Rosalia, local middle school student, shows off her rubber band car in progress.
NIMBioS hosted area middle school girls this month for SHADES, an interactive one-day workshop in science and engineering. Girls did many fun and interactive STEM activities including T-shirt chromatography, building model sinkholes, using Geiger counters, creating genetic code bracelets, and making special tapes to measure tree trunk diameter using pi. The day culminated with an engineering design competition where the girls built rubber-band cars. The day was designed to show off fun and interesting applications of STEM to attract girls to science and engineering careers.
Girls using chromatography to create T-shirt designs
SHADES stands for “SHAring ADventures in Engineering and Science.” The annual event is sponsored with the Greater Knoxville Math/Science Coalition, which includes the American Association of University Women (AAUW), American Women in Science (AWIS), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), American Nuclear Society (ANS), Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE), and US Women in Nuclear (WIN).