This is a fabulous time to be a Nerd Girl. Proof: Do you see that dazzling picture of Nerd Girls founder Dr. Karen Panetta with President Obama in the Oval Office?
Dr. Karen was among nine individuals and eight organizations honored in 2010-2011 for their contributions to the education of the scientists, mathematicians, and engineers of the future. Additionally, honorees receive awards of $25,000 from the National Science Foundation to further their mentoring efforts.
In addition to her academic mentoring efforts, Dr. Karen hopes to advance Nerd Girl culture through the media with Nerd Girls Inc. Check out this awesome interview she did for BBC World Today to get the inside scoop:
I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Karen some questions about the Presidential Award, with the hope that my questions might inspire new ones from the rest of you (take advantage of that “ASK DR. KAREN” button in the Nav bar!). Hit the jump to read more!
After an explosion of outrage from parents, JC Penny removed this T-Shirt, emblazoned with “I’m too pretty to do my HOMEWORK so my brother has to do it for me,” and sized for girls ages 7-16, from its website this week. Thankfully, the item was not stocked in stores for girls to pick out as a complement to their new backpack and pencil case. JC Penny pulled it quickly and issued an apology.
It’s a no-brainer that when we get a new cell phone or computer we want to do our environmental-best by recycling the old one. But an NPR radio piece from the gadget-and-gizmo-purchasing 2010 holiday season might raise the concern of any environmentally conscious techie who thought she had done her due diligence by putting her old motherboard in a blue bin.
In this Fresh Air segment called After Dump, What Happens to Electronic Waste?, NPR spoke with Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, a charitable organization dedicated to keeping toxic waste out of the environment.
According to Puckett, “The dirty little secret is that when you take [your electronic waste] to a recycler, instead of throwing it in a trashcan, about 80 percent of that material very quickly finds itself on a container ship going to a country like China, Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Pakistan—where very dirty things happen to it.”
What kind of dirty things is Puckett referring to? Well, in these countries, with their lax (if any) environmental laws, the process of stripping and burning our old has-beens has become a way of life for the poor, sometimes with deadly consequences. Bryan Walsh authored a 2009 Time article titled e-Waste Not where he spoke of “Guiyu, China, a recycling hub where peasants heat circuit boards over coal fires to recover lead, while others use acid to burn off bits of gold.” Guiyu, he goes on to say, has the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world.
You know that scene in The Matrix when Trinity says, “Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter. Hurry!” And then Tank downloads a program into her brain and suddenly, voila, she can fly the thing? Crazy with a capital C or maybe not so Crazy? Yup. We’re talking brain implants today.
In June, 2011, The Journal of Neural Engineering published an article that NPR’s Tom Ashbrook calls “the first clear demonstration of a brain implant improving cognition.” Ashbrook hosted a forty-five minute On Point discussing the groundbreaking findings with science reporter Benedict Carey, lead author in the study Theodore Berger, and neuroscientist David Eagleman.
From May 6 to May 8, 2011, the entire city of Waltham, MA, transformed itself for a Steampunk Festival hosted by the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. There was art, dance, film, and, of course, elaborate Victorian costumes, all in the Steampunk tradition, celebrating the union of the innovation and imagination of the futurists of the late 19th century with the technological capabilities of 2011.
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has just announced this year’s winners of its Anita Borg Women of Vision Awards. Nerd Girls’ own Dr. Karen Panetta was named one of the three winners!
The Awards honor women making significant contributions to technology in three categories: Innovation, Leadership, and Social Impact. The three winners are selected from a field of highly qualified women in technology professions in industry, academia, non-profits or government. Candidates are considered based on their records of (1) consistent, significant contributions to technology invention and application; (2) effecting positive changes in the ways in which technology impacts society; and (3) demonstrated leadership in the technology industry that extends beyond their place of work.
Since the birth of the Internet, entrepreneurs have believed that social shopping - what Paul Marsden of Practical E-Commerce calls “helping people connect where they buy, and buy where they connect” - would be revolutionary. But it never fully took off. Perhaps until now.
If you’re a Nerd Girl who wants to work hard in college, gain a ton of practical experience, and be mentored by top-notch faculty and professionals, there are some great (and even free!) schools waiting for your application. Talk about value for your investment…
This small school (334 total undergraduates) has only been around since 2002 and offers just a handful of engineering degrees (computer and electrical, mechanical, and engineering), but US News ranked Olin 8th on its list of Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs and tuition at this highly selective school is free.
There are tons of opportunities for you to get some help with your education, and since you’re all so busy working on said-education, I’ve done some of the leg work for you. As promised in our last post, below are just a few of the many organizations looking to reward you for all of your academic efforts:
The Facts: Merit-based scholarships for women entering their junior or senior year of college who are “pursuing studies in computer science, computer engineering, web design or other IT-related disciplines.” Awards are up to $10,000 and may be used for tuition, fees, books, and supplies.
So, a quick look around the Internet and it seems like plenty of people think they have us Nerd Girls pegged. Well, not so fast. Time to bust some of the biggest Nerd Girl myths:
1. All Nerd Girls Love the Same Nerdy Things
I guess the whole point of calling someone a ‘nerd’ is to define and categorize them, and, yes, there are some things Nerd Girls do share - we tend to be intelligent, aware, and passionate - but beyond that, all bets are off.
There’s something in us Nerd Girls that makes us want to take our interests as far as we can, to plow through obstacles and challenge ourselves. But what are those interests? Could be anything. Beads. Renewable Energy. Insects. Words. You name it.
