'Go for it': Girls get message on science

Think and play big, the speaker advised her young audience.
By MARY ELLEN PELLEGRINI
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Let your light shine, believe and roar, Lynn M. Cavalier told young scientist-hopefuls at Youngstown State University.
Cavalier, senior vice president of human resources for FirstEnergy Service Co., spoke to almost 180 young females in grades six through 12 from across northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania at YSU's ninth annual Women in Science and Engineering Career Workshop Saturday.
"Don't think small or play small," the engineer said. "Things are open to you, and you can be anything you believe you can be."
The speaker said that when she began her studies for a bachelor's degree in engineering she had few female classmates. Thirty years later, she said, women make up only 10 percent to 20 percent of the engineering profession.
The resulting dearth of role models for young women provided the impetus for the seminar in YSU's Kilcawley Center, said Dr. Diana Fagan, workshop director and YSU associate professor of biological sciences.
"Girls who would like to find someone who works in the field of science and engineering have a hard time finding a woman to talk to," she said.
Making a connection
The primary purpose of the event is to connect interested young women with female professionals in those fields, Fagan said. During the panel discussions and hands-on activities that followed the keynote speech, participants interacted with a diverse group of female physicians, scientists, engineers, physical therapists, government officials and other experts.
Fagan said the names of many of those professionals are posted on the mentor list on the WIS Web site.
"If the girls have questions after the career day, they can contact those panelists through the Web site," she said.
Those contacts "give [young women] that chance for networking at an early age and networking with each other, and that exposes them to information so they can make a better choice," added Cavalier.
Saturday's daylong event, which included the participants' parents and teachers, was also designed to highlight the many options available to the young women. Future engineers and scientists may solve global warming, reinforce buildings to withstand the next tsunami, make bionic body parts, design jewelry or create a better snowboard, Cavalier told the gathering.
In engineering, "you have many choices for your degree," she said.
Opportunities open
Dr. Cynthia Hirtzel, dean of the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology, said changing demographics in the work force will open tremendous opportunities for women in the technical fields.
"In the next five to 10 years we will lose half the work force [because of retirements], and the earlier students start preparing, the better."
Hirtzel stressed the importance of upper-level high school math and science classes as part of that preparation.