Science fiction needs more scientist heroes — not scientist villains

From I09: Science fiction needs more scientist heroes — not scientist villains
Science fiction scientists have been responsible for numerous fictional disasters. They've reanimated corpses that have come back to kill them. They've cloned dinosaurs only to utterly lose control of them. They've shrunk their kids and turned themselves into flies. But one researcher is calling for more fictional scientific triumphs to balance out these disasters.

Image: The mad but heroic scientist Agatha Heterodyne from Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio.

Laura H. Kahn, a physician and biodefense researcher, points out that, while science has influenced science fiction, so too has science fiction affected science. Science fiction has changed the way people think about scientific progress, and cultural shifts can have huge impacts on how scientific research is carried out. Kahn acknowledges that these cultural shifts can be good, leading to more humane research policies. But they can also lead to public misunderstandings about certain areas of science. She notes that stories like Jurassic Park, Frankenstein, and The Island of Doctor Moreau can leave the public timid about the idea of "tampering" with nature, even as they have little understanding about what actually goes on in current genetic research.

Kahn would like to see the public better educated about the positive possibilities of current research through science fiction stories centered on heroic scientists:

Scientists in the life sciences generally do a poor job of communicating with the public about what they do. Few of them write for the lay public, and even fewer write novels about their science. Busy scientists generally don't have the time to write fiction after writing grant proposals, doing research, and teaching. Not to mention the fact that writing engrossing stories is very, very hard. But, if the scientific community wants to engage and inform the public, science fiction is an excellent strategy. Stories captivate people, they survive the test of time, and they become part of the popular culture. So, if any scientists with a creative-writing affinity want to captivate the public and inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science and technology, perhaps they should put pen to paper and start writing. The world needs more stories with scientist-heroes, not more scientist-villains.

Do you agree with Kahn? Are we overloaded with villainous scientists? What stories out there shine a more positive light on scientific advances?

America's Next Top Engineer: She Needs Your Role Models

From the Harvard Business Review: America's Next Top Engineer: She Needs Your Role Models
Imagine the world in 2030, more resource-constrained than ever—but then suddenly benefitting from a breakthrough approach to harnessing wind energy. What if the person capable of hatching that innovation is, today, a middle-school girl in a village in Ecuador? Will it happen? Or think closer to home: If the cure for cystic fibrosis is just waiting in the mind of a girl in your community, will it ever see the light of day?

If we could only put the same level of resources into inspiring girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that we do into discovering America's Next Top Model, the chance wouldn't seem so remote. At the very least, the proportion of STEM professionals who are female—currently, in engineering, a paltry 11 percent—would grow.

It's no secret that we need more women in STEM. Our economy's major employers compete for the female graduates we do produce. So what's holding back the supply?

Some people look at the gender composition of graduating classes and conclude that girls just aren't as interested as boys are in engineering. If girls don't want to be computer scientists when they grow up, some ask, isn't that their choice? But I have the proof that they do, under the right circumstances. When the bell rings at the end of the day at schools in Oakland, CA I see a wave of girls heading for after-school programs, eager to stick around and do science.

Meet the girls participating in Techbridge. They tinker and use tools, and take apart things like lawnmower engines and hairdryers to learn how they work. They build their own green houses and learn about renewable energy. They make solar night lights, and in doing so learn to solder. And while it isn't their intention when they start, they also make mistakes—and learn to appreciate how mistakes are part of the process. They develop the confidence to persevere. As they team up for design challenges, they especially like to learn in the company of other girls.

Techbridge is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, CA, whose mission is to promote girls' interest and skills in science, technology, and engineering. We do this through the programs we run, and by developing resources for others—teachers, role models, families, and partners like the Girl Scouts. We know the first step is engagement, letting girls have fun with the projects we introduce. Research shows that an early interest in science or engineering is a better indicator of the likelihood of pursuing a career in these fields than grades. But we can't stop there. For a girl to translate an early interest into a passion for becoming a mechanical engineer or biotech entrepreneur, she also needs early exposure to women who hold such careers. We need to provide girls with role models.

Techbridge can't do that alone—role models are busy working in places that have recognized and snapped up their talent. We can do it, however, with partners from industry. When major employers not only provide funding for our after-school programs but also support employee outreach, girls gain access to role models like Chevron geologists, Google programmers, and Intel engineers—all of whom have visited our after-school programs and led activities that offer a glimpse into their careers.

Role models make the difference by connecting with our girls on a personal level and sharing their passion and the personal stories of how they came to be the professionals they are. They help dispel stereotypes about engineering and who can be a computer scientist. Their enthusiasm conveys that these careers are personally and professionally rewarding. The work they describe shows that as a scientist or engineer you can make the world a better place—an aspiration for many girls.

We have to go out of our way to provide such models because too few girls have made their way into technical fields in the past. We can't count on a girl's having a STEM role model already in the women she knows well—her mother, relatives, and neighbors. When a girl meets a woman succeeding in STEM, it expands the range of careers she considers as she imagines her own future.

We know it works. Last year's evaluation of Techbridge's impact showed increases in participating girls' skills and confidence. Now, 90 percent of them believe engineering is a good career for women, and 89 percent think teamwork is good for solving problems. And guess how many are more interested than they had been in working in science, technology, and engineering? No fewer than 83 percent.

Results like this are what keep us working energetically to build corporate partnerships—even when we experience the occasional dispiriting setback. We've seen, for example, a corporate field trip that we had perfected over the years suspended as priorities there changed. In a downturn-related layoff, our liaison to another company lost her job. Some of the best role models we've attracted, and many we've invested to develop (because role modeling is a skill built by training, too) find it difficult in this tough economy to leave their workplaces and volunteer in afternoon programs.

The companies most likely to stay the course are those who value the payback in the long term. They know that the middle schoolers who come to their site are the next generation of workers, and that among them may be the one whose idea will revolutionize their business.

If your organization is an employer of science, engineering, and technology talent, please do what you can to reach out and inspire a girl. Do it by supporting programs like Techbridge that offer STEM programming in and out of school. But also do it by encouraging the women on your staff to be role models—to visit a classroom or host a field trip. Show that you value outreach by providing support and training for it, and even better, by mentoring a girl yourself. Not only will you discover how much students learn from role models and field trips, you'll discover how your organization benefits in return. We hear from role models how much their outreach deepens their sense of connection to their job, their staff, and their field. Corporate recruiters tell us that top talent is more attracted to organizations that believe in workers getting involved and giving back to their community.

Returns like this are hard to quantify, but we never hear from corporate partners that they aren't worth the investment. Girls who go through Techbridge programs have a habit of returning years later and telling us how a role model they met in middle school, or a field trip in high school, turned them on to engineering. When they faced a roadblock—a challenging class, a less than supportive study group —they remembered what a role model taught them. And they didn't give up.

Aprahamian named chair of APS nuclear physics division

From Notre Dame Department Physics: Aprahamian named chair of APS nuclear physics division

Ani Aprahamian, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, has been elected chair of the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics. APS is the second-largest organization in the field, chartered “to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics.” It publishes a number of journals, conducts extensive education and outreach programs, and is active in public and governmental affairs. The Division of Nuclear Physics is composed of scientists and educators who study fundamental problems related to the nature of matter – the properties of nuclei and of their ultimate constituents, quarks and gluons.

Aprahamian's research interests lie in nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. Her current work relates to the elements heavier than iron, whose origin remains a scientific enigma; they cannot be formed by the normal nuclear fusion process in stars. It is thought that a neutron-rich explosive environment in the emerging shock front of a supernova may be responsible for the enhancement of the heavy elements, but experimental confirmation requires laboratory production of elusive, highly unstable nuclei in cutting-edge facilities. One such will be the Facility for Rare Isotopes Beams (FRIB) under construction at Michigan State University, for which Aprahamian serves as a member of the science advisory committee.

In addition to the above professional roles, Aprahamian has been both director of Notre Dame's Nuclear Science Laboratory and a former chair of the Department of Physics at Notre Dame. She is also the vice-chair of the National Academies' decadal review of nuclear physics (NP2010) and the co-chair of the standing Nuclear Science Advisory Subcommittee on Isotopes (NSACI), as well as chair of the Scientific Council for the GANIL research center in France.

Egypt expert heads Girls in Science event

Des Moines Register: Egypt expert heads Girls in Science event

Archeologist visits Science Center of Iowa
Opportunities for the public to interact with Ana Tavares, hear about her experience excavating in Egypt and learn about a career in the field of archaeology include:
Cafe Scientifique, Feb. 17: In “Excavating for Information: Uncovering Egypt,” she will discuss the latest findings at the Giza Plateau site. Cafe Scientifque, presented by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, is free and open to the public. 5:30 p.m., Feb. 17.

Following the presentation, Tavares will lead behind-the-scenes tours of “Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science.” Space is limited for the tours, which cost $10 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Reservations can be made via email at cafesci@sciowa.org or by calling (515) 274-6868, ext. 234.

Girls in Science event, Feb. 18: SCI’s new Girls in Science Initiative aims to empower and equip girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The initiative promotes girls’ early engagement in STEM, to encourage pursuit of careers in those areas and develop a diverse workforce for the 21st century. The Girls in Science event will allow girls the chance to explore the many careers and opportunities for them in science, technology, engineering and math, and celebrate the many women scientists in the community. Tavares will provide the keynote presentation at this event and will educate attendees about careers in archeology. The Girls in Science event and Tavares’ presentation are free with SCI admission. 1 p.m., Feb. 18.

She remembers thumbing through an encyclopedia as a little girl in Portugal.

“I was 8 years old and I saw this black-and-white picture of a man on his hands and knees, scraping at dirt inside these string squares,” Ana Tavares said last week in a Skype interview from London.

“It looked so interesting to me. I asked my father what he was doing and he told me he was an archeologist and explained what that meant.”

From that moment on, she was “very obsessed,” as she put it. Today, at the age of 47, Tavares is co-field research director for Ancient Egypt Research Associates and regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on ancient Egypt.

An adviser for the “Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science” exhibit now on display at the Science Center of Iowa, 401 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway in Des Moines, she will participate later this month in the center’s new scientist in residence program.

Tavares will spend four days in Iowa. She is scheduled to host a special tour of the exhibit, visit local schools and deliver the keynote address at the center’s Girls in Science event, spokeswoman Christina Zink said.

“There will be opportunities for adults and families to experience this exhibit with Ana, which we think will be very exciting,” Zink said.

Over the past two decades Tavares and her colleagues have completed some of the most important work ever done at the ancient sites of Egypt. Her home away from home has been in Egypt at the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders site.

“Much of what we have done has debunked a lot of myths,” Tavares said.

In particular, students have been taught for decades that slaves — men, women and children, built the pyramids of Egypt.

“That is not the case,” she said.

Tavares and her team have unearthed evidence that shows the pyramids were built by a rotating workforce made up of young men drafted by their village leaders to serve tours of duty.

“They got to work on a divine project, and because of their service they would be rewarded in the afterlife,” Tavares said.

While she is looking forward to sharing stories of her research in Des Moines, Tavares is also enthusiastic about meeting younger students, in particular teenage girls.

She is saddened by reports that “girls who are 14 and 15 are shying away from science… maybe they’re afraid that it is going to be boring and they are going to end up having to work every day in a white lab coat.”

She hopes to convince the younger students she meets that science is a field that provides many options.

“It’s like if you go into archeology, you don’t have to be a digger,” she said.

Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, Tavares studied Egyptology at University College in London. She began excavating in Egypt in 1987 and looks forward to many more years of working in archeology.

“My worst enemy word would be ‘retirement,’ ” she said.

Lose Weight By Peer Pressure

There was a commercial during the Super Bowl last night. Geico. A man wants to lose weight, so he hires three teenage girls to follow him around. Any time he starts to eat, they pop up and look at him contemptuously - two white girls, one Asian.

The Asian girl says "EW." One white girl says "Seriously?" The other white girl says, "That is so gross."

So eating has become gross?

This is not funny...the more so because it is how girls act - at least girls in California!

Bullying in schools has long been a national problem - in every country, really - bullying seems to be a natural human trait. And yes, what these 3 brainless girls are doing is bullying. But at least they're doing it to a guy and not to some other girl who wants to buck the crowd and be a scientist, or not get a tattoo, or dress like a street walker, etc. etc.

My story from the ScienceOnline 2012 banquet.

From Scientific American: My story from the ScienceOnline 2012 banquet.
By Janet D. Stemwedel
Here, we'll explore how ethical practices are essential to scientific knowledge-building, how that knowledge-building enterprise is tied to scientists' ability to play well with others, and how members of the tribe of science might best share a world with the segments of humanity who aren't employed in the knowledge-building business.

Once upon a time, Janet D. Stemwedel thought she would be a chemist when she grew up. So, she went to school, spent years in the lab, and earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.

However, by the time she was putting the finishing touches on her dissertation, philosophical questions about how exactly science works had seized control of her brain. So, she went to school again, spent years in the library, and earned another Ph.D. in philosophy (with a concentration in the history and philosophy of science).

Now an Associate Professor of Philosophy at San José State University, she focuses her teaching and research on philosophy of science and the ethical conduct of science. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her better half, two children, and a white rabbit named Snowflake Free-Ride (aka Notorious B.U.N.).

This year at ScienceOnline, the conference banquet featured storytelling organized by The Monti, a North Carolina non-profit organization dedicated to building community by getting people to share their true stories with each other. Conference goers were asked to share stories on the theme of “connections”. The stories had to be true, and storytellers had to tell them without notes.

The seven stories told at the banquet provided a kaleidoscopic view of what “connections” might mean to a bunch of people involved in doing science, or teaching science, or communicating science, or trying to negotiate their own relationship with science in their personal and professional lives.

I feel honored that I got to tell my story as part of this event. My narrative was about connections between what things were like for me as a kid and how I’d like things to be different for my own kids, between online discussions and outcomes in the three-dimensional world, between my comfort zone and situations where I know I am out of my depth.

You can listen to the audio of me actually telling my story here. (It’s #3 in the list; I haven’t been able to figure out a way to grab just my story and embed it here, and you probably want to listen to the other stories, too, because they’re all really good.)

Partway through the story, it will become relevant.

So, like a lot of people in the room, I guess, I have always known that I loved science, but I grew up in a culture that told me that I shouldn’t, because I’m a girl.

And, between the TV, and the toy commercials, and my peers, and the teachers, the message was: “Look, science is not girls’ stuff. Science is not something girls are supposed to like. You are supposed to spend your time figuring out how to be like girls are, which is pretty, and pink, and neat, and well-behaved.” I did not want to be any of those things. I did not know how to be any of those things. I did not see how being any of those things was going to get my hands on the science-y stuff I wanted to do. So what was the point?

So, as you can imagine, school was not a lot of fun, because on the one hand, I had my peers making life crap because I could not perform femininity. And, I had teachers making my life crap, saying: “Look, no, I don’t care that you can do the math and do the science. It’s impossible that you can do the math and do the science because you’re a girl. So, stop that!”

And, one gets through this. And, I kind of figured by the time I was a grown-up, and had kids that I was raising of my own, we were going to be past all of this in our culture — that we would have fixed this particular blind spot we have. But the first time we cracked open the educational toy catalog, when our kids were old enough for those: hit in the face with the heavily gendered science kits.

And they come in two flavors: they come in the science kits, and the science kits for girls. And the science kits for girls of course come in a pink box, and they are science that concerns what girls are supposed to want to do, which is make lip gloss, or make bubble bath, or maybe grow pretty crystals. And the pictures on the box have cartoon girls with eye shadow and off-the-shoulder blouses, as if to say: “Look, dear, there’s nothing about doing this activity that is going to get in the way of your really important task of figuring out how to be conforming to our gendered expectations of you.”

The boys’ kits, meanwhile, had cool stuff — I mean, you got to take things apart. You got to blow things up. You got to examine the world on a really small scale. This is stuff I wanted to do — and got to do, luckily, when I was a kid, but only because my mother was as much of a rebel against this as I was.

What the girls are offered is the pink microscopes that don’t magnify as well as the blue microscopes do. Instead of getting kits where you get to blow stuff up, you get to make bath bombs, and as it turns out, bath bombs do not actually explode. Which is kind of a rip off.

So, of course, when I started blogging, this was one of the things I blogged about — because a good rant is what keeps a blogger going in the morning. And this was like five years ago. So I got my rant on. And of course, this November, those of you who watch the Twitters knew that Ed Yong tweeted about the WILD! Science* website selling extremely gendered science kits.

So it’s still going on! And people were like, “Yeah, we should blog about this some more!”

I’ll be honest: I was tired. I did not feel like blogging about this again. I said, I have been banging my head against this particular wall with this culture, and, you know, maybe I’d like to bang my head against a different wall that might move a little. But, I took a breath. I said, OK, everyone’s doing it, so I’ll try to explain again what it is about these kits that I find problematic — that they’re not really trying to interest kids in science so much as saying the only hook we’ve got with girls is their femininity. And, they’re not actually cultivating an interest in science so much as reminding girls: even in science, you are expected to do this femininity thing or you will get crap.

So, I blogged about it, and then a really exciting thing happened in December. In December, Edmund Scientific announced on their blog that they had noticed these blog posts, and letters they had gotten, emails they had gotten from customers, and they understood the criticism, and they recognized that they were sending out a message that they did not want to send out as they were selling science kits. And they said, we’re going to stop. They said, we are going to no longer sell boys’ science kits and girls’ science kits; they’re now all science kits for whatever kind of kid wants to do it.

And I was really, really excited. You know, all of us sort of being cranky eventually, I guess … every now and then we get this incremental piece of change.

I was so excited that afternoon, and I had to tell my kids, because, you know, you’ve got to share your excitement and your tweeps get tired of it so your kids have to listen to the overflow.

I should tell you something about my kids, something I sort of keep on the down-low on blogs ’cause of creepy internet stalker types. My kids are daughters.

The oldest one’s in seventh grade, the youngest one’s in fifth grade. So, they’re twelve and ten. The older one … I think maybe there was a six month stretch in kindergarten where she experimented with officially sanctioned femininity as recognized by our culture and then decided it just was not worth the trouble, and hasn’t really bothered with it since.

The ten-year-old is a pretty pink princess.

Which makes our relationship with each other complicated, because as I told you before, I don’t really do femininity. She actually tried to help me with my outfit for tonight, but in the end she said, “Please don’t tell them I was involved in this.” We’re different, she and I.

But, she was the one, when I told her this news about this company selling science kits that decided to drop the heavy gendering, she was the one who got really excited and gave me a hug and gave me a high five.

Because both of my kids — the tomboy and the pretty princess — both of them love science. The ten-year-old who loves to dress up, who loves to wear pantyhose, for God’s sake, who asked for a lint-roller for Christmas — she loves to do science. She is also a fierce goalie for her soccer team, and she can tell fart jokes with the best of them, and this is because, unlike what the marketers would have you believe, a pretty pink princess has facets.

So, as we’re celebrating this, I’m sort of keeping up with the discussion in the blogosphere. And there’s some discussion going on saying, “Well, OK, heavily gendered science kits: probably problematic. But, maybe we’re doing some pink-bashing here. Maybe we’ve got to make the world safe for pink microscopes, too.”

There was sort of this “click!” in my head when I remembered — oh wait, it’s not just that we live in a culture that says “Girls can’t do science,” and we’ve got to deal with that; or that girls need to be feminine, and we’ve got to deal with that. We live in a culture where we have this idea that scientists need to be a certain way.

So we’ve gone from where I was when I was in school, having teachers tell me, “You can’t do science ’cause you’re a girl,” to now maybe the teachers are saying , “Well, you’re probably not going to be into science because you’re a girly girl.” You can do science, but you’ve got to be one of those girls who thinks the whole femininity thing is not something you want to spend any kind of time with.

And that’s a problem, too.

And I thought back to my misspent scientific youth in a physical chemistry lab, where absolutely the smartest, the best scientist in that lab aside from my PI was a fourth year graduate student who graduated after her fourth year with a ton of publications in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. But people outside of our lab thought she had all kinds of help, or that her work must not be too significant, and the main reason they seemed to think that is ’cause she did her hair, and she wore make up, and she did her nails, and she was kind of a grown up pretty princess. If they had bothered to talk to her about her science, if they had bothered to look inside her notebooks — which, I grant, were kept in loopy script, sometimes in pink ink — they would have seen that she was fiercely intelligent and frighteningly organized in her attack on the research questions that she pursued. She was an astonishingly good scientist, and she was made to feel like an outsider in our scientific community simply because she did femininity.

And we’ve got to cut this out. We have to cut this out.

We not only have to, as a culture, get over the idea that boys have to be a certain way and girls have to be a certain way, and that the certain way girls have to be is not compatible with doing science. We also have to get over the idea that to be a good scientist you have to be a certain kind of person, and that’s not the kind of person who’s going to get his or her nails done.

Because ultimately, the world I want to be in, the world I want for my daughters — for the tomboy and the pretty princess — is one where they can be authentically who they are, and they can love science, and they can pursue science, and it doesn’t matter what else they like.

Thank you.
_____
*At the banquet, I erroneously said “Mad Science.” Ah, the dangers of telling a story without notes!

Meet St. Marys’ successful scientists of tomorrow

From Derry Journal: Meet St. Marys’ successful scientists of tomorrow
something from a movie.

It’s been played out on the silver screen many times before; an inspirational teacher comes along and instills a love of learning in the minds of those of whom she teaches. What exists between the pupils and their teacher is more of a friendship than forced respect. It endures even after some of the girls leave the school for university.

This is exactly what is happening in St. Mary’s College between Mrs. Blanking and her students.

“Mrs. Blanking is more like a friend than she is a teacher - we all really enjoy her company,” said fifth year pupil, Cara Molloy.

Earlier this month Ann was presented with the Intel Educator of Excellence Award at the Young Scientist of the Year awards in Dublin. Ann is co-ordinator of Key Stage Three Science at the school.

St. Mary’s put seven projects forward and all seven were short listed. Out of 1,743 entries only 550 were selected to take part in the final competition in Dublin.

All seven St. Mary’s science projects made it into the final; two of the projects were highly commended while two other projects were runners-up.

Lavina Blanking, Ann’s grand-daughter was presented with the Irish Medical Board award.

If all of the above wasn’t enough to have everyone back at the Northland Road school jumping with joy, party mode was well and truly initiated when the school was presented with the best overall Northern Ireland school award.

“I was delighted for the girls and the school,” said Ann. “The girls got what they deserved. Their projects were top class - they were some of the best I have ever seen.”

Ann was a late comer to teaching.

After raising three children she decided at the age of 27 to study for a degree and a PGCE (teaching qualification) through the Open University. Her first teaching position was in St. Brigid’s in Claudy when she was 33.

“I don’t think there’s a school in Derry that I haven’t taught in at some stage. If memory serves me I think the only school I have never taught in is Foyle College.

“I started off in Claudy, then St. Brecan’s, I then moved to St. Brigid’s in Carnhill, spent some time at Rosemount PS before teaching in St. Columb’s College,” she recalled.

“I know that I have been teaching for a long time because there’s a girl I’m teaching now at St. Mary’s and I taught her mother when I was a teacher in St. Brecan’s High School. It’s longer than I like to remember,” she laughed.

Ann started up the chemistry club ten years ago and after recent successes she has been inundated with requests to join from other students.

“The Chemistry Club is something that I supervise after school. We meet up every Wednesday and conduct experiments and talk about what kind of things we’d like to do.

“For example, last winter was one of the most severe we have had for a long time. The girls wanted to find out what salt works best when there’s ice on the ground. They discovered using scientific techniques that calcium chloride was better than sodium chloride when withstanding the freezing conditions. It was a remarkable achievement for the girls - it was really practical and it impressed the judges in the Dublin.”

Ann’s students also endeavoured to make a coffee and tea based sun-cream and they also looked at developing a measuring device that would ensure that sick people consume the appropriate dose of antibiotics when they are ill.

Ann’s dedication to her students is unquestionable. She has a real passion for not just science but helping the girls to develop their skills. The fact that two former pupils stay in regular contact with Ann speaks volumes about her standing not just a teacher but as a figure of inspiration.

“One of my former pupils is now in her third year of a psychology degree - she’s been back into the school many times to meet with the current crop of girls and she came to Dublin with me to help me supervise the group.”

Ann praised this year’s batch of science hopefuls for the way the performed and represented the school in Dublin.

“The quality of project on show was staggering this year. All of the girls in the club are totally dedicated to science.

“I joke with the girls sometimes and tell them that they are nerds, they don’t like it but I tell them that nerds are now cool and trendy - we always end up having a really good laugh in class - they are a really good bunch of girls.

“It’s through projects like this that the girls at the school can develop skills that will stay with them with for the rest of their lives. They might have the greatest science project imaginable but unless they are able to articulate that to the judges they might not win - a big part of it is about communication.”

“There’s a great group of girls in the club and it also gives them the chance to meet with students from other schools. The girls are never out of my classroom - I am convinced they like it because it gives them a place to come and eat their lunch,” she laughed.

Ann’s teaching technique is something unique. It’s not something she learned in a text book or was taught - it’s something that she has believed in since she started teaching in 1990.

“I remember when I was teaching at St. Columb’s College a certain teacher walked past my classroom during one of my lessons. He told me afterwards that I should be more quiet and less bombastic and noisy.

“Well, here I am now, over 15 years later and I am still every bit as bombastic and noisy - the girls seem to like it,” she smiled.

“I do this because I enjoy it. I wish I had had the chance to get involved in science when I was at school.

“School was not like it is now when I was younger - it would have been great to have been able to carry out experiments and enter competitions - I think that that’s one of the reasons why science has become so popular.”

Cara Molloy joined the Chemistry Club in 2007 when she was a first year at the school; Cara is now in fifth year and studying for her GCSEs.

“The reason we love the Chemistry Club is because of Mrs. Blanking - she’s great company and she has taught us so much.

“There’s also a real social side to the chemistry club - it’s where we not only get to meet girls from other year groups from St. Mary’s but we also get the chance to meet with people from other schools all over Ireland.”

Cara added: “The project I worked on was the one to do with the coffee and tea based sun cream - it was highly commended during the awards in Dublin. We worked really hard on it and we were delighted with how it turned out.”

Sixteen year-old Maria McHugh joined the Chemistry Club when she was in second year. She’s now in lower-sixth and is studying Step Up Science for A-level.

“Step-up science covers all of the main disciplines of science. I love studying it.

“As Cara said the main reason we all love science so much is because of Mrs. Blanking - she’s a great teacher, we all get on so well.

“We are getting to go to the Braniac Awards in Birmingham soon too so that should be fun. I am really looking forward to it because we have a few good ideas up our sleeves in terms of what project we are going to take with us.

“I’d definitely say that if it wasn’t for Mrs. Blanking I wouldn’t have kept up science. She’s a really inspirational teacher.

“I love science so much that when I leave school I want to be a forensic psychologist.”

As a result of their success at the event in Dublin students from the chemistry club will take part in a national competition in Birmingham next month where they might run into well known television presenter Professor Brian Cox.

“I think all of the girls are looking forward to the Birmingham trip - it’s a big event. There will be schools from all over the United Kingdom there and apparently Professor Brian Cox will be attending also - we might even meet him, who knows?”

As a result of winning the Intel Educator of Excellence award Ann will travel to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania to attend the Intel Educator Academy in May.

“Unfortunately the girls won’t get to go on this one. It’s all for me. The trip to America is just for me. I am really looking forward to it. I am going to bring back whatever new things I learn so that the girls can benefit from it too. We have high hopes for next year and as I keep saying to the girls if your science project is good enough and you know your stuff I’ll enter it into competitions.”

Science is one of the four S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. Ann said that many of the girls at St. Mary’s decide to study science because it offers credible job opportunities.

“In terms of the S.T.E.M. area of employment it is seriously under resourced. There are not enough young people coming out of university with qualifications in a S.T.E.M. subject. There are plenty of jobs in the S.T.E.M. areas - I think that this is a major reason why so many young people are taking up S.T.E.M. subjects - it offers them a future.”