More than 1,470 middle and high school students and teachers from more than 60 Oklahoma schools gathered at Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City for the 2018 Women in Science Conference on Oct. 23, setting a new attendance record for the event.
Attendees experienced the many wonders of the museum, plus a multitude of activities designed especially for the conference. Science and engineering concepts were applied to real-life situations during the prosthetic prototype challenge and the drop-proof cell phone case design project, and at the fizzing bath bombs formulation station.
More than 200 vendors, volunteers and panelists provided students and teachers with hands-on science and technology experiences; insight into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) career opportunities; and college/university information. Thirty-five recruitment booths, hosted by college, university and business groups, engaged students in hands-on STEM activities and provided information about education and career opportunities available after high school.
A special workshop session just for teachers provided training on four new STEM activities, and take-home kits were provided for classroom implementation.
The 2018 Women in Science Conference was hosted and presented by the National Science Foundation’s Oklahoma Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (OK NSF EPSCoR), Science Museum Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Museum Network, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) and the NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium/NASA EPSCoR.