GIRLS IN SCIENCE DAY
Hayley Mattice, left, and Rachel Nicholson from Holy Trinity School in Simcoe, jump into a pool filled with corn starch and water during Girls in Science Day at McMaster University on Friday. The icky, white mixture exhibits properties of both a liquid and solid. About 90 Grade 10 girls, selected by their schools (two to five per school), came to learn about going on to study sciences at the post secondary level. They took part in hands-on workshops, a planetarium show, a tour of the McMaster LiveLab, and heard a keynote lecture from Dr. Fiona McNeill, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy at Mac. The event was organized by the group Graduate Women in Physics and Astronomy. Despite huge advancements in promoting women in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, women are under-represented. About 40 per cent of all STEM graduates are women and only 20 per cent of physics and engineering undergrads are women. Left, Maryam Alhamdan from Erindale Secondary School tests a kind of Silly Putty she made.