.
Women are discouraged from the agricultural field.  To encourage women to ignore the negativity, The Water & Recycling News created the Rosie Awards.  The Rosie Awards go to women who make a difference in their industry.
As always, the job market is rough.  For women the bar is set a little higher.  However, Gale believes the future is bright for women in agriculture.  There are internship opportunities of which women should take advantage.  It may be difficult, but women can persevere and make a difference in agriculture.      
 “We’re just looking for people who are interested”, said Gale about the future.

 

Africa: Donors Renew Programme for African Women Researchers

From All Africa.com:  Africa: Donors Renew Programme for African Women Researchers

Nairobi — Funders have renewed support for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), a programme that helps women in Sub-Saharan countries to develop leadership and scientific skills.
A second grant, spanning five years, was announced on 18 October, comprising US$14 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and US$5 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
It will also spark more effective innovations in agriculture according to Karen Homer, AWARD's spokesperson. "We believe that effective solutions for African agriculture will come through empowered women scientists," she said.
The majority of those who produce, process and market Africa's food are women, but only one in four agricultural researchers is female, according to a 2008 benchmarking study conducted by AWARD.
Homer noted that even fewer women, one in seven, hold leadership positions in African agricultural research institutions. Currently there are few leadership positions available in agriculture and development, and of those that do exist, most are held by men.
Vicki Wilde, AWARD's director, told SciDev.Net that "cultivating a new generation of African leaders in food and agriculture is strategically important". She added that "leadership will be all the more effective when women are well represented, especially by those positioned to generate and promote the innovations needed by rural women and other smallholder farmers".
The first phase of AWARD, in 2008, enlisted 250 African women agricultural scientists from 11 countries. Women who complete a two-year fellowship programme - which are then rolled out in their own countries - are said to be more confident and technically skilled, as well as having access to networks and more visibility to further their careers.
Every AWARD fellow attends courses on leadership and management, science skills and proposal writing. They are also twinned with senior scientists as mentors.
"In our second phase, we will conduct three rounds of fellowships for 210 more African women agricultural scientists. More than 1,000 applicants are competing for 70 places in the first round, and the winners will be announced in December 2012. The programme will begin in February 2013," noted Homer.
Willis-Oluoch Kosura, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, said AWARD is building the capacity of African women scientists in agriculture.
"The AWARD initiative is laudable and should be supported by all, as its mission of empowering women will provide a powerful avenue for unlocking the potential for African agriculture and the achievement of most of the eight Millennium Development Goals."
AWARD is hosted by CGIAR's World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi.

 

Lubbock, TX: Professor to lecture on archeology project

From Lubbock Online.com:  Professor to lecture on archeology project

Texas Tech University assistant professor of classical archeology Hannah Friedman will present “The Roman Faynan: Local Resources vs. Imperial Will,” at 5:35 p.m. Thursday in the College of Media & Communication Building, Room 83. The building is located at 15th Street and Flint Avenue.
Friedman will share her ongoing work on Roman and Byzantine Faynan, an imperial copper mining district in southern Jordan. Her lecture will focus on issues of empire and exploitation. Using the principles of landscape archaeology, her research concentrates on the landscape of the Faynan, and how the natural environment and human settlement were changed to meet the industrial needs of the Roman administration.

Mad Science for Girls (and Boys), Part 2:

From Sequential Tart:  Mad Science for Girls (and Boys), Part 2:

much more pronounced case of distracting boy-craziness is one of the more notable characteristics of Candace, the title characters' teenage older sister in the mad-science-ish-around-the-edges Disney Channel series Phineas and Ferb. Although there is no particular indication in any of the episodes I've seen that Candace shares her brothers' aptitude for building elaborate contraptions or for coming up with ingenious technical solutions to problems, the fact that she spends literally all her time obsessing over either exposing Phineas and Ferb's unorthodox activities to their mother or getting a date with the good-looking Jeremy obviously prevents her from accomplishing anything constructive -- or, in most cases, even having any fun.



As the above description suggests, mad science also appears to be a predominantly male province on Phineas and Ferb. This may have something to do with the fact that, although the series was officially launched fairly recently, in February 2008 (after a months-earlier preview of the pilot episode in August 2007), creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh had originally come up with the idea sixteen years earlier and stubbornly persisted in pitching it to various networks until Disney finally took the bait.

Phineas and Ferb is set in Danville, a largish town in a somewhat vaguely-defined Tri-State Area that appears to be characterized by an abnormally high level of mad science-type activity generally. (Despite this vaguely Eureka-esque atmosphere, most of the characters remain so invincibly unaware of traditional mad science stereotypes that they routinely mistake the German-accented, lab coat-wearing self-proclaimed evil scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz for a pharmacist.) The local mall sells vials of rare superscience-suitable isotopes such as pizzazium infinionite, and one of the exhibits in the Danville Museum of Natural History is an H. G. Wells-type nineteenth century model time machine, which in the episode "It's About Time!" is briefly restored to working order by the tween jack-of-all-technical-trades title characters. Fortunately for Phineas, Ferb, and their perpetually exasperated big sister Candace, all of whom wind up taking an unscheduled one-way trip to 300 Million B.C. as a result, their friend Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and her cohorts in the local troop of Fireside Girls are able to respond to Phineas' fossilized S.O.S. by constructing their own time travel rescue vehicle, following the standard instructions in their Girl Scout-like troop handbook.


Danville also has its own distinctly inept self-styled resident supervillain, the aforementioned Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (doctorate acquired online), whose corporate headquarters is subtly titled "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated." Doofenshmirtz has built his own rather unreliable henchman in the form of Norm, a cheerfully destructive hamster wheel-powered robot who can fly, transform into a pick-up truck, and extend his arms and legs until he towers several stories high. Unfortunately for his creator, although Norm's artificial intelligence increases as the show goes on, the business-suited robot continues to exhibit so little common sense that he often winds up actively hindering the schemes of the infuriated Dr. D, whom Norm longingly regards as his father.

However, Doofenshmirtz's true scientific specialty and favorite intellectual progeny is his endless series of "-inator" devices. These include the juice-inator, designed to dissolve City Hall into pineapple juice; the away-inator, for dispatching annoying fellow motorists to an alien dimension; the de-volitionator (which Doof actually purchased at Brain, Bath and Beyond, "the area's largest big-box mind-control store") and the freezeanator. The latter is a device for turning living beings into statues, which Doofenshmirtz did invent himself. However, he uses it only on the obtuse backseat-driver leader of the government agents attempting to foil his schemes before becoming distracted by a disagreement with his officially-designated nemesis, Phineas and Ferb's pet Perry the (Sentient Secret Agent) Platypus. The resulting soap-operatic talk show face-off serendipitously results in the ray's accidentally freezing a live Tyrannosaurus rex that had been rampaging through the museum as a result of the kids' time-traveling misadventures.

The stars of the show, ten-year-old stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb, occasionally spend an entire episode engaging in unquestionably mad scientific activities of their own, such as creating a device that enables the user to phase through walls and other solid objects à la Kitty Pryde of the X-Men ("Just Passing Through"); constructing an elaborate homemade water park ride composed entirely of self-sustaining interlocking waterspouts ("Buford Confidential"); and entertaining their friends by putting their army of homegrown nanobots through a dazzling series of transformations, including giant faucet, rowboat, giant gingerbread man and, finally, a small fleet of one-kid cars, planes and spaceships, which they eventually employ to foil the latest Doofenshmirtz-related plot ("Norm Unleashed").

More typically, the stepbrothers function not so much as junior mad scientists themselves as they do as build-it-in-your-own-back-yard budding engineers whose mechanical expertise is usually needed to translate other people's more grandiose conceptual designs into reality. The beneficiaries of their technical assistance range from Dr. Doofenshmirtz to Phineas and Ferb's brilliant but mechanically klutzy classmate Baljeet, who morosely declares that he has no hope of impressing his teacher and winning the science fair with his design for a functional portal to Mars unless the far more practically adept Phineas and Ferb assist him with its construction. Sure enough, with all three boys working together, the portal not only provides an instructive view of bulbous aliens attending a similar science fair on Mars, but, after Doofenshmirtz accidentally short circuits it, teleports the wannabe evil scientist all the way to the Red Planet.

Two adult female mad scientists have made guest appearances on Phineas and Ferb. In the episode "Oil on Candace," Dr. Gevaarlijk, Doofenshmirtz's reluctant mentor and former instructor in Evil 101, accepts Dr. D's invitation to come inspect his latest nefarious accomplishments, only to be thoroughly unimpressed by the crumpled debris testifying to her sad-sack student's numerous unsuccessful schemes. In a last-ditch effort to do something right before his disgusted professor returns to their mutual European homeland of Drusselstein, Doofenshmirtz attempts to shoot down the moon -- which both mad scientists agree has inspired far too many sappy song lyrics -- with his swivel-mounted laser cannon.

Unfortunately, the cannon only has enough energy for one shot. When Doofenshmirtz predictably knocks it askew, accidentally shooting downward to rupture a nearby dam instead, the dissatisfied Dr. Gevaarlijk departs with her original disdain for her would-be disciple reconfirmed.


The other female mad scientist, the vaguely Judi Dench-like Professor Poofenplotz, first appeared on camera in the Isabella-centric episode "Isabella and the Temple of Sap." Phineas and Ferb and Perry the Platypus, the usual stars of each episode's A and B plots respectively, this time make only fleeting appearances. Instead, the episode's main storyline follows Isabella's jittery pet dog Pinky the Chihuahua (a member of the same largely animal-staffed secret agency as Perry) as she investigates Professor Poofenplotz, crossing paths with Isabella and the Fireside Girls at an abandoned amusement park. Isabella & Co. are there to retrieve a rare tree whose oil Isabella's crush Phineas requires to construct his latest contraption. For her part, Poofenplotz is seeking the last remaining cache of her favorite Stiff Beauty hairspray, whose production has been discontinued due to the fact that besides herself, the only people who had been purchasing it were professional clowns.

On paper, Professor Poofenplotz's stereotypically feminine preoccupations with accessories (in the episode "Day of the Living Gelatin," her offstage evil plot revolves around handbags) and physical appearance make her sound eye-rollingly trivial and silly. However, her stern, focused demeanor and noticeably higher levels of wholeheartedly evil intent and general competence suggest that at least theoretically, she is far more formidable and genuinely dangerous than the goofy Doofenshmirtz. When Poofenplotz snarls, "I can't very well take over the world until I'm drop-dead gorgeous," she at least appears to be convincingly committed to both goals, albeit in a somewhat narcissistically Snow White's stepmother-ish fashion. Doofenshmirtz, on the other hand, often behaves as if he subconsciously regards his dastardly plots as a mere excuse to play elaborate cat and mouse games with his frenemy Perry the Platypus.

Poofenplotz's "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" quest for industrial-strength hairspray ultimately fails as dismally as all of Doofenshmirtz's ventures. However, in Poofenplotz's case, this seems more the result of coincidentally happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (the old amusement park structure filled with Stiff Beauty hairspray collapses in on her as a side effect of Isabella and friends' carefully aimed attempt to ricochet off a rickety old rollercoaster to safety) than of messing up or misfiring her own invention, as so often happens with Doofenshmirtz.

Each of these adult female mad scientists appears to be a far more capable and credible threat than the ever-present Dr. Doofenshmirtz, despite the fact that Poofenplotz seems to be equally unlucky. However, the fact that Dr. Gevaarlijk and Professor Poofenplotz appear in only a token handful of the over 170 episodes of the series aired so far minimizes their impact and suggests that the incorporation of female mad scientists into the Phineas and Ferb-verse was something of an afterthought.

As it happens, both Dr. Gevaarlijk and Professor Poofenplotz were introduced into the Phineas and Ferb continuity considerably earlier in the series' four seasons to date than the relative scarcity of their appearances might lead one to expect. According to the Internet Movie Database, "Oil on Candace," the episode introducing Dr. Gevaarlijk, was episode 34 of season one (originally aired October 17, 2008). Professor Poofenplotz was first mentioned in episode 6 of season two ("Day of the Living Gelatin," debut airdate February 28, 2009) and made her most prominent on-screen appearance later the same season, in "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" (season two, episode 19 -- the 55th episode aired so far), which originally appeared on October 17, 2009. However, since then she has made only a cameo viewscreen appearance in the background of the closing musical number of season two's "Rollercoaster: The Musical," originally aired on January 29, 2011. (A female troll officiously guarding the Bridge of Comprehension in the third season epic fantasy spoof "Excaliferb," first shown on January 15, 2012, bears a suspicious facial resemblance to Poofenplotz, but lacks her distinctive British accent.) Gevaarlijk, on the other hand, has never appeared again at all -- somewhat understandably, since she lives on a different continent.

Phineas and Ferb is a wittily-written and often delightful show that was a pleasure to research for this article. I found myself heartily agreeing with Wired critic Matt Blum, who commented that he could stand to watch just about anything with his kids, "but I actually look forward to watching Phineas and Ferb with them." Most of the series' female characters, especially Fireside Girls leader Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and Dr. Doofenshmirtz's rebellious (and non-science-minded) teenage daughter Vanessa, appear to be notably brighter than the regular female cast members on Dexter's Laboratory, not to mention most people of either sex on older, more lowest common denominator kid-targeted shows such as The Jetsons, The Flintstones, or even Rocky and Bullwinkle (in which only one of the protagonists was permitted to be smart and all the other characters were either comically obtuse or downright dumb). Even Phineas and Ferb's control-freak sister, Candace, whose obsession with putting a stop to the boys' mindbogglingly precocious high-tech activities by "busting" them to their mom positions her as a far less successful equivalent of Dee Dee in her Dexter's Laboratory role as obstructor of her brother's experiments, is a far more complex and sympathetic character than the comparatively one-note nuisance Dee Dee.

The introduction of Dr. Gevaarlijk and Professor Poofenplotz in Phineas and Ferb's first and second seasons, respectively, is proof of the producers' praiseworthy efforts to incorporate more scientifically impressive strong female characters -- in the genuine, not the satirical Kate Beaton-esque sense -- into the series not long after its official 2007/2008 debut. However, the fact that many of the central concepts of the show had presumably already been formulated and developed as long ago as the less gender diversity-conscious early to mid-1990s, during the sixteen years when creators Povenmire and Marsh kept unsuccessfully submitting the series to various networks, appears to have subconsciously affected the producers' ideas about which types of characters would be most central to the mad scientific aspects of a typical Phineas and Ferb plot. As a result, when it comes to mad science, the girls and women in the cast tend to be relegated to the roles of admiring and reasonably scientifically literate occasional helpmeet (Isabella) or memorable but rarely seen guest star (Dr. Gevaarlijk and Professor Poofenplotz).

 

Do you watch The Octonauts?

It's a show for pre-schoolers, but what can I say, I love it.

The Octonauts live in the Octopod and travel around the oceans, exploring, rescuing and protecting sea creatures. There's Captain Barnacles - a strong polar bear, Kwazii, a pirate cat, Peso, a penguin medic, Dashi, a dachshund photographer, Shellington, a sea otter scientist, Tweak, a rabbit engineer, and Dr. Inkling, an octopus and scientist. There are also carrot-shaped Vegimals used for comic relief - they faint at the first hint of danger.

The female characters are Dashi, who documents the Octonaut's adventures with her camera, and Tweak, the rabbit engineer who can fix anything.  99% of the adventuring is done by the males (of course) - Barnacles, Kwazii and Peso, but Tweak's character is always essential to make sure the Octonauts can get where they're going in the Gup-A, Gup-B, and so on - the water craft they use outside the Octopod.

It's a cute show, with episodes available on Youtube (missing the Creature Report that ends every episode, for some reason) and hopefully on your local TV station, Disney Jr.