Harvard professor to speak at YSU event

Staff report

youngstown

Mara Prentiss will be the keynote speaker at the 17th annual Edward W. Powers Women in Science and Engineering Career Workshop and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Lecture Series at Youngstown State University.

Prentiss is a physics professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics, mathematics and philosophy from Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass., (1980) and a doctorate of philosophy in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., (1986).

At the career day, Prentiss will discuss her career and touch upon careers in physics available today. At the STEM lecture, she will discuss some of her work at Harvard University in the lecture “How Small Things Construct Themselves: Insights Into the Physics of Life.”

The Women in Science and Engineering Career Day will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 26. Panel discussions will take place during the morning, and hands-on activities and lab demonstrations will take place in the afternoon in Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus. The workshop is designed to expose young women in grades six through 12 to career opportunities in science and technology.

Panel discussions will be by area women on many different careers. Hands-on activities and demonstrations will be on such topics as biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, forensics and physical therapy.

The workshop is open to all middle- and high-school girls from Mahoning and Trumbull counties and western Pennsylvania. Students will attend two workshops and two demonstrations of their choice.

Parents can receive college planning and financial-aid information and take campus tours while their daughters participate in the workshop.

Registration must be submitted by April 22. The workshop and lunch are free to all students.

Information about the workshop and online registration may be found at www.ysu.edu/WIS. For more information or to receive a registration form in the mail, contact Diana Fagan at 330-941-1554 or by email at dlfagan@ysu.edu.

A donation from the Edward W. Powers Foundation in 2012 supports the continuation of WISE Career Day and the STEM Lecture Series. At the STEM Lecture series, the WISE Career Day speaker gives a presentation on their work.

The STEM lecture will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. April 25 in the Ohio Room at Kilcawley Center, Youngstown State University. The lecture is free and open to the public.