By Ana Shulla-Mesi, PhD
The 66th annual Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Student Science Fair took place at the Museum of Science and Industry on March 17-20, 2016. Representatives from the Association of Women in Science (AWIS) Chicago served as Special Award Judges to recognize outstanding female students in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The STEM areas represented at this year’s Science Fair were Aerospace Science, Behavioral Science, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Electronics, Engineering, Environmental Science, Health Science, Materials Science, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics and Zoology. There were a total of 357 science projects presented and more than sixty percent of these projects (223) were led by female students. Female students comprised a large majority of presenters in the areas of Zoology, Behavioral Science and Biochemistry. In the future it would be great to see more girls presenting in other fields including Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science.
AWIS-Chicago board members, Barbara Di Eugenio and Ana Shulla-Mesi together with volunteers Susan Meschel and Jacqueline Gresham awarded five $50 Amazon.com gift cards to outstanding female exhibitors showing promise in scientific research.
This year awardees were:
Madeline Yu, 8th Grade/Environmental Science
Nadiya Tarnavchyk, 7th Grade/Chemistry
Hanna Mularczyk, 11th Grade/Mathematics
Veronica Garklavs, 10th Grade/Chemistry
Samone Patterson, 10th Grade/Electronics
AWIS-Chicago will continue the tradition of recognizing and promoting female student scientists. The next Science Fair will be held at the end of March 2017. If interested in volunteering at this event keep an eye for the announcement from AWIS Communications.