Google Science Fair Winners at the White House

[n2doc]

By Mariette DiChristina | October 6, 2011 |

This year, the first Google Science Fair in partnership with Scientific American, CERN, LEGO and National Geographic drew more than 10,000 students from 91 countries. As the chief judge and master of ceremonies for the awards event on July 11 at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., campus, I was delighted to meet and hear directly about the work of the 15 impressive young scientists, aged 13 to 18, who were finalists. The three students who ultimately won, one in each of three age categories, were honored for their work in determining which marinades produce fewer carcinogens in grilled food (Lauren Hodge, 14), helping people with asthma (Naomi Shaw, 16) and improving ovarian cancer treatment for people who have built up resistance to a common type of chemotherapy drugs (Shree Bose, 17). Now they’ve also been feted at the White House, where they met President Obama, who, in his State of the Union address earlier this year had said that winners of science fairs should be celebrated, not just winners of the Super Bowl.


President Obama and Google Science Fair winners Naomi Shaw, Shree Bose and Lauren Hodge. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

I wanted to share this note I received from Samantha Peter of Google about that visit:

“It has been a phenomenal two days for the Google Science Fair winners who were in Washington DC at the invitation of the White House.

“Highlights included:
• Spending time with President Obama in the Oval office where they chatted about their research and their aspirations for the future.
… it wasn’t just that we got to see him and shake hands with him, he knew our projects, he actually knew our names, what we did, and we actually had a conversation with him … he seemed really excited about meeting us!” – Lauren Hodge, 14

more

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/10/06/google-science-fair-winners-at-the-white-house/

[MineralMan]

1. You go, girls! And thanks, Mr. President!

:applause:

[monmouth]

2. Gave me goosebumps reading that. And all girls! n/t

[sk2020]

3. Congrats, ladies!

It really makes me happy to see more female participation in sciences. Right now I teach English overseas, but for a short time I worked as an admissions officer. Almost every single application was a white or asian male; in fact if I saw an application which was a female or minority, or even rarer, a female minority, I'd put it aside in a separate pile for it to be looked at a bit closer. I found that maybe 1 in 20 was a URM female.

I hope this encourages more American young ladies (and also underrepresented minorities) to participate in science. I hope to see the day when women and minorities are actually the majority in science and technology, just as they are quickly becoming in some other areas.