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March
17, 2003 |
High School Women to Explore High-Tech
Careers at Design Your Future Day
 More
than 300 young women along with their parents, teachers, and guidance
counselors from high schools in Troy, Rochester, and Poughkeepsie
are expected to turn out for Rensselaer’s Design Your Future
Day Saturday, March 29.
For the sixth straight year, top 10th and 11th
graders in math and science will take part in hands-on activities
designed to interest them in careers in science, technology, and
engineering. They will be teamed with Rensselaer undergraduates
who will act as their mentors for the day.
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and General Motors
are corporate sponsors of the event.
Some of the day’s activities include “Unmasking
the Mysteries of the Human Body,” where participants seek
answers to physiological questions using Virtual Human Dissection
computer simulator; “The Power of Water and Jewels,”
where students find out how water and garnets can be used as water-cutting
tools; and “Dad, I Turned Off the Lights, Really!,”
where attendees solder and assemble a flash camera circuit.
 At
noon, participants will gather in the Alumni Sports and Recreation
Center to hear a panel of women discuss their interests, their
educational and career choices, and their accomplishments at Rensselaer
and beyond.
“Design Your Future Day is a great opportunity
for these young women to discover potential avenues for applying
their unique talents and skills in math and science,” said
Barbara Ruel, director of Rensselaer’s Women in Engineering
programs and organizer of the event. “The activities and
conversations with the women students and alumnae provide inspiration
and the opportunity to explore professions they might otherwise
never have considered.”
After last year’s event, Ruel said, 72 percent
of the young women who attended said it made them think seriously
about careers in engineering and science.
For a complete schedule of the day’s events, go to http://www.eng.rpi.edu/WWW/wit/dyfd/.
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