Scientists are not all Misfits!

TVGeek Army has a review of a new TV show called Alpha, which they term "Misfits of Science redux". That's because scientists are typically portrayed in TV shows (except SF shows) as nerds, weaklings, etc. The Big Bang Theory comes to mind. I admit it is funny, I like Sheldon, but the girl is a typical...well, girl. The engine light in her car is on - she ignores it. (Indeed, this is a running joke over at least two eps, and it is funny - but stereotypical.)

Anyway:

Alphas: Misfits of Science redux

The opening scene of the new series Alphas opens pretty ominously with an elderly shopper telling Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie) that it's "time to kill." What happens after that is not too hard to guess. However, the rest of the episode is pretty unpredictable.

The series follows a group of people with special abilities known as Alphas. The group is led by Dr. Leigh Rosen (David Straithairn) a scientist who specializes in studying people who are more than normal. Like many of these groups on TV, they are funded by some secret government organization who also uses them to investigate things that have them stumped.

Without giving too much away, the group is made up of an eclectic collection of folks: a hottie, a big black guy, an ex-jock, a teenage girl and even an autistic kid who is the funniest character on the show. The second funniest character has to be the group's government handler, Wilson (Callum Keith Rennie), who sees conspiracies in every doughnut shop in the city.

As I referenced in the story title, the show reminds me quite a lot of Misfits of Science in that the Alphas' abilities have considerable limitations. This is a good thing. Nothing ruins a superhero show faster than making the characters invulnerable. Also, the perpetrator in the pilot has considerable power himself, setting up a nice storyline to sustain the series beyond baddie of the week story lines.

Overall, I enjoyed the pilot and will continue to watch Alphas. While it's not as good as Eureka, it's certainly better than Haven, but then again, what isn't?

Alphas premieres on SyFy Monday night at 10pm.

'Diaries' tells of scientist's adventures with dolphins

Honolulu Star Advertiser: 'Diaries' tells of scientist's adventures with dolphins

When I was growing up, I enjoyed Jacques Cousteau TV specials, and I also liked "Star Trek." To me the two were similar. In rural Wisconsin the ocean and its inhabitants felt as accessible as Vulcan and as real as Tribbles.

A fellow Midwesterner, Denise Herzing, also watched Cousteau shows, and she fell for dolphins. This was no little girl's infatuation with cute animals: Denise wanted to know what went on in dolphin brains. When she was 12 years old, she wrote an essay about the one thing she would like to do for the world: "I would develop a human-animal translator so that we could understand other minds on the planet."

Well, if you're going to mind-meld with another species, it's only logical to do it with the animals that have the highest brain-to-body ratio on earth (after humans). And that's dolphins.

Researchers have studied dolphin communication with captive animals for decades, but Herzing wanted to know whether she could create two-way communication with wild dolphins. She spent most of her adult life in that pursuit, and shares that journey in her new book, "Dolphin Diaries: My 25 Years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas."

Herzing chose to work with the Atlantic spotted dolphin because the species is highly social, and groups of them hang out in the shallow and accessible sand banks of the Bahamas.

(One of Hawaii's most common dolphins is the closely related Pantropical spotted dolphin, also an extremely social species but hard for us to get near as they prefer rough channels.)

For years, Denise and her team traveled to the same spot every summer to visit the same dolphins. Through markings and behavior, Denise got to know individuals and their relationships to one another, and the dolphins came to recognize and be comfortable with her.

Herzing learned to play dolphin games, such as push-the-sea-cucumber and pass-the-seaweed. The human players added a red bandanna to the games, a toy the dolphins loved and sometimes stole.

After 12 summers (and a load of bandannas), Denise discovered that these dolphins have sex for fun, love to play and have strong social bonds. "Every dolphin," she writes, "is someone's mother, brother or friend." It was time to start experimenting with two-way communicating, a process that took up the next 13 years and counting.

How Herzing went about this research, and the results, was part of the fun of reading her book, so I won't spoil the story. I will say, though, that a good part of the narrative shows the obstacles, from tiger sharks and hurricanes, to boat repairs and bureaucracy. Working with dolphins is sometimes fun, but 95 percent of the time it's hard work.

Like Denise, I eventually discovered that I too could travel to the alien world of the ocean, survive its potentially lethal environment and connect with its fantastic creatures. From the get-go, whenever I saw dolphins riding my bow wave, I always wondered: What are these animals thinking?

"Dolphin Diaries" beamed me underwater and gave me the rare and long-lasting gift of some dolphin thoughts. Thank you, Denise and dolphins. Live long and prosper.

Skilled German Muslims held back by stereotypes

Deutsche-Welle: Skilled German Muslims held back by stereotypes

"My name is Ismahen Dabbach, I am 26 years old, I was born in Germany and I am a trained office clerk. I am very flexible, independent and open to everything that carries me further forward in life."

This is how Ismahen Dabbach describes herself in job interviews. She is wearing a light-blue shirt and a black woolen scarf that covers her hair, neck and shoulders - an outfit she would also choose when meeting her potential employer for the first time. But Dabbach, whose parents are Tunisian, feels that since she decided to wear the Muslim headscarf four months ago, her search for a job has become extremely difficult.

"Eight-hour job with headscarf"

"They put you on a waiting list, then they invite you and tell you that they will call you, but after three days you get a rejection letter. So you start asking yourself: did I make a mistake or is it the company's fault?," Dabbach asks and hunches her shoulders.

In a blue file she has collected about 30 rejection letters. She says that she lost track of how many applications she had written in the last few months and adds that before she was covering her hair, she didn't have any difficulty finding internships, part-time jobs and her apprenticeship in a logistics firm.

"I want to have a normal eight-hour-job, from eight to five, five days a week, where I can wear my headscarf, like an ordinary citizen," she says. Dabbach lives in the western German town of Gütersloh, but for a good job she would move anywhere in Germany.

Islamophobic job market?

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Skilled Muslim women struggle with stereotypesDabbach is not the only skilled Muslim woman having trouble finding a job in Germany. In Dusseldorf, the North Rhine-Westphalian capital, about 80 people have gathered in a conference room where scientists, politicians, activists and Muslim social workers are discussing discrimination against Muslim women in the workplace.

One of the organizers is Erika Theissen. She has carefully matched the pastel blue color of her headscarf to the rest of her outfit. Theissen converted to Islam in the 1980s and is now managing director of the Muslim Women's Center for Encounters and Further Education (BFmF) in Cologne.

It's one of the biggest associations for Muslim women in Germany. Today, over 50 Muslim women, some of them highly qualified, work in her center.

"People think, the Muslim community doesn't want Muslim women to work. But most Muslim women are not discriminated against by the Muslim community, but by society. Society is not open enough to let us work."

According to a 2010 nationwide poll by the research institute Infratest-dimap, more than one third of the respondents would prefer "a Germany without Islam."

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Peucker still sees a lot of prejudice in corporate Germany
Mario Peucker, a social scientist at the University of Melbourne, has studied the integration of Muslims in the German job market. He says that examples of discrimination in the workplace are hard to uncover, and it has not been possible yet to identify religion - rather than race or country of origin - as the source of discrimination in Germany.

Peucker says there are no hard figures yet, but studies and interviews with Muslim migrants show that women who wear a headscarf have hardly any chance of getting a job where a certain prestige is involved.

Esma May, whose parents are from Turkey is Muslim, but she has decided not to cover her hair. May is also a politician with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

"I am convinced that it is possible to have a career also on the German market, if you have the qualification, the motivation. It doesn't matter where you come from, it's just important what you make out of it," she says and makes a fist in the air and adds "Yes you can!"

Role models needed

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Headscarves are not bad for business, says Erika TheissenSocial scientist Mario Peucker does not share that optimism. He says that interviews with employers in small and medium-sized German companies have shown that some of them clearly show anti-Muslim tendencies. From interviews with employers he knows that some of them also think Muslims have a lower social capital and do not achieve as much as other applicants.

"Even if they don't have personal resentments, they may think that their customers or their staff might have a negative image of Muslims and this becomes their reason for not employing Muslim men or women," Peucker says.

He thinks that the German anti-discrimination law that was put in place in 2006 is efficient, but many people just don't know about it. He also says anonymous applications could be a way to fight discrimination, as the employer wouldn't see a name or photo on the applicant's resume.

But Erika Theissen thinks it's not enough. "I think the government must be a role model for those people who have the possibility to give jobs and then I hope, other people will think: ok, I can take a woman with a headscarf, it will not cause a big problem for my business."

Torn between two countries

Dabbach from Gütersloh has started searching the internet for jobs offered by Muslim companies. In recent years, a few websites have been launched that provide social platforms and job offers for Muslims.

And although some believe that these platforms reinforce the divisions in the labor market, Dabbach's online job ad was instantly successful. After three days, she got a job offer from abroad.

"What should I do now?," she asks, looking helpless. "I am at home in Germany, my family and friends are here. Should I just leave them? I am really torn."

Author: Julia Hahn
Editor: Nicole Goebel

Childhood George Washington Carver read prompts poet

Neosho Daily News: Childhood George Washington Carver read prompts poet
Diamond, Mo. — When she was a young child, Marilyn Nelson, poet and author, read a biography about George Washington Carver.

On Saturday during the 68th annual Carver Day at the George Washington Carver National Monument, she was one of the guest speakers.

“In about second or third grade, I read a biography of Carver in the school library,” Nelson said. “And I decided at that point that I wanted to be a scientist, like Carver. I wanted to be a doctor or scientist for several years after that. Then I forgot about it. When I was a middle-aged woman, a poet with some reputation, I decided that I wanted to write a saint’s life and I decided to write about the 12th century German saint Hildegard Bingen.”

Nelson went to Germany and did a lot of research on Bingen. Later, she came home and was preparing to start the writing project.

“I was sitting at my desk, organizing my material, when I got a phone call from someone who had been a friend of my parents years earlier when I was a child,” Nelson said. “He stopped by and as he was leaving, he pulled out a brochure from this place (Carver National Monument) and said, ‘Marilyn, I think that you ought to write a book about George Washington Carver.’”

She stopped Bingen’s writing project and instead wrote “My saint’s life about George Washington Carver instead.”

Nelson read some poems from her book, “Carver: A Life in Poems.” One of the poems in the book is, “Watkin’s Laundry and Apothecary.”

“This is about his time in school in Neosho, when he lived with Mariah Watkins,” she said. “She is the speaker of this poem and she is just talking about how this child came to live with her for a certain amount of time and what kind of child he was.”

Two other poems were “Chemistry 101” and “God’s Little Workshop.”

“‘Chemistry 101’ is about his first year of teaching at Tuskegee (Institute), when there was no laboratory equipment and he took the students out into the dump to find things that they could use,” Nelson said. “‘God's Little Workshop’ is about the inventions that he came up with in his laboratory at Tuskegee.”

When Nelson wrote her book, she did research at both the local monument and also at Tuskegee.

Asked to name something unique about Carver she enjoys, Nelson said, “He was a very forward-thinking in his science, I think. What he tried to do was to take materials that are not much valued and find out what they could be used for. I really liked the fact that he, for example, taught that we need to make a spot for weeds in our garden. I think that we tend to, especially Americans, be sort of big crop people, like corn. We wipe out everything else and we are only going to grow corn. And what Carver, I think, was showing is that diversity is important. And that is true not only culturally, but also in the natural world that we need to recognize and respect the diversity the Creator has given us. And to learn how to find the gifts within the gift.”

Other activities during the day included music, hands-on events, guided tours, Carver films, exhibits inside the visitor’s center and speakers. Musical performers included Rev. John Wilkins, gospel blues singer and guitarist; Joe Becton, musician and living history performer; Sensational Wonders; the Joyful Noise Community Choir; and area church choirs. Storyteller Carole Shelton shared African-American stories.

One of the children’s activities was playing with 1800s toys and painting.

Ashton Cook, 3 and Kaden Cook, 9, Stark City, were painting during the event.

Ashton was asked what she was going to do with the picture after she got done with it.

“Put it on the clothesline to dry,” she said. “Then I will hang it on the refrigerator.”

For more information, call GWC National Monument at 325-4151 between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Administered by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, George Washington Carver National Monument preserves the birthplace and childhood home of George Washington Carver, scientist, educator, and humanitarian.

Mercury News interview: Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner, Floodgate Fund in Palo Alto

Mercury News: Mercury News interview: Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner, Floodgate Fund in Palo Alto

child of Silicon Valley's high-tech culture of innovation and risk-taking, Ann Miura-Ko is a good fit for her role as one of the valley's influential venture capitalists.

Growing up in Palo Alto, the daughter of a rocket scientist, she baby-sat for a serial startup founder and showed an early interest in robotics. That interest ultimately led to an electrical engineering degree from Yale and a doctorate in operations research, management science and engineering from Stanford.

Even before she completed her doctorate last year, she was working with Mike Maples Jr., the venture capitalist who is her partner at Floodgate Fund, a Palo Alto micro-cap venture firm that specializes in early-stage startups.

One of a relatively small number of women in venture capital, Miura-Ko, 34, has developed a reputation as a penetrating thinker on trends in technology, innovation and the role of investment, particularly as it affects Silicon Valley. We recently spoke with her about those subjects. The interview has been edited for length.

Q You've said that people haven't fully recognized the power of the Internet yet. What do you mean by that?

A I think that most people look at the Internet and say that all the innovation that has needed to be done has been done, that with social networking, this is the last generation of innovation.

Q Isn't it possible that this is the valley's last great wave of next new things?

A My point is that the real power of the Internet wasn't the interesting businesses created upon it. The real power was comparable to the Gutenberg press or the Industrial Revolution. It created a new business mindset and new ways of innovation. With the Gutenberg press, there was an incredible, dynamic flow of information created as the result of it, with the ensuing Enlightenment period and the ability of academics to debate ideas, question religion. All that happened from one simple innovation of being able print more information in one day than you could by hand.

What the Internet has created is the democratization of entrepreneurialization. The creation of new businesses is a completely new process.

Q In what way?

A Back when I started graduate school, costs were being drastically reduced because of the early stages of open-source and commoditized technology. Four or five years later, students were just slapping things onto the cloud. With a couple hundred dollars on their credit card they can get started. That is a huge idea that hasn't come to fruition until today. The result of that is that every single engineer out there can be an entrepreneur.

Q Has that changed the role of the venture capitalist?

A The initial seed-stage development cost has been drastically reduced. I believe that capital itself in a lot of ways has been commoditized. Now, it really is, "What do I bring to table besides dollars and cents?"

At Floodgate, we focus on what we call the learning and discovery mode -- the stage in which a startup company is searching for a scalable business model. Companies at this stage have unique needs and are not just a small version of a large company. They have yet to figure out the product that fits a compelling customer problem. They have unique legal, recruiting, PR and strategic needs.

Q You're involved with the Stanford Mayfield Fellows Program, which coaches engineering students who think they might want to become entrepreneurs. What's that like?

A I've taken my three students to board meetings, to pitch sessions, to generally see what life as a venture capitalist looks like. Some will go on to be founders of companies. It's amazing to be part of that life-changing experience, to see the light bulbs go on in their eyes when they see that they can found a company, too.

Q Is that particularly a Silicon Valley phenomenon?

A Stanford is a fairly unique animal. It's not something I see universally. I've gone to Columbia, to NYU, to talk to engineering students about staying off the street, staying off of Wall Street.

Q What do you mean by that?

A This is something I feel passionately about. If you go to a lot of the schools on the East Coast, and you're a pretty good engineering student, one of the tracks that is very attractive is to go into a more quantitative role at an investment bank or a hedge fund. It's financially lucrative. They are offering freshman summer internships. A startup is not nearly as prestigious to these engineering students. So it's educating them on, why wouldn't you want to go work for a no-name company and have a tremendous impact, versus going to Wall Street and doing mergers and acquisitions?

Q A recent study found that about 10 percent of venture capitalists are women. Is it difficult working in a predominantly male field?

A I just never really pay attention to that. If I walk into a room and I'm the only female, I don't notice it anymore. I think it's important for women to adopt that mentality if we want to play a large role. The thing I love about the tech community here is it is completely merit-driven. If you have something to add to the conversation, people will listen to you. If you don't, male or female, people won't listen. Silicon Valley, it's not a male culture, it's a technology culture that woman can be very passionate about. The presence of women in an industry is not an excuse for whether women should be in that industry. We should find our path into it.

Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419.

Ann MIura-Ko
Age: 34
Born: Los Angeles; moved to Palo Alto at age 4
Education: Yale University, electrical engineering, 1998; Stanford University, doctorate in operations research, management science and engineering, 2010
Position: Co-founding partner, Floodgate Fund in Palo Alto
Previous employment: McKinsey; Charles River Ventures
Home: Menlo Park
Family: Married, two children

5 things about ann mIura-ko1. She was a member of a Yale team that designed four soccer-playing robots. The team took fourth at the 1998 RoboCup competition in Paris.
2. She plays piano. Favorite composers are Bach and Brahms.
3. Her dad is a rocket scientist.
4. Her third child is due in September.
5. She likes to sing loudly in the shower.

More on the Sally Ride Science Academy

https://www.sallyridescience.com/

Sally Ride Summer Camps being held this summer:
Innovative hands-on science camps for girls entering 4th - 9th grades.

These unique camps provide girls an opportunity to explore science, technology, and engineering while having fun on a college campus.

In summer 2011, Sally Ride Science Camps will be held at

Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of San Diego Massachusetts Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology

http://www.sallyridecamps.com/

About Sally Ride (bio from her website):

PERSONAL: Born May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles. Her mother, Joyce Ride, resides in Pasadena, California. Her father, Dale Ride, is deceased. Her sister "Bear" lives in California. Sally played tennis growing up (was nationally ranked as a junior, led Stanford’s women’s team in college, and worked as a tennis instructor). She enjoys running, volleyball, softball, and stamp collecting.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Westlake High School, Los Angeles, California, in 1968; received from Stanford University a bachelor of science in Physics and a bachelor of arts in English in 1973, a Master of Science and doctorate degrees in Physics in 1975 and 1978, respectively.

EXPERIENCE: Dr. Sally Ride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978. In August 1979, she completed a 1-year training and evaluation period, making her eligible for assignment as an astronaut on future Space Shuttle flight crews. While in training, she worked on development of the shuttle’s robot arm, and worked in mission control as a capsule communicator. (CAPCOM) on the STS-2 and STS-3 missions.

Sally Ride is the first American woman to fly in space. She was mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 18, 1983. She was accompanied by Captain Robert L. Crippen (spacecraft commander), Captain Fredrick H. Hauck (pilot), and fellow mission specialist Colonel John M. Fabian and Dr. Norman E. Thagard. This was the second flight for the Orbiter Challenger and the first mission with a 5-person crew. During the mission, the STS-7 crew deployed satellites for Canada (ANIK C-2) and Indonesia (PALAPA B-1); operated the Canadian-built robot arm to perform the first deployment and retrieval with the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01); conducted the first formation flying of the shuttle with a free-flying satellite (SPAS-01); carried and operated the first U.S./German cooperative materials science payload (OSTA-2); and operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) and the Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR) experiments, in addition to activating seven Getaway Specials. Mission duration was 147 hours before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on June 24, 1983.

Sally Ride’s second flight was the 13th shuttle flight, STS 41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 5, 1984. This was the largest crew to fly to date and included captain Robert L. Crippen (spacecraft commander), Captain Jon A. McBride (pilot), fellow mission specialists, Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan and Commander David C. Leestma, as well as two payloads specialists, Commander Marc Garneau and Mr. Paul Scully-Power. Their 8-day mission deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the Earth with the OSTS-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, as well as demonstrating potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. Mission duration was 197 hours and concluded with a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 13, 1984.

In June 1985, Sally Ride was assigned to the crew of STS 61-M. Mission training was halted in January 1986 following the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. Sally Ride served as a member of the Presidential Commission investigating the accident. Upon completion of the investigation, she was assigned to NASA Headquarters as Special Assistant to the Administrator for long range and strategic planning. There she authored a report entitled “Leadership and America’s Future in Space,” and was the first Director of NASA’s Office of Exploration.

In 1989, Sally Ride joined the faculty at UCSD as a Professor of Physics and Director of the University of California’s Space Institute. In 2001 she founded her own company, Sally Ride Science [www.sallyridescience.com] to pursue her long-time passion of motivation girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math and technology. The company creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students and their parents and teachers.

Long an advocate for improved science education, Sally Ride has written six science books for children including: To Space and Back; Voyager; The Third Planet; The Mystery of Mars; and Exploring Our Solar System. She also initiated and directed education projects designed to fuel middle school students fascination with science.

Sally Ride has been a member of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and the National Research Council’s Space Studies Board, and has served on the Boards of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the NCAA Foundation. Sally Ride is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, and currently serves on the Boards of the Aerospace Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. She is the only person to have served on the Commissions investigating both the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia accidents.

Sally Ride has received numerous honors and awards. She has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame, the Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and has received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the von Braun Award, the Lindbergh Eagle, and the NCAA’s Theodore Roosevelt Award. She has also twice been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal.

Sally Ride Science Academy Engages Teachers, Counselors to Inspire Students in Science and Math

EON: Sally Ride Science Academy Engages Teachers, Counselors to Inspire Students in Science and Math
This press release was posted on June 17, 2011, and I apologize for not sharing it earlier, but I thought it made interesting reading.

275 Educators Selected from Across the Country to Attend 2011 Academy

More than 395 educators trained to date, impacting an additional 2,700 educators nationally
Academy showcases diverse role models in science and engineering fields
Program made possible by the support of ExxonMobil
June 16, 2011 01:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time
IRVING, Texas--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The Sally Ride Science Academy brought to you by ExxonMobil announced today that 275 upper elementary and middle school educators from across the country were selected to learn new, innovative strategies to raise students’ awareness of and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

“Partnering with ExxonMobil, we continue to make strides in equipping talented educators with key tools to prepare and encourage young students, particularly girls, to pursue science and math careers.”
The Academy is a partnership between Sally Ride Science, founded by the first American woman in space, Dr. Sally Ride, and ExxonMobil. The program educates teachers and counselors on the importance of introducing young students to STEM careers, showcases diverse role models in those careers, and provides pathways to incorporate STEM career awareness in the classroom. In addition, the Academy provides gender equity training to help educators foster an encouraging, collaborative learning environment.

“Through the teachers and counselors trained during the Academy sessions this year, we will be able to introduce even more young people to exciting STEM fields,” Ride said. “Partnering with ExxonMobil, we continue to make strides in equipping talented educators with key tools to prepare and encourage young students, particularly girls, to pursue science and math careers.”

The Academy utilizes a train-the-trainer model that prepares Academy graduates to train other teachers in their district during the 2011-2012 school year. Graduates and their trainees will receive sets of the Sally Ride Science Cool Career book series for use in their classrooms. Since the inaugural Academy in 2009, the Academy has trained more than 395 educators in 41 districts spanning 14 states and the District of Columbia. Those educators have since returned to their districts and trained more than 2,700 additional educators using Academy materials.

“We are excited by the progress this program is making to raise awareness of the importance of science and math education in our nation’s classrooms. It will help educators open the eyes of their students to the fun and diverse STEM careers that await them,” said Suzanne McCarron, general manager, public and government affairs, ExxonMobil. “ExxonMobil believes in the importance of preparing young people to meet the challenges of the future with a solid understanding of science and math.”

The three Academy sessions taking place this summer in San Diego are scheduled for:

Sunday, June 19, 2011 – Thursday, June 23, 2011, upper elementary school teachers;

Sunday, June 26, 2011 – Thursday, June 30, 2011, upper elementary school teachers; and

Sunday, July 10, 2011 – Thursday, July 14, 2011, middle school teachers and counselors.

Educators attending each of these sessions are selected in conjunction with Sally Ride Science and local administration from targeted school districts across the country.

The Sally Ride Science Academy is part of ExxonMobil’s investment in math and science education in the United States. The company supports numerous other initiatives that encourage students to take an active interest in careers in the math and science fields; support the professional development of highly qualified teachers and promote involvement of women and minorities students.

About Sally Ride Science
Sally Ride Science™ is an innovative science education company dedicated to supporting girls’ and boys’ interests in science, technology, engineering, and math. The company, founded by Dr. Sally Ride, creates programs (including Sally Ride Science Academy for teachers) and materials (including STEM career books) that bring science to life for students, their parents, and their teachers.

About ExxonMobil
Globally, ExxonMobil provides funding to improve basic education, promote women as catalysts for economic development, and combat malaria and other infectious diseases in developing countries. In 2010, together with its employees and retirees, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), its divisions and affiliates, and ExxonMobil Foundation provided $237 million in contributions worldwide, of which $110 million was dedicated to education. Additional information on ExxonMobil’s community partnerships and contributions programs is available at www.exxonmobil.com/community.