Yale Hosts Science Saturdays: Fun Science Programs for Kids

Published: February 28, 2005

New Haven, Conn. — Ainissa G. Ramirez, an assistant professor of engineering at Yale, will host a series of fun science programs for children — called Science Saturdays — that will showcase dynamic scientists of various backgrounds, ages and disciplines. The series is designed to shatter stereotypes about who scientists are and what scientists do.

Ramirez is committed to children seeing for themselves the diversity and excitement of science and planting the seeds of “That could be me.” Her own background belies the stereotypes. She is a black woman scientist at Yale, who is a much honored mechanical engineer; she was selected as a TR100 top young innovator in 2003 by MIT’s Technology Review magazine, and was selected by the National Academies as a delegate to a meeting for the nation’s top engineers. As a child, the hands–on experience she had at an engineering camp made science fun and a natural way to satisfy her curiosity. Science Saturdays is designed to bring the fun of science to a large audience of local children.

Science Saturdays will be held for five consecutive Saturdays starting March 26th. The programs are designed for students in the 7th grade and older, and are free and open to the public. They will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Davies Auditorium at 15 Prospect Street and will last up to an hour.

Scheduled programs are:

March 26
Emotional Intelligence: Is There Anything To It?
by Peter Salovey, Psychologist and Dean of Yale College

April 2
Mapping the Universe: A Quest for Dark Matter
by Priya Natarajan, Astronomer

April 9
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: Weird New Life on Earth
by Michael Donoghue, Biologist and Director of the Peabody Museum

April 16
Tissue Engineering: Growing New Organs in a Dish
by Erin Lavik, Biomedical Engineer

April 23
Environment and Health: What's Worth Worrying About?
by John Wargo, Forestry & Environmental Studies

The program is supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Yale Faculty of Engineering, National Society of Black Engineers and Scienceworks. More information is available at: www.eng.yale.edu/science or by contacting Ainissa Ramirez at ainissa.ramirez@yale.edu.

PRESS CONTACT: Janet Rettig Emanuel 203-432-2157