The goal of attracting young women to engineering and science careers remains an important focus at many universities across the U.S. With the aim of making science and engineering fun for female middle school students, the University of Connecticut sponsors an annual one-day workshop, dubbed Multiply Your Options, which immerses girls in a variety of fun and illustrative activities geared to familiarize them with science, math, and engineering concepts and careers.

The 2010 Multiply Your Options will take place at the Storrs campus on Thursday, April 8, and entail more than a dozen workshops taught in a hands-on, problem-solving format by practicing women scientists and engineers, many of whom are UConn alumnae. An afternoon session involves attendees in a deductive reasoning game called “Tool Clues,” in which female role models offer clues about their occupations and the students attempt to deduce their careers.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. in the UConn Student Union. Two hundred students are expected to participate, from middle schools across the state.

Workshops will include simple experiments in chromatography, rocket design, roller-coaster design, hot-air balloon design, reverse engineering of commonly used devices, and waste minimization in manufacturing. Each workshop demonstrates important scientific principles and laws, including inertia, force, momentum, chemical separation and identification, propulsion, and artificial intelligence.

Please visit the Multiply Your Options website for additional details and a schedule of events.

Multiply Your Options 2010 Participating Schools

For more information:

Kevin McLaughlin, 860-486-9306

Colin Poitras, 860-486-4656