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Second annual Women in Science Conference to be held at BHSU

  • 06 May 2019
The Black Hills State University Women in Science Group will hold its second annual Women in Science Conference at BHSU in Spearfish Wednesday, May 8.

Women in Science is a free, one-day workshop designed to provide middle school girls with engaging opportunities to learn about topics from the diverse fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Attendees will be exposed to career fields including veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physics, chemistry, genetics, information technology, physical therapy, aerospace, paleontology, geology, hydrology, and solar energy.

Dr. Katrina Jensen, director of the conference and associate professor of chemistry at BHSU, said students attending the conference will be introduced to role models who have exciting careers in STEM.

“We hope the students are inspired by their success stories and are motivated to work hard to pursue their own goals,” said Jensen. “We recruited women from diverse fields to present at the conference, and many of the students will learn about careers they may not have known about before coming to campus.”

Students attending the conference will be able to interact with speakers individually during sessions throughout the day. The students will also be engaged in hands-on activities during breakout sessions and in the exhibit hall including working with medical equipment, learning computer programming, interacting with a flood model, and using a flight simulator.

It is anticipated that 400 7th graders and their teachers will attend the conference from 9 schools including:
  • Lead-Deadwood Middle School
  • Spearfish Middle School
  • Upton Middle School
  • Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Junior High School
  • Harding County School District
  • Sturgis Williams Middle School
  • Union Center/Atall School
  • Belle Fourche Middle School
  • Newcastle Middle School.
Jensen said this is a great opportunity for students to visit a college campus and get a feel for what college is like. During the conference, students will attend sessions in different buildings across campus and have lunch in the Hive cafeteria.

“The students will also visit our science labs at BHSU and meet scientists who work right here on campus,” said Jensen.

For information about the conference, please visit the website at www.BHSU.edu/wis. For more information or questions, please email WIS@BHSU.edu or contact Dr. Katrina Jensen, associate professor of chemistry, at 605-642-6247, Katrina.Jensen@BHSU.edu.

The conference is free to students and is supported by generous contributions from the following sponsors:  Black Hills State University, Coeur Wharf Sustainability Fund, SD EPSCoR, the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, Delta Dental, Regional Health, BHSU Admissions, the South Dakota Discovery Center, Zonta, Spearfish Optimists, Caterpillar, and William Walsh.
 
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