Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center hosted their fourth annual Girls In STEM day at their sprawling main campus for 170 young ladies in grades six through eight.
The girls, all from Northeast Ohio, were welcomed by Dr Janet Kavandi, Director of Glenn and a 3-time astronaut. Kavandi holds bachelors and masters degrees in chemistry and a PhD in analytical chemistry.
Learn more about NASA Glenn Center Director Dr Janet Kavandi
Then the group was treated to a panel discussion about career possibilities in science, technology, engineering and math - collectively known as STEM.
Tours of the center are always a highlight and the ladies had the chance to see Glenn's SLOPE laboratory which features a 60-foot long lunar soil simulator that is used to test rovers, the Zero Gravity Research Facility, Propulsion Systems Laboratory, Altitude Combustion Stand (used for simulated altitude rocket tests), Graphics and Visualization Laboratory (virtual reality), the Telescience Support Center (where earth based researchers operate experiments that are onboard the International Space Station, and the Photovoltaic Lab where energy from light is created.
The students also got to work in an engineering design challenge and took part in other hands-on activities like making bracelets from energy storing beads, making a liquid cooling and ventilation garment to keep astronauts comfortable, constructing a handheld rocket and building a robotic arm effector (the part at the end that interacts with the work environment).
They were also treated to lunch and had the chance to score some sweet NASA merchandise.
The participants came from several local programs including the Girls Scouts of Northeast Ohio, Our Lady of the Elms School (Akron), NASA's Minority University Research and Education Program, the National Congress of Black Women (Bedford Heights) and SOS - Strengthening Our Students program (Cleveland).
It is an incredibly popular program. Applications for groups interested in participating are released in March of each year.
You can keep up with all of the educational opportunities offered at NASA Glenn on their website.