GEM-SET


	February 2002 ======================================================================== GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 1, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ******** ANNOUNCEMENTS: Today is the first day of our QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students. The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics? In what year did she receive it and from what university? (Hint: a trail to the answer can be found on the GEM-SET web page at http://www.gem-set.org) Send your answers to GEM-SET@uic.edu. Students who answer correctly will be listed on the "GEM Scholars" web page. GEM-SET will be highlighting African American women scientists, engineers, and technology experts during February, African American History Month. Check out the web site for some resourceful links on these topics! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALISON IN NH I am interested in working with Astronomy and hopefully NASA, but I am also interested in an engineering field, what would you say would be a good engineering field to go into with Astronomy? A: FROM MENTOR TERESA ESSER IN CAMBRIDGE, MA Alison, NASA is required to spin out many of its technologies into the private sector. You could visit the NASA technology transfer center in your region to find out which of NASA's technologies are being commercialized now. http://www.ctc.org/ CTC, Inc. University of New Hampshire 35 Colovos Road Durham, NH 03824 A: FROM MENTOR MICHELLE MOENSSENS, GENERAL MOTORS FORT WAYNE ASSEMBLY PLANT IN FORT WAYNE, IN Alison, A good field to look at would be Aerospace Engineering. My college (West Virginia University) offered that program. You could also combine it with a Mechanical Engineering degree, it only took one more year to have two Bachelor's degrees. While I am solely a Mechanical Engineer (by degree) I would recommend that if you were going to do Aerospace to look at the dual degree. In my opinion, Aerospace Engineering can be limiting, while a Mechanical Engineering degree would open up many more doors and make yourself more useful in the workplace. However, if you feel that ME is not for you, Aerospace is still an excellent choice. There is also Aeronautical Engineering, however it does not deal with "space". To check out the curriculum (at the school I went to--although it will still give you a good base for what other school programs will be like), go to http://www.cemr.wvu.edu/%7Ewwwmae/ I hope you will find it useful. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATIE D. IN REGION V I find science and discovery very interesting but I am also very good with words. I don't want to be a journalist so what are some other career choices that combine science, discovery, and writing? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Science itself involves a lot of writing - writing grant proposals, writing up research results, and sometimes writing books. In fact, writing ability is a good predictor of success among those with similarly adequate math and reasoning ability. A few scientists also write fiction - the physicist Alan Lightman comes to mind. I enjoyed his little book Einstein's Dreams, in which he imagines different worlds in which time behaves differently. In checking how to spell "Alan" via amazon.com I learned that he's an author of 45 different entries there! That's a lot of writing. In industry, lots of scientists become managers of the technical workforce. The ability to communicate - in writing and speaking - is essential there. The business management has to understand what the technical staff is doing in order to decide to support it, and the technical staff needs to understand what the company wants. The heads of research department are the vital link in the process. Rejoice that you have talent on both sides of the alphanumeric divide! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE HEATHER J. IN REGION V I have a question. I would like to be an art teacher and I heard art is just like science. Is this true? A: FROM MENTOR ELYSSA MARGOLIS, PhD Candidate, UCSF/UC BERKELEY, CA There are many different answers to this question. There are certainly many artists who are very scientific about their work, and many scientists who are so creative and aesthetically oriented that you might consider them artistic in their work. Some classic examples of the intersection of art and science include the works of M. C. Escher, and images of fractals and chaos (see http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/ or http://www.mathemagicimages.com/fractals/fractalintro.htm) Another good example is the mobiles of Alexander Calder; for him to build a kinetic sculpture (a sculpture with moving parts but no power source to make the parts move), he had to have at least an intuitive, if not explicit, understanding of physical principles like gravity, center of mass, air flow, and friction. There is a lot of science built into art of any kind though, if you think about it. If you want to paint a picture, you have to think about perspective, lighting and shadows, physical relationships in space, etc., which all involve some elements of physics and/or mathematics. In order to accurately draw or paint a plant or animal, you need to understand the anatomy of it. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LAUREN S. IN CT I love many types of fields in science such as paleontology, astronomy, archaeology, geology and working with microscopes. But I would like to know how will I discover what the field of science that I will be working in is? Also, around what age should I have a pretty good idea of what field I will be working in? A: FROM MENTOR ELYSSA MARGOLIS, PhD Candidate, UCSF/UC BERKELEY, CA The best way to figure it out is to work in different fields. The experience of doing any kind of work has the potential for telling you if you really do enjoy it, or if you really actually would not want to do it for a career. Some people absolutely fall in love with one type of science, and some people enjoy all different things and wind up working in a particular field because of the opportunities available. Some people stay in the same field throughout their career, and some people work in many different fields at different times. And, some select few work in a number of different fields all at the same time. In my experience, it was enough to know that I was interested in science and engineering when I chose a college. I went to Harvey Mudd College (in southern California), and their engineering degree is in general engineering, so I actually learned about all different fields of engineering and did not have to choose. From classes and research projects, I figured out that I liked chemical engineering and computer modeling, especially computational modeling. When I decided I wanted to go to grad school to get my doctorate, I decided to choose a Bioengineering program because I wanted to do engineering in a field that would have a direct effect on human health. I thought I would do something like write computer programs to predict drug effectiveness or how radiation therapy effects different tissues or even how blood flows through the heart. Two and a half years later (I'm 24 and at the UC Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineering graduate program) I have decided that my interest is "drug design for the brain" and I work in a pain and addiction lab where I record how neurons fire in rat brains, and how different drugs effect that firing. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE GRETA H. IN MINNESOT I am kind of interested in the mechanical field, such as working on cars and engines. Are there any females in this line of work, and what kind of discrimination do they have to deal with? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JENNILYNN H. IN MD I am very interested in Chemistry and Math, but I do not know which careers these subjects are most applied. I was wondering what types of careers might be interesting to someone who excels in Chemistry and Math? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXX M. IN IL I was just wondering, if I were to be a vet, but I did not want to be a surgeon, is it possible to do one without the other? I probably wouldn't mind it although I was just unsure. ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 4, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: Optional QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics? In what year did she receive it and from what university? (Hint: a trail to the answer can be found on the GEM-SET web page at http://www.gem-set.org) Send your answers to GEM-SET@uic.edu. Students who answer correctly will be listed on the "GEM Scholars" web page. GEM-SET will be highlighting African American women scientists, engineers, and technology experts during February, African American History Month. Check out the web site for some resourceful links on these topics! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATIE D. IN REGION V I find science and discovery very interesting but I am also very good with words. I don't want to be a journalist so what are some other career choices that combine science, discovery, and writing? A. FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF SAFETY & HEALTH FOR DUPONT IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE Katie, I had a similar situation. I was selected the outstanding student in English upon graduating high school, yet I wanted to study math and science! I decided to focus on engineering, and today I am a chemical engineer, who has to write reports and presentations for myself and for others. My English skills come in handy EVERY day! I am currently a manager, so communication skills are even more important sometimes than my technical know-how. My friend, a mechanical engineer, has a dual degree in mechanical engineering and English. She is one of the best communicators I know! In fact, all kinds of scientists and engineers need to be able to write and speak well! Some engineers even become lawyers, where they use their writing skills even more! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE GRETA H. IN MINNESOTA I am kind of interested in the mechanical field, such as working on cars and engines. Are there any females in this line of work, and what kind of discrimination do they have to deal with? A. FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF SAFETY AND HEALTH, DUPONT, WILMINGTON, DE Greta, you are asking a good question! Yes, there are females that work in and all around the automotive industry. In fact, a group of women engineers helped to design one of the Ford Minivans! As for the discrimination piece, let me say this. The whole world is full of discrimination. It is everywhere, in every profession, and in every workplace. Discrimination is, unfortunately, in your school, on your street corner and in your church. It is also in the workplace. The only way to help discrimination to go away is to get involved and to make it go away for you and for the others that work around you. Many working women and men work hard everyday to make sure WE define OURSELVES, and that we do not others limit us, define our studies, and tell us what we can and cannot do! A: FROM MENTOR CASSIE FENOSEFF, DESIGN RELEASE ENGINEER AT GENERAL MOTORS NORTH AMERICA IN PONTIAC, MI Yes, of course there are females that work on cars and engines. I work for General Motors and spent time working in the engine area and it was one of my favorite assignments. There is always a chance to encounter discrimination for any reason in any job (or store, or school, etc.). I wouldn't let that deter you from pursuing that you want to do. A: FROM MENTOR HEATHER SULLIVAN, PRODUCT ENGINEER AT DAIMLERCHRYSLER IN DETROIT, MI I've been working in the auto industry for 8 years. Yes, there are women in this line of work, but not as many as other industries. Many companies have "diversity" objectives (they are trying to get more women in management positions), so women or minorities who are equally qualified as their male counterparts theoretically have a greater chance of being promoted. Discrimination varies a great deal depending on where you work. The manufacturing environment tends to be worse than the "white collar" office setting. There have been some lawsuits in recent years regarding discrimination at major automotive manufacturing plants, and the companies have launched educational programs to prevent discrimination. There are many opportunities to get involved with cars -- you could be a mechanic, an engineer, an assembly line worker, a race car driver -- how "hands on" do you want to be? If you are interested in engineering, I recommend that you get involved with the student chapter of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) at which ever university you go to. There are some student competitions you can get involved in to get some "hands on" experience with cars (for example, the Solar Car Challenge). After your sophomore year, you should look into getting a summer internship with a company you are interested in working for. A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS, PHD, DIRECTOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PROGRAM, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS A: Greta, a good major for you to consider if you are interested in cars and engines would be mechanical engineering. While it is true that the percentage of women who major in mechanical engineering is somewhat lower than other kinds of engineering, like chemical or biomedical, there are more and more women all the time. Over the past 5 to 10 years, the automotive industry has gotten very interested in actively recruiting women mechanical engineers because they realize now how much women can bring to car design. Women buy cars, for themselves or for family use, and they want to see particular features for convenience and comfort. They want the cars to be designed to accommodate their bodies - to be able to reach the pedals and see out the front easily at the same time; to have airbags that provide safety and do not increase the chance of injury (the first airbags were very hazardous to women, especially smaller women, because they were designed for the typical male body and did not take into account that women are often smaller and sit closer to the steering wheel). So women engineers have brought a large benefit to automotive design because they have a perspective that men engineers have not always had in the past. Some car companies have recently featured their top women design engineers in commercials on TV. As in any field where women have been scarce and men have dominated, a woman who is a mechanical engineer may run into some discrimination at various times in her career. However, the situation is much, much better than it was even just 10 or 20 years ago. Many companies take a "no tolerance" approach to harassment or discrimination of any kind, because they want to protect themselves against lawsuits and because they value the contributions of a diverse workforce. The last company I worked for before I came back to the university had a "no tolerance" policy - if you were found to have harassed or discriminated against anyone, on any grounds (sexual, racial, etc.), you were fired. Among all the women students currently studying engineering at K-State, three of the ones I know very well are studying mechanical engineering and are interested in cars and engines just like you. Each of them is very happy with her choice. Two of them have already had summer internship experiences that they really liked. Don't let an abstract fear of discrimination keep you from doing something you love. You could run into jerks anywhere, in any kind of job. I have found that it is much easier to deal with any kind of adversity when I am doing something that I love to do. A: FROM MENTOR JACQUELYN JURGA, MECHANGICAL DESIGN, FABRICATION MANAGER AT CABOT CORPORATION IN REGION I Hi Greta- I am a mechanical design and fabrication manager for Cabot Corp. with a Mechanical engineering background. My team specializes in designing and building burners for our Carbon Black manufacturing facilities around the world. These 'burners' are similar to jet engines - not car engines... but similar enough (on a larger scale) to be able to answer you. So, to the first part of your question, YES - there are women in the mechanical field. Not as many as I'd like to see, but a few more every year. I also see a couple every year who have a hard time dealing with the competition (remember men like competition and you will be working with mostly men) and drop out. Where women tend to be better at negotiation and win-win solutions to projects & problems, men prefer that it a game they 'win' at. All in all I think we are gaining momentum in the non-traditional roles and careers. With the tools available today - you don't need the brut strength of yesteryear to handle the heavy components, and most companies have weight limits for their employees to use as guidelines for safety issues. I am petite, 5'1" and 110 lbs. and I am asked many times why I do what I do. I no longer design or assemble my ideas, as I have worked my way into management. However I keep my early years close to heart and know what the fabricators, machinists and assemblers have as challenges. Discrimination issues can vary between companies. I have 10 men working for me right now, and we get along great, and management values my 'soft' skills that I bring into the heavy mechanical field. I have only had one woman work for me in this field - but she was great, had a gift for the small details, tenacious at quality. She left on maternity leave, and I am after her to come back to work soon. Most adults know the boundaries and are up to date on being 'politically correct' when in mixed company. I have found some problems when working with men from the old school ideals. You know -- Men work and women stay at home. They need to be educated, and you can do that with a smile, good sense of humor and an "I can do it too" attitude. You will find those most adamant about you being in the wrong field will become ardent supporters after you prove yourself. Speaking of proving yourself: you WILL need to do that - over and over again. Few will take you seriously or for your word that you can keep up with the men's capacity and quality. The respect and foundation you build early on will be well worth it -- so plan on 'paying your dues' with long hours and studies. I was fortunate that men I was working with in different companies took me under their wings and shared the secrets of the trade (I was a tool designer back then) and mentored me. I hope you can find a mentor when you go into the workforce as you will find it a great help. Whether you are thinking of a mechanical engineering degree or of a hands-on type career, you will have your challenges, but well worth the effort if that is what you love to do. Best of luck to you. Follow your dreams. Keep your chin up and a smile on your face -- give it all you've got and you will do fine. A: FROM MENTOR CAROL TOMAN, DISTINGUISHED MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. IN NAPERVILLE, IL Greta, I'll bet you're the kind of person that always has to take things apart to see how they work! My brother drove my parents crazy when he disassembled things that were working. They started collecting broken things for him to fix just so he'd leave the small appliances alone. Today he's a mechanical engineer working for Honeywell in Phoenix. He started there working on jet engines for commercial airplanes and now works mostly on tanks for the government. He says there aren't very many women in his field but that overt discrimination is not an issue. The women are respected as important members of the team and there is absolutely no tolerance for sexual harassment. I think that is probably the case for women engineers working for any of the big companies. On the other hand, I suspect that a woman car mechanic would face discrimination and harassment almost daily until she overcomes all the trouble and gets established as a competent, tough, no-nonsense professional. This is just my guess that most car dealerships and auto shops are not very woman-friendly based on how I feel when I take my car for service and ask detailed questions of the mechanics. (BTW, I can rebuild a carburetor with the best of them ... of course, carburetors are almost extinct in favor of fuel injection!) I really do think that women benefit greatly in prestige and respect when they get a college degree in engineering. Good luck. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JENNILYNN H. IN MD I am very interested in Chemistry and Math, but I do not know which careers these subjects are most applied. I was wondering what types of careers might be interesting to someone who excels in Chemistry and Math? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN GRADUATE SCHOOL AT BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Math is very useful in chemistry, so there's no reason you can't use both in the same career. [I don't think many pure mathematicians use much chemistry, though! Outside of the kitchen.] These are fine interests from which you can branch out into whatever direction appeals to you most after you learn more. There are theoretical chemists who apply advanced math to explaining how molecules behave. Even theorists find industrial jobs as well as academic one - some I know have worked on polymers and plastics, paint, automobile tires and synthetic materials. Many kinds of technical careers in medicine, quality control, synthesis of new compounds and materials, pharmaceuticals, are open to people good at chemistry and math. Applications extend into geochemistry and the oil industry, over into biology. The study of the genome and the proteins of an organism gets so complicated that high-powered math and computing are needed to grasp it all. So there are lots of possibilities. A: FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF SAFETY AND HEALTH, DUPONT, WILMINGTON, DE Jennilynn, I am a chemical engineer. That is one profession that combines chemistry and math. I take my knowledge of chemistry, math, and engineering principles like energy, mass balance and momentum, and combine all of those things to make products that we cannot live without. For examples, chemical engineers make the nylon and polyester fibers that are in your clothes. We make Lycra(R), the stretch fiber that is in your bathing suit and your exercise outfit. We make titanium dioxide, the chemical that gives makeup its hiding power over zits and makes eye shadow work. That very same titanium dioxide is in toothpaste to make it white, and is in the center filling of Oreo cookies! We make gasoline so cars can run. We make synthetic rubber for the tires of our bikes and our cars. Chemical engineers also make freeze dried orange juice, help purify milk, and make drugs to help sick people get better. As you can see, Chemical engineers do a lot of things to help make the world a better place. A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS, PHD, DIRECTOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PROGRAM, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS A: Jennilynn, a good major to consider would be chemical engineering, because it combines both chemistry and math. Chemical engineers can go into many different kinds of careers. Last year, our chemical engineering graduates at Kansas State University went to work for many, many different kinds of companies, including petroleum companies, pharmaceutical companies, electronics (Motorola, Intel), agricultural and food industry businesses, engineering consultant firms, companies like Dupont, Dow, Proctor & Gamble, and many others. Many more chemical engineers these days are getting into what is known as biochemical engineering. A good place to learn more about what chemical engineers (and other kinds of engineers) do, is www.engineergirl.org. Explore their career page. Also, you can submit questions to women working in just about any engineering field through this site. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXX M. IN IL I was just wondering, if I were to be a vet, but I did not want to be a surgeon, is it possible to do one without the other? I probably wouldn't mind it although I was just unsure. A: FROM MENTOR HALEY MURPHY, DOCTOR OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AT ZOO NEW ENGLAND IN BOSTON, MA As a veterinarian- you have to learn both medicine and surgery to get through vet school. As far as what you do when you graduate- you could very easily not do surgery. There are specialties in medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, herd health, government, infectious diseases etc. The list could go on and on. To avoid learning surgery altogether would be impossible but having to do it on a regular basis once you are established would be easy. A: FROM MENTOR SHARON ROSH, DOCTOR OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AT EDGEBROOK ANIMAL HOSPITIAL IN EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ To Alexx, Yes, you can be a veterinarian without being a surgeon, but you will receive surgical training while in vet school. Most general practitioners perform surgery, but you can choose otherwise and still have a rewarding career in veterinary medicine. A. FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF SAFETY AND HEALTH, DUPONT, WILMINGTON, DE Alexx, you pose a good question. Most vets are in business or practice with another vet. Perhaps in this group of vet you can choose someone who can be the surgeon, and then you can pass all the surgery cases on to her or him? That way, you do not have to be the surgeon! I think most large animal and small animal vets are trained to do some surgery. However, I also know that there are special hospitals and special vets that do only surgery. For example, if a dog breaks its leg really bad, then a special vet surgeon will do surgery and fix the leg with pins and screws and plates, much like a people surgeon would fix a persons leg, and not every doctor is trained to do that...! A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFOR TECH TRAINER AT U. KENTUCKY Yes, Alexx, you can definitely be a vet without being required to perform surgery as a routine duty. For instance, some vets work as a part of a vet clinic in which some of the vets specialize in performing surgeries and other vets specialize in other areas. However, I think you'd need to show your ability to perform surgeries in order to graduate from vet school. If you love science and animals and don't want to be involved in performing any surgeries, you could consider related careers such as animal behavioralist, zoologist, and marine biologist. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm a Sophomore who really does not know what career path to choose. I' m just an average student in average level classes. My grades are average. I have an interest in psychology. What are my chances in getting accepted into college? Will a smaller size college be better and what other fields are out there that one can use her degree in psychology? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO I was wondering why white cats don't glow under a black light, while other white things do? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEAN M. OF MASSACHUSETTS How many years did it take to get your degree in computer engineering and how many times did you change your major throughout college? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY Is there a high demand for orthopedic surgeons right now? On average, how much do these doctors make a year? ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 5, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: Optional QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics? In what year did she receive it and from what university? (Hint: a trail to the answer can be found on the GEM-SET web page at http://www.gem-set.org) Send your answers to GEM-SET@uic.edu. Students who answer correctly will be listed on the "GEM Scholars" web page. GEM-SET will be highlighting African American women scientists, engineers, and technology experts during February, African American History Month. Check out the web site for some resourceful links on these topics! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATIE D. IN REGION V I find science and discovery very interesting but I am also very good with words. I don't want to be a journalist so what are some other career choices that combine science, discovery, and writing? A: FROM MENTOR NANCY VANDLING, ASSISTANT PROGRAM MANAGER, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION DIVISION, PORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PITTSBURGH, PA I envy you because I am not very good with words. I struggle when I have to write long documents. When I was going to college for engineering, I did not understand why I needed all the English and writing classes. However, in my job position I am writing almost every day or reviewing someone's written work - specifications, agreements, permits, applications, letters, proposals, work orders, job descriptions, newsletters, reports, meeting minutes, etc. Writing is very important in any career or job position that you pursue and helps the progress of work by clearly defining what has been completed or what needs to be completed. Career choices include: engineering, geologists, technical writing (specifications, public documents, legal documents, equipment/instruction manuals, reports), lab or research scientist or technicians, lawyers or legal aids, media relations (public statements, public presentations, newsletters, videos), marketing/graphics, and historical / archaeological. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm a Sophomore who really does not know what career path to choose. I' m just an average student in average level classes. My grades are average. I have an interest in psychology. What are my chances in getting accepted into college? Will a smaller size college be better and what other fields are out there that one can use her degree in psychology? A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN IL Jen, Your chance of getting into college is 100%! You may not be able to get into an Ivy League College, but you probably do not want to either. If you want to get into a competitive college, you will need to keep working on your grades and get involved in community projects and in extracurricular activities at school. Volunteer. Get involved in activities that will help you decide on a career. Learn what you like and dislike. List these extracurricular on the college application. The size of the college depends on you. Do you like to have more direct contact with the teachers? Are you more comfortable participating in class if it's a small class? If so, you should look into smaller colleges. If you feel that you could get better grades if you had direct contact, even though you feel uncomfortable with it, maybe you should take the risk and go to a smaller college. In the long run, it may help your grades and you will get used to the smaller classes. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO I was wondering why white cats don't glow under a black light, while other white things do? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Interesting question! How many kinds of white things have you tried? The glow is fluorescence - from some molecules absorbing the short-wavelength, high-energy ultraviolet light and emitting the energy as longer-wavelength, lower-energy visible light. To look white, the emitted light has to cover the range of the visible spectrum, including all the colors. Detergents have "whitening agents" added so that clothes washed in them are brighter than they would be otherwise because of this phenomenon. It wouldn't surprise me to find that white office paper does too... I'll like to hear what range of white things you've tested. Evidently natural cat fur doesn't have this sort of whitening agent - and I bet you don't wash your cat in detergent! I know one thing other that doesn't fluoresce: the substance that false teeth were made from in the old days. I have a capped front tooth because of a childhood sledding accident, and on a blind date at the top of Boston's Prudential Center where there was a 'black-light' room I could see in a mirror that my false tooth _absorbed_ all the light and looked totally black! Not a pretty sight. Ever since, I've avoided black light or kept my mouth shut! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEAN M. OF MASSACHUSETTS How many years did it take to get your degree in computer engineering and how many times did you change your major throughout college? A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN IL Jean, I graduated from college in 4.5 years. I also went to summer school one year to take a class over. I changed my major once. I started out in Elementary Education and found that I LOVE kids, but HATED disciplining kids. I had taken a FORTRAN class and decided that I really liked it and should go into that field. So, before my 3rd year of college, I changed to Computer Science. Because I was behind in the curriculum from changing majors, I needed to take extra classes. Also, I took an advanced class that combined two lower level classes, hoping to save time. I had gotten good grades all my life and things came easily to me. But, this particular class was too hard for me. I learned a lot, but did not like the grade I received. Also, our college was changing from punch cards to main frames and I was having a hard time with this change. And yet, using punch cards took longer to complete assignments. So, one summer, I took the class over. And this time, I got an A. You can always make things work. Do not worry about changing majors if you realize something new about yourself. The new path may offer new challenges and may take you longer, but it's worth it. A: FROM MENTOR MEG WILLIAMS, TECHNICAL MANAGER, COMPAQ CORPORATION IN NASHUA, NH Jean, my degree is in a BS in Computer Science. It was focused on the concepts and technologies to develop and design software. My classes were divided between High-level Math and Computer Science course, e.g. programming, data base structures, operating system design, etc.. I also had 2 semesters of hardware design. A Computer engineering major would have you focus more on the concepts and technologies for hardware development and design. Your classes would include some High-Level math but with less focus on algorithmic math, fundamental Electrical Engineering courses, and then Computer Design. I made the choice to study Computer Science before I entered my Freshman year of college. I had no experience at the time, but I was exceptional in math. I had a couple cousins in the computer field who were encouraging me into that major. My first programming course was my first term in college and learning everything at once was exceedingly hard. Fortunately, my other classes were primarily review and I could concentrate on programming. I took me 4 years to complete my degree, which was the standard for the time I was in school. Now it seems most schools are trying to include coop opportunities into their programs so 5 years may be closer to the standard. I have known a fair number of women who have made their way into computer programming/engineering from other fields. I don't think there is any right path here. However I do think that once you have an engineering degree it is easier to get other degrees. I can attest to this by the fact that I have a BS in CS and a Masters in Organizational Development. A: FROM MENTOR AIMEE WILLOZ, STAFF FIRMWARE TEST ENGINEER AT SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY IN MN Hi Jean! It took me about four years to finish my B.S. in Computer Engineering (I went to Iowa State). I say "about", because my path was a little unusual, for two reasons. One: I did two co-op semesters (I highly recommend this, by the way. It's a great way to get a taste of what the jobs will be like!). Two: I overlapped my master's degree and my bachelor's degree. Graduate classes aren't available as often, so I left a couple of the undergraduate engineering electives (which were always available) until last. All that really meant is that it took me six years (and a summer) to complete my B.S.! :-) I actually didn't change my major at all (by sheer luck and supportive parents!). I had a very hard time deciding what to major in when I first enrolled. Because I liked computers, my parents suggested either Cpr E or CS (Computer Science), and I chose Cpr E. I came close to changing my major in my sophomore year. The first three or four semesters are tough -- there are a lot of difficult classes, and it's hard to understand what type of work you'll do when you graduate, because you don't know enough yet! My parents convinced me to stick it out for another semester and take a few fun electives to take some of the pressure off. I did that -- now it's fifteen years later, and I've never been sorry! I also want to mention that Computer Engineering programs can vary quite a lot between schools. My recommendation is to look at the curriculum of each of the schools you're considering. If you like the curriculum, you'll probably like the types of jobs that curriculum will best prepare you for. ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) audits engineering and technology programs. So, as an example, ABET would audit the Computer Engineering program at Iowa State University and grant that program accreditation based on the audit results. Their website (www.abet.org) has good information on what accreditation means, what to think about when choosing a university, etc., as well as the current list of accredited engineering and technology programs. Good luck! ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY Is there a high demand for orthopedic surgeons right now? On average, how much do these doctors make a year? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ABBE Y. IN CT Up until now my chemistry class has mainly been focusing on calculations, something I was very good at. Now, our class is turning more towards history and we have been having quizzes on our previous night's reading assignments. I feel that I know the information well, but the wording on the quizzes confuses me and somehow I end up doing poorly and am afraid these marks will hinder my grade. Do you have any advice for study tips? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE BETH F. IN KY I'm interested in philosophy, but are there any careers dealing with the subject that don't involve teaching? ****** Q: FROM METEE MELINDA W. IN REGION III How long does it take to become a biologist and is it fun? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE MELINDA W. IN REGION III How long were you in school to get your job and how long did it take you to get into the career in which you are in now? ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 6, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. Optional QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics? In what year did she receive it and from what university? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ABBE Y. IN CT Up until now my chemistry class has mainly been focusing on calculations, something I was very good at. Now, our class is turning more towards history and we have been having quizzes on our previous night's reading assignments. I feel that I know the information well, but the wording on the quizzes hinder my grade. Do you have any advice for study tips? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN GRADUATE SCHOOL AT BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI First of all, take heart - the equations are the hard part for most students, and they are the real content of chemistry. Poorly worded questions are all too common - I'm sure I'm not the only teacher to be shocked at how many students didn't read a question they way I meant it to be read. You should go over the old quizzes and analyze why the wording confused you - compare what you thought it meant with what the teacher must have tried to mean. One common way that students misinterpreted my questions was that they tried to see what the "trick" was, when I was trying to be as straightforward as possible. The simplest interpretation of a question can be the best. If you talk with your teacher about how you'd read the questions, you can alert him or her to the possibility that the questions weren't perfectly clear, and make him or her try harder to be clear next time. Also, if it's permitted to ask for clarification during the quiz, do that - chances are that if a question isn't clear to you, it's not clear to others as well, and everyone will benefit from a little on-the-spot explanation. I hope this helps! A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS, RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AT HALLMARK CARDS, KANSAS CITY, MO Memorizing people and dates can be difficult. My trusty ole' never fail method is read it, write it, and write it again. By the second time I have written it down I seem to remember it. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE BETH F. IN KY I'm interested in philosophy, but are there any careers dealing with the subject that don't involve teaching? A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFO TECH TRAINER AT U. KENTUCKY Beth, I know a young woman who got a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, then went to Medical School. She is now a physician who specializes in Medical Ethics. That field is amazing. Specialists are facing new issues like human cloning, "test tube babies," advanced directives and many other things. There is also a need for Business ethicists, legal ethicists. So, if an area of philosophy that interests you is ethics, you can look at many professional setting in which you might apply your knowledge. Some philosophers combine religious training to become chaplains in hospital, prisons or the military. Others combine educational psychology or psychiatric training to become counselors, psychiatrists, therapists, etc. Another field to consider is library and information science. In large academic libraries with well-developed philosophy collections, a philosophy Bachelors and a Masters of Library Science is greatly valued. ****** Q: FROM METEE MELINDA W. IN REGION III How long does it take to become a biologist and is it fun? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE MELINDA W. IN REGION III How long were you in school to get your job and how long did it take you to get into the career in which you are in now? A: FROM MENTOR AMY MCMILLAN, NRC POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT US EPA IN CINCINNATI, OH Hi Melinda - to answer both of your questions. I am a biologist and it is a lot of fun. I have done many things as a biologist but now I study population genetics and I really love it. I have a Ph.D. in Biology but you can be a biologist with a Bachelor's degree (about 4 or 5 years of school after high school), or a Master's degree (another 2 to 3 years) or a Ph.D. (another 6 to 7 years). My path to a Ph.D. took the long end of all of these times (so about 15 years) but I changed my mind a few times, took a break here and there to work for a while, got married, had a baby, and moved a few times! You can do it much faster if you really want. I had a lot of fun along the way doing all the different things I did and I love my career now. I like having my Ph.D. because I (mostly) am my own boss and manage many different projects. However, when I had a Bachelor's I loved the job I did because I had a great project, a great mentor, and was outdoors more than I am now! I also loved the job I had after my Master's degree - so where you want to stop is entirely up to you and what you most want to do! A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS, RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AT HALLMARK CARDS, KANSAS CITY, MO Normally it would take 4 years of schooling to be able to obtain a position like mine. Plus, I interned 2 summers with Hallmark during college. I think you will find that 4 years of college to get a degree and doing summer internships will help you tremendously when you are looking for a job after you graduate. A: FROM MENTOR MINI VARUGHESE, PHD, STEMCELL TECHNOLOGIES IN MD BS took four years and my Ph.D. took 6 years. Then postdoctoral training for 2 1/2 years. During my postdoctoral training, I discovered the grim reality of the Ph.D. job market. Far, far too many Ph.D.'s and not enough jobs in academia or biotechnology for bench scientists. So after extensive networking, I landed a job as a scientific sales representative. I know this is not my final job, even though I love it extensively. It is a path in my career development. Todays woman will not have one job her whole life. You will move around, gain experience, diversity and develop your career. I may decide to go into scientific marketing, product management, sales management, or join the federal government in a science/industry, regulatory/administrative position. To be able to move around and have the choice of where you want to go, you have to maintain a network. How? The easiest way is to become active in a professional organization. Not just join, but be active and keep active. The network will take off from there. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO Why is it that when I eat raw store bought carrots they give me the hiccups, but when I eat raw organic or home grown carrots they don't? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMY B. IN IL I have been interested in dolphins and aquatic mammals since early on. I am now a freshman in high school, and I would like to know what are some good colleges for this field. Also do you know any ways of internship that would help in this field? (Especially in the Chicago-land area) Are their any web-sites I could visit to get more info? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY Is there a high demand for orthopedic surgeons right now? On average, how much do these doctors make a year? ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 7, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO<HTTP: www.gem-set.org http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. Optional QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics? In what year did she receive it and from what university? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ABBE Y. IN CT Up until now my chemistry class has mainly been focusing on calculations, something I was very good at. Now, our class is turning more towards history and we have been having quizzes on our previous night's reading assignments. I feel that I know the information well, but the wording on the quizzes confuses me and somehow I end up doing poorly and am afraid these marks will hinder my grade. Do you have any advice for study tips? A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS, RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AT HALLMARK CARDS, KANSAS CITY, MO Memorizing people and dates can be difficult. My trusty ole' never fail method is read it, write it, and write it again. By the second time I have written it down I seem to remember it. A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Absolutely! Writing fixes anything in your memory better than simply staring at it does. Drawing chemical structures for practice makes it harder to make silly mistakes when drawing them on a test. Drawing diagrams makes you think about the content and prepares you for creating diagrams on tests. My college roommate used to make written outlines of all the course material, then an outline of the outline, repeating until it was really really clear what was the most important stuff. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO Why is it that when I eat raw store bought carrots they give me the hiccups, but when I eat raw organic or home grown carrots they don't? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Verrrry interesting! Have you tried a blind test - have someone prepare two or three kinds of carrots so that they look exactly the same, make up a code for which is which, and have a second person who doesn't know the code or know which is which present them to you. The carrots should be, if possible, equally fresh-seeming and at the same temperature (not warm from the summer garden vs. weeks old straight from the fridge.) Do you still react differently? If so, you've got the beginnings of a bioassay - you could separate different components of the carrots and test which make you hiccup! It would be easier on you if you had some mice (or rabbits!) that reacted the same way. Does the effect persist when carrots are cooked, or when they are turned into juice? You could ask lots of questions. Does anybody else react the same way? A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFOR TECH TRAINER AT U. KENTUCKY This is a great question, Amanda! My husband is so sensitive to the pesticides, herbicides, etc. used on apples that he can only eat organic apples. In addition to chemicals that might affect the carrots you eat, fertilizers and other variations are also suspect. In today's world, genetically modified crops are also suspect. People with no allergy to wheat, could be allergic to it if a GMO process that involves another food slices introduces genetic components of the other food into the wheat. Organic under most standards means chemical-free, non-GMO, and restricted types of fertilizers. Be aware that the term "organic" is not universally standardized. However, you can track "California standard," "Oregon standard" etc. to see what total restrictions apply in that particular type of standard. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMY B. IN IL I have been interested in dolphins and aquatic mammals since early on. I am now a freshman in high school, and I would like to know what are some good colleges for this field. Also do you know any ways of internship that would help in this field? (Especially in the Chicago-land area) Are their any web-sites I could visit to get more info? A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL Amy, call the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. They have internships and allow volunteers to help out with the animals. It sounds like a great place to learn. They also will know the schools at which they look for employees. The John G. Shedd Aquarium is at 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The phone number is: (312)939-2426. The url:<HTTP: www.sheddnet.org http://www.sheddnet.org/ You can get to the same site, with<HTTP: www.shedd.org http://www.shedd.org/ Good Luck! ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE DAVIDA S. IN IL I've been considering applying to IMSA (Illinois Math and Science Academy) and I'm currently in 8th grade and would apply next year. I was wondering if any of the mentors have been to IMSA and have any advice on what kind of school it is and preparing to go there? Also, what do they look for in an applying student and filling out the application? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY Is there a high demand for orthopedic surgeons right now? On average, how much do these doctors make a year? ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 8, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO<HTTP: www.gem-set.org http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Optional QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! The quiz question for this week is: Reva K. Williams is known as the first African American woman astrophysicist to successfully ????????????? (fill in the blank). ****** Q: FROM MENTEE DAVIDA S. IN IL I've been considering applying to IMSA (Illinois Math and Science Academy) and I'm currently in 8th grade and would apply next year. I was wondering if any of the mentors have been to IMSA and have any advice on what kind of school it is and preparing to go there? Also, what do they look for in an applying student and filling out the application? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI The son and daughter of a college friend of mine went to IMSA - they are now out of college (Brown and Carleton, respectively, majoring in math and art, respectively) and off to a good start in their careers. I visited there once, briefly - the Academy was shiny new and looked very high-tech. My impression was that it is an excellent school and that you'd have very stimulating classmates with lots of interests, though their ability in math and science brought them together. I was jealous that there had been no such high school for me. ******* Q: FROM METEE MELINDA W. IN REGION III How long does it take to become a biologist and is it fun? A: FROM MENTOR KELLY BROWN, PRINCIPAL BIOLOGIST, MIDWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, KANSAS CITY, MO It took me 4 years for the BS degree and 6 for the PhD. Then 2.5 years at one postdoc and 3 at the second postdoc. What I want to emphasize is that although this seems like a long time, you can have a lot of very interesting experiences. For example, I did my first postdoc in England, and it was an incredible experience. Each day was an adventure! As a biologist in training, you can work many exciting experiences into your training. I have been all over the US, Europe, Japan and Taiwan in my business travels as a scientist during the training period. I have met many fascinating and wonderful people. If you get a chance to live in another country, I strongly recommend that you take advantage of it-it really helps you to grow as a person. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE REBECCA H. IN WI Are there really any jobs out there in wildlife biology or is it really hard to find a job? I've heard that if you get your pilot's license along with a degree in wildlife biology jobs are easy to find. Is that true? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE NATALIE F. IN REGION V I'm in 7th grade and am 13, and just finished writing a children's story (22,000 words) I decided to try to get it published. Of course I've been trying to get short stories, not even one page long, published since I was in third grade. But I never knew much about the wide variety of publishers, so I'd send them to the major publishing houses in New York. Of course they'd all be rejected, I didn't have the right type of publisher. I finally found some helpful guides at the library and searched through for the right type of publishers and now I'm actually about to sign a contract. But I don't know if I want to have my career as a writer when I grow up, or something else. I used to want to work in part of a bank and manage the financial section or something like that, like my dad does. How will I know what I want to be if I have more than one idea? ******** Q: FROM MENTEE SALLY J. IN REGION V Is it hard to be scientist? ******* Q: FROM MENTEE VICTORIA P. IN REGION I What are some good colleges that offer chemistry-related courses? Can I take chemistry and science related courses and still take other courses like art? If you are taking chemistry at the high school junior level, do you need a strong background in math? ******* ___ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 11, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO<HTTP: www.gem-set.org http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. The quiz question for this week is: Reva K. Williams is known as the first African American woman astrophysicist to successfully ????????????? (fill in the blank). Hint: You will find a clue to the answer at http://www.gem-set.org ****** Q: FROM MENTEE DAVIDA S. IN IL I've been considering applying to IMSA (Illinois Math and Science Academy) and I'm currently in 8th grade and would apply next year. I was wondering if any of the mentors have been to IMSA and have any advice on what kind of school it is and preparing to go there? Also, what do they look for in an applying student and filling out the application? A: FROM MENTOR CAROL TOMAN, DISTINGUISHED MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL I don't know very much about IMSA except that it is very well respected and that the students must live at the school -- no commuting home at night. Also, perhaps unfounded, I heard it said that the language classes are weaker that at other schools since they concentrate so much on math and science. The mentors have emphasized many times that language skills are very important in technology jobs, so if it's true that IMSA doesn't offer strong language classes, then maybe you'd want to supplement your coursework with activities that sharpen your reading and writing skills. Check out their website at www.imsa.edu. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE REBECCA H. IN WI Are there really any jobs out there in wildlife biology or is it really hard to find a job? I've heard that if you get your pilot's license along with a degree in wildlife biology jobs are easy to find. Is that true? A: FROM MENTOR LINDA FUSELIER, GRADUATE STUDENT IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF KY, IN LEXINGTON, KY There ARE jobs in wildlife biology whether you can fly or not. Many jobs are with government agencies - state or federal. Getting a job as a supervising biologist can be very competitive but temporary technician jobs abound. In general, it's important to get your foot in the door as soon as possible by doing volunteer work at a national park or wildlife refuge and meeting the folks that do the work in which you are interested. Also, government agencies are often looking for women to fill biologist positions in fields such as forestry, game hunting and trapping, etc. that are traditionally held by men. Having a pilot's license might be helpful if you plan to work in Alaska, but for most wildlife jobs, it's not going to do much for you. However, it's always good to have skills that set you apart from other applicants. ******** Q: FROM MENTEE SALLY J. IN REGION V Is it hard to be scientist? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI It takes brains and the willingness to use them. A research career takes a lot of dedication - long hours - and so, for that matter, does teaching. But it's not boring! Science is all about new ideas, new explanations, testing ideas and improving the best interpretation of how the world works, inventing new useful things. In contrast, think of all the repetitive jobs that can also take long hours but where the _only_ reward is a paycheck. The thrill of discovering something, of being the first person in the world to understand something, just can't be beat. So many people have worked long, long hours at hard physical labor - think farming, think miners, think factory work, think housework before there was electricity - that doing science seems more like play than like work. A lot of scientists feel that way about their work. It's more fun than anything else they could do. It's competitive - but people love competitive sports, and most science is a lot kinder to the body. You don't find 35-year-old scientists physically crippled like professional athletes. We have it pretty good! And there's more room near the top for scientists than for athletes and artists - the utility of what we do means that society is willing to employ more of us than the very best few, and pay them well. And for women, I've always thought that the standards by which scientific work is judged are a lot less gender-biased than in more humanistic work. It's debatable whether women have different styles or are more likely to be interested in different subjects. But the law of gravity works equally for men and women; logic is the same; a proof is valid or invalid and ad hominem / ad feminam attacks get less credence than they do outside of science. I have no scientific evidence to back up my opinion here, but I do believe it firmly. When women do good science, male scientists ignore it at their peril - they have to take those good results into account in their own work or be left behind. When women write good novels, men seem to get away without reading them, dismissing their point of view and subject matter as trivial or uninteresting. A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS, RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AT HALLMARK CARDS IN KANSAS CITY, MO No it is not hard at all. The hard part is college. College classes to be a scientist are not harder than any other classes, so don't get turned off. Being a scientist can be exciting and rewarding. So I would definitely look into it more. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE VICTORIA P. IN REGION I What are some good colleges that offer chemistry-related courses? Can I take chemistry and science related courses and still take other courses like art? If you are taking chemistry at the high school junior level, do you need a strong background in math? ******* Q: FROM MENTEE NATALIE F. IN REGION V I'm in 7th grade and am 13, and just finished writing a children's story (22,000 words) I decided to try to get it published. Of course I've been trying to get short stories, not even one page long, published since I was in third grade. But I never knew much about the wide variety of publishers, so I'd send them to the major publishing houses in New York. Of course they'd all be rejected, I didn't have the right type of publisher. I finally found some helpful guides at the library and searched through for the right type of publishers and now I'm actually about to sign a contract. But I don't know if I want to have my career as a writer when I grow up, or something else. I used to want to work in part of a bank and manage the financial section or something like that, like my dad does. How will I know what I want to be if I have more than one idea? ****** Q:FROM MENTEE S. S. OF MASSACHUSETTS: What is the best college to attend to become an elementary school science teacher? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY What science oriented occupations or opportunities might come up if I was interested in working with foreign children that are malnourished and unhealthy? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KRYSTA S. IN MN This question is for Ramona Gray. I am the girl who talked to you about the cancer cells at "Share the Future" What is the answer? Can you take the cell from the good part of your body that also has cancer and use that DNA code to change the cancerous cells DNA? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm thinking in majoring in child psychology. Should I also think of taking on a minor and in what field? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO Do chickens have belly buttons? If so, where are they? If not, then how do they receive nutrients from the egg? __ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 12, 2002 Send all questions for mentors or mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO<HTTP: www.gem-set.org http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. The quiz question for this week is: Reva K. Williams is known as the first African American woman astrophysicist to successfully ????????????? (fill in the blank). Hint: You will find a clue to the answer at http://www.gem-set.org ******** Q: FROM MENTEE SALLY J. IN REGION V Is it hard to be scientist? A: FROM MENTOR RAMONA GRAY, STAFF CHEMIST AT MERCK IN NJ I guess I would have to say yes and no. It was hard becoming a scientist but maintaining a level of excellence, integrity, skills, knowledge can sometimes be more challenging than hard. If you're anything like me, I love a good challenge so this was/is the right field for me. Being a scientist is also not hard. It's fun making new discoveries, new compounds that could possibly hold the key to curing one of many diseases. I work toward that goal everyday and it means a lot to me that I'm helping people in my own little way. No day is the same, it's exciting and I love what I do! Hope this helps a little. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE VICTORIA P. IN REGION I What are some good colleges that offer chemistry-related courses? Can I take chemistry and science related courses and still take other courses like art? If you are taking chemistry at the high school junior level, do you need a strong background in math? A: FROM MENTOR CARYN PRUDENTE,PHD, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE IN PORTLAND, ME Hi Victoria, There are 100's of schools all over the country that have excellent chemistry programs. I recommend you think of the geographic location you are interested in going to school in and then explore the individual colleges there. You should look for a chemistry program that is ACS (American Chemical Society) accredited, and also, especially if you think you might major in chemistry, look for a program that incorporates some form of undergraduate research. You might also consider the instrumentation in the department - is it new or 30 years old, do students get to routinely use the instruments etc.. You want to get as much hands on experience as possible. If you go to a liberal arts college and major in chemistry, you can take as many art courses as you like, you may even consider a double major (career in art restoration or science illustrator). The concept of liberal arts is to give you a well rounded education spanning both the sciences and the arts - you will study math, science, English, history, art and many other classes. You have much more flexibility to choose your own courses in college as long as you are fulfilling the requirements for your major. Various high schools may have different chemistry courses and different requirements, so I'm not really able to comment on how much math you need for the chemistry course at your school, but what I can defiantly say is that if you are considering studying chemistry or science in college a strong background in math is very important. I would recommend that you take a couple math courses now (regardless of the actual requirement at your high school), this will, in the long run, prepare you for college. A: FROM MENTOR RAMONA GRAY, STAFF CHEMIST AT MERCK IN NJ As far as good colleges that offer chemistry-related courses.....I'm sure there are WAY too many to start typing! What you can do to narrow that list down, though, is the think about the type of college/university you might want to attend: a large vs. small school, public vs. private, coed vs. all girl, in-state vs. out of town, Midwest vs. east coast vs. west coast vs. south, etc....THEN you'll have a more manageable list. YES you can take science courses and still take other totally unrelated ones. Although I love science, I also love writing poetry, taking all types of dance/music classes. I think it makes you a more well rounded person...colleges love that, but I think people in general appreciate that also. ******* Q: FROM MENTEE NATALIE F. IN REGION V I'm in 7th grade and am 13, and just finished writing a children's story (22,000 words) I decided to try to get it published. Of course I've been trying to get short stories, not even one page long, published since I was in third grade. But I never knew much about the wide variety of publishers, so I'd send them to the major publishing houses in New York. Of course they'd all be rejected, I didn't have the right type of publisher. I finally found some helpful guides at the library and searched through for the right type of publishers and now I'm actually about to sign a contract. But I don't know if I want to have my career as a writer when I grow up, or something else. I used to want to work in part of a bank and manage the financial section or something like that, like my dad does. How will I know what I want to be if I have more than one idea? A: FROM MENTOR TERESA ESSER, WRITER IN CAMBRIDGE, MA Congratulations. Receiving a publishing contract for a piece of writing is a great achievement. If you are concerned about the legal ramifications of whatever contract you may be entering into, you should: 1) Read the contract very carefully when you are feeling calm and rational 2) Ask your parents to read the contract very carefully 3) Determine whether there are any portions of the contract that seem peculiar 4) Make a list of the clauses you feel unsure about 5) Show the contract to a literary attorney, and ask him to answer any questions you may have. Chances are that this entire process is completely unnecessary, since you are only 13 years old. It is so difficult for publishing houses to enforce the contracts they draw up with adults, I can't imagine anyone spending time and energy trying to enforce the terms of a contract drawn up with a minor. So, don't worry! Everything is fine! You have an option to publish. You can publish or not publish. That's it. Not a big deal. It sounds like you are concerned about the future career implications of publishing a children's book. Rest assured: this event is unlikely to have an impact on your future career, except to serve as a source of conversation and perhaps as a private source of confidence. Publishing a children's book will not prevent you from working in a bank. Publishing a children's book may make it easier for you to publish additional books in the future, but only if you work as hard on your future projects as you worked on this one. Congratulations again. A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL NATALIE F., It sounds like you have a lot of drive and persistence! Those are GREAT traits to have! You will figure out what you want to do by just taking different classes and taking different jobs and trying new things. When you find something that you really enjoy and could imagine doing 40+ hours per week, that will be your first choice. Do not worry, though. If you change your mind halfway through college, or after working for 5-10 years, it is not a problem. Many people change their careers throughout their lives. It's exciting. You just have to have the courage and drive to do it. And it sounds like you have that already! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KRYSTA S. IN MN This question is for Ramona Gray. I am the girl who talked to you about the cancer cells at "Share the Future" What is the answer? Can you take the cell from the good part of your body that also has cancer and use that DNA code to change the cancerous cells DNA? A: FROM MENTOR RAMONA GRAY, STAFF CHEMIST AT MERCK IN NJ HEY KRYSTA! I hear it's pretty cold there now.....glad I misses it! : ) I remember you well and haven't stopped thinking about your question. I've been trying to get one of the biologists here to explain it to me and here's what she said: -cells have specific antigens on their surface that can identification but some of these antigens are not disease specific. It is through these antigens that doctors run tests to identify and monitor certain diseases. Cancer cells emit certain antigens that may or may not be specific to the disease, but this is what the doctors look for when they run blood tests for diagnosis. -Cancer cells are "screwy" and they (scientists) don't really know what causes these cells to act the way they do, so they can not really just replace a gene since they don't know what gene(s) is being affected, and the gene(s) will vary from cell type to cell type. The cancer cells also "spit out" genetic materials around them to keep them living and growing. For instance when a tumor is present the cancerous cells are "happy" and continue to grow. This is why the scientist think the best to deal with cancer cells is to kill them. -There is a study going on where they are pooling groups of people at different stages of cancer (and a control group) and looking at the genes to determine if there is a way of predicting if and when some will be diagnosed with cancer and what is the survival rate. They are also looking at the effects of certain therapies and their effect on survival for specific cancer types. For example they may determine that if someone has breast cancer and the tumor is removed it may not be beneficial for that person to undergo chemotherapy because the outcome (survival rate) will not be any different if they had not gone through the chemo. Of course it is much better for the patient if they did not have to exposed to these horrific treatments. But the results of this study are years away. The basic answer is that they don't really know what is causing these cells to go astray, it may be more than just a gene(s) that went crazy...but the better thing to do is to try and prevent the cells from converting from healthy to cancerous. But for now I guess their best action against cancer is to continue to kill the cancer cells. Hopes this helped... ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO Do chickens have belly buttons? If so, where are they? If not, then how do they receive nutrients from the egg? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI What a great question! I hope another mentor can answer it. From my efforts in the kitchen I can't recall seeing any belly buttons on chickens, even totally naked as they come from the supermarket... but from pictures I've seen of embryos I vaguely remember the egg yolk getting absorbed into the developing chicken's belly. But exactly how is the yolk attached, and does it leave any trace? Searching on "chicken embryo" turned up http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/explore/embryology/ http://anatomy.med.unsw.edu.au/cbl/embryo/OtherEmb/Chicken.htm and "chicken belly button" got me into a discussion: http://mama.indstate.edu/prentice/emb/embryol/thread.html#16 but nobody seems to have given a simple answer to this simple question! There must be someone among us who knows. I can't wait to learn the answer. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JULIE C. IN CT I enjoy rock climbing, caving, hiking and kayaking. I also like science, technology and math. This is my third year volunteering at the Science Center of Connecticut. I have been able to see the different kinds of jobs there. None of the jobs combine science and the outdoors. I would like a career that combines both. Can you suggest a few careers I can look into? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE YUNJI K. IN REGION V Can a person be a doctor for both human and animal at the same time?" ****** Q: FROM MENTEE CHRISTINE B. IN REGION I It seems as if all I'm doing is working to get into college. Taking classes I don't like, work I hate. When does learning the things that I'll never use stop and learning things that I really need for my career begin? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? ****** Q:FROM MENTEE S. S. OF MASSACHUSETTS: What is the best college to attend to become an elementary school science teacher? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY What science oriented occupations or opportunities might come up if I was interested in working with foreign children that are malnourished and unhealthy? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm thinking in majoring in child psychology. Should I also think of taking on a minor and in what field? __ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 13, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. The quiz question for this week is: Reva K. Williams is known as the first African American woman astrophysicist to successfully ????????????? (fill in the blank). Hint: You will find a clue to the answer at http://www.gem-set.org ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ******** GENERAL COMMENT FROM MENTOR NANCY VANDLING IN PITTSBURGH, PA ON GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH VOTING OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENT MENTEES For all MENTEES, I am starting a lobbying campaign to make engineering as your choice for "Career-of-the-Month" for February. The week of February 18th is National Engineering Week. Choose any type of engineering it does not matter which type. We need more female engineers. As a Civil Engineer, I am biased to that field. You may ask what is a Civil Engineer - Does that mean I just get along with everyone? If you want to know what a Civil Engineer is, what Colleges there are, or how to get started, check out the website for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at http://www.asce.org/public.cfm. Another reason for choosing civil engineering is that, in the year 2002, ASCE is celebrating its' 150th anniversary and created this slogan for the anniversary - "Building a Better World". Engineers touch all aspects of your life in some way. You are the student of today that is the future engineers of tomorrow that can build a better world. Think about being an engineer! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO Do chickens have belly buttons? If so, where are they? If not, then how do they receive nutrients from the egg? A: FROM MENTOR HAYLEY MURPHY, DVM, DIRECTOR OF VETERINARY SERVICES, ZOO NEW ENGLAND IN BOSTON, MA In the egg, nutrients are provided to the embryo by the uptake of the yolk. The yolk sac, which is actually a sac off of the intestines, is attached by a yolk stalk and vessels to the intestines and is actually internalized into the abdomen just prior to hatching (this is why newborn chicks look like they have big bellies). This yolk provides nourishment for the first few days of life for the newborn chick. After the yolk has been consumed(usually totally gone in 5-7 days), the remnant yolk sac is converted into scar tissue and is called the vitelline or Meckel's diverticlum. So- they do have an umbilicus, where the yolk sac was internalized, but that heals over by 5-17 days of age and eventually scars over and disappears. ********* Q: FROM MENTEE JULIE C. IN CT I enjoy rock climbing, caving, hiking and kayaking. I also like science, technology and math. This is my third year volunteering at the Science Center of Connecticut. I have been able to see the different kinds of jobs there. None of the jobs combine science and the outdoors. I would like a career that combines both. Can you suggest a few careers I can look into? A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS, KC, MO Geology, marine biology, paleontology, archeology, forestry, and kinesiology (the study of the physically active human body). It sounds like you are a very physical person so I would take an extra look at kinesiology. Try this web site www.appliedkinesiologyclinic.com and www.siue.edu ****** Q: FROM MENTEE YUNJI K. IN REGION V Can a person be a doctor for both human and animal at the same time? A: FROM MENTOR HAYLEY MURPHY, DVM, DIRECTOR OF VETERINARY SERVICES, ZOO NEW ENGLAND IN BOSTON, MA Yes- you can be a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) and an MD at the same time. There are people who do this and actually it is only 2-3 years extra schooling after vet school to get MD. The basics are the same for humans and animals, its just that vets have to learn many more species A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFO TECH TRAINER, U. KENTUCKY Certainly a person could attend both vet school and med school and chose a double career path. In rural and impoverished areas, sometimes physicians have helped animals and veterinarians have tried to help humans in life threatening situations. However, there is another route that formally combines human and animal medicine. The University of Pennsylvania has a program with a "joint" degree in human and animal medicine. I checked the U.Penn website and found some info. "The School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, an integral part of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary university, exists to better the health and welfare of animals and humans." This "Veterinary Medical Scientist Training Program" is described "The School of Veterinary Medicine offers . . . a six-year program leading to both a V.M.D. and a Ph.D. degree. . . The objective of the program is to prepare future veterinary medical scientists with the most modern research skills for carrying on highly sophisticated fundamental analyses of normal and abnormal life processes related to animal and human medicine. . . . trainees will be superbly qualified to become leaders in the academic community. In this connection, "academic community" is interpreted in its broadest sense to include not only the faculties of schools of veterinary medicine but also faculties of medical schools, dental schools, and university departments, as well as positions in public health, epidemiology, medical administration, behavioral sciences, and environmental health sciences. For more information, you can check this website: http://www.vet.upenn.edu/FacultyAndDepts/CSPHIL/MedicalGenetics/residencies. cfm ****** Q: FROM MENTEE CHRISTINE B. IN REGION I It seems as if all I'm doing is working to get into college. Taking classes I don't like, work I hate. When does learning the things that I'll never use stop and learning things that I really need for my career begin? A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL Christine B, your question made me smile because I remember feeling the SAME way in high school!! Even in college! Now, I realize that I do use those things that I learned in high school. You will, too. You will use them either directly in other classes, or in your job. OR, you will use HOW you learned them in other parts of your life. You will be surprised how often conversations with friends and colleagues bring up things that you never thought you'd need. Do not discount the things you are learning. You may need them someday, even if it seems obscure. Also, who knows? Maybe someday, you will change your mind about what you want to do for a career and you may go into something that needs these concepts that you hate so much now! You never know how things tie together. Some people think that everything in the universe is tied together in some way!! Try to enjoy the classes. Maybe you can try to see how it CAN be used in everyday life. Maybe your teachers have some ideas. A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS, KC, MO Believe it or not but you will use almost everything you learn in high school sometime in your life. I know that sounds like a parent answer but I felt the frustration you feel when I was in high school. But I was glad I was forced to learn all the things I did because it helped me understand life and what is going on around me. When you get a college education you are getting a well rounded education which makes you a well rounded individual. So these college prep classes you take in high school will help you be ready for the college classes. This well roundedness will put you in the position for advancement in your career. For instance, you question may be "why do I have to learn about the continents and the different governments around the world if I want to be an engineer" and the answer is "because some day you may be asked to design items that will be built overseas and it would be very good for you to know how their government and financials work because you may have to form trade agreements or be able to finesse your way through government imposed restrictions". The world is becoming smaller and smaller everyday and we need to learn more about our neighbor in order to communicate and work with them. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LEEANN M. IN KY What science oriented occupations or opportunities might come up if I was interested in working with foreign children that are malnourished and unhealthy? A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFO TECH TRAINER, U. KENTUCKY A friend of mine who is a registered nurse recently worked in Kenya assisting children who have HIV, AIDS, malnourishment and many other medical challenges. There is a great need internationally for health professionals and scientists to help disadvantaged people. In inner cities and rural areas of the U.S. we also have many people who would benefit from concerned, involved medical and scientific professionals. I applaud your interest in helping others and encourage you to pursue any area of interest, knowing that all types of professional assistance could help disadvantage people obtain a chance at a better life. A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL Leeann M, one idea for science-oriented careers working with malnourished children would be social work. Social sciences would take you there. OR, you can get a degree in Nutrition and work with an organization that may help these children. Another idea is a degree in medicine and work for the Peace Corps. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE REBECCA H. IN WI Are there really any jobs out there in wildlife biology or is it really hard to find a job? I've heard that if you get your pilot's license along with a degree in wildlife biology jobs are easy to find. Is that true? A: FROM MENTOR NANCY VANDLING, ASSISTANT PROGRAM MANAGER, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION DIVISION, PORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PITTSBURGH, PA I bet you never thought a wildlife biologist could be employed or hired by an engineering consultant. Engineering consultants employ biologist to assist in response to environmental regulations, impacts to the environment by construction, research into what wildlife may exist in an area, and preparation of mitigation if endangered or threaten species are found. Just think of all the facilities or construction you may see in your area, on television, in magazines, or in the newspapers that may effect all the different varieties of wildlife. As an example, I work for a transit authority which is currently in the planning stage for an extension to the underground (subway) light rail transit (LRT) system. The plan is to extend the subway under the Allegheny River. We were required to perform a survey to determine if certain species of endangered or protected fish and mussels existed in the area. Our engineering consultant hired biological specialist to do the survey. The biological specialist utilized scuba diving equipment to access the river bed and evaluate what mussels, if any, existed in the area of the proposed project. In addition, they performed a fish species survey by netting fish, identifying what type they were, counting them, and then releasing them back into the river. If we had found endangered species, then we would have utilized the biological specialist to devise a plan. I know of other projects, such as replacing a bridge crossing a stream and gas pipe lines crossing streams, that required moving the mussels temporarily upstream of the construction and moving them back after construction is completed. Maybe you should consider scuba diving. Since Wisconsin is located on the Great Lakes system and there are may lakes and streams within Wisconsin, scuba diving may be beneficial. If there is a zoo or aviary near your home or if you will be on vacation near one, contact them to see what programs they offer. Our Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium offers many educational programs for various age groups throughout the year. Also check out your local nature conservancy groups, local or state parks, or wildlife preserves; participate in some programs - canoeing down a river and inventorying wildlife that you see or the winter bird count and identification or walking through a swamp to find amphibians. Typically, they have outings, events, or guest speakers where you can learn a great deal, have fun participating, and meet people that have the same interests. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm thinking in majoring in child psychology. Should I also think of taking on a minor and in what field? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? ****** Q:FROM MENTEE S. S. OF MASSACHUSETTS: What is the best college to attend to become an elementary school science teacher? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALLISON IN NH I am interested in both Engineering and Law, would I be crazy to double major in both engineering and pre law? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATA T. IN REGION V What is engineering actually about? and what classes do you have to take to become one? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE FABLEX in REGION ?? What is exactly the field of computer graphics, how much does it pay for, and is it a good career for me to go into? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATIE A. IN REGION V We have been learning about moles (scientific) in Chemistry class. I understand how to use them and when, but what exactly is a mole measuring? (i.e. a gram measures mass, a mL measures volume) __ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 14, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. The quiz question for this week is: Reva K. Williams is known as the first African American woman astrophysicist to successfully ????????????? (fill in the blank). Hint: You will find a clue to the answer at http://www.gem-set.org ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ********* Q: FROM MENTEE JULIE C. IN CT I enjoy rock climbing, caving, hiking and kayaking. I also like science, technology and math. This is my third year volunteering at the Science Center of Connecticut. I have been able to see the different kinds of jobs there. None of the jobs combine science and the outdoors. I would like a career that combines both. Can you suggest a few careers I can look into? A: FROM MENTOR MARGARET FOWLE, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION IN VT I would also add wildlife biology or any other biologist involved in the environmental field (conservation biology, botany, ecology, etc.) to the list Danell Oliver-Collins gave you. Wildlife biologists are generally outdoors for a good part of the year. My work combines science and the outdoors all the time - I spend most of April - July monitoring peregrine falcons and eagles, and I have to hike every day to look for the falcons, and occasionally rappel down cliffs or climb up trees to the nest sites to band young. Most wildlife biologists are very physically fit and enjoy being outside in extreme conditions. ****** Q:FROM MENTEE S. S. OF MASSACHUSETTS: What is the best college to attend to become an elementary school science teacher? A: FROM MENTOR TERESA ESSER IN MA S.S., Many elementary school teachers get paid very little. If you are absolutely certain that you want to become an elementary school science teacher, you will not want to burden yourself with huge student loans -- unless you want to consider spending a couple years with some of the volunteer programs that "forgive" a portion of your student debt. Even then, though, you should try to keep costs down. If your family is wealthy enough to pay the full cost of college for you, then you can go to any college that has both science classes and teaching certification programs. If you will be applying for financial aid and/or taking out student loans, I recommend going to the University of Massachusetts branch that has the best teachers education program, since you're already a resident of that state and could get in-state tuition. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALLISON IN NH I am interested in both Engineering and Law, would I be crazy to double major in both engineering and pre law? A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS, KC, MO How about Patent law. It combines engineering, science, and the law. And since science is a big part of engineering you can get an engineering degree and be familiar with science. I know that patent law is a very good area of the law and worth a definite look. And No it is not crazy to double major many people do it; I did it. I am thrilled that you are considering engineering and law, you're off to a great start for a great career. A:FROM MENTOR JACQUELYN JURGA, MANAGER DESIGN/FABRICATION AT CABOT CORP. IN REGION I Hi Allison- Crazy???? No, not at all. I am a mechanical engineer and have worked with patent attorneys many times. If they have an engineering degree it is so much more helpful. The patent process can be long an tedious but goes so much more smoothly if they actually understand what you are defining. Companies pay high salaries to patent attorneys who have engineering backgrounds. You would be an asset to either field you chose to focus on. A: FROM MENTOR CHRISTINE M. KUTA, PATENT ATTORNEY, PERKINS, SMITH, & COHEN, LLP, IN BOSTON, MA No, it is not crazy to major in both engineering and pre-law. Both fields require similar analytical skills for solving engineering problems and legal problems. Also, pre-law will teach you about laying out problems in an orderly fashion to communicate to others which is a skill not offered by most of the engineering programs I have looked at. While engineering tends to be a difficult field of study, combining it with pre-law will help you in law school and will also give you an edge in engineering if you decide not to go to law school. A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS, DIRECTOR, WOMEN IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE PROGRAM AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS No, Allison, you would not! Patent law is a very exciting and rapidly growing area in law, and as it turns out, an engineering degree is about the very best preparation one can have for passing the patent exam! Many companies and law firms want to have patent attorneys so you would have a lot of job choices - and would make a very nice salary too. I know a woman who graduated from K-State in engineering and then went to law school and is now a patent attorney. She loves it. She says patent law is like the honeymoon area of law because generally one is dealing with very positive things, helping people to get new ideas and devices patented. It is also very interesting because you get to learn about all kinds of new things. It combines scientific and technical knowledge with knowledge of the law and strong communication skills (written and verbal.) ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATA T. IN REGION V What is engineering actually about? And what classes do you have to take to become one? A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS, KC, MO Engineering is what I call applied science. You use math, chemistry, and physics to make the world. No matter what field of engineering you go into you will take lots of math classes, many physics classes, some chemistry classes and classes that teach you the basics of your engineering field of choice. There are so many different fields of engineering it is hard to explain them all. Most college engineering degree programs are 4 years in length and you get to apply what you learn in engineering labs so you don't spend all your time sitting in a classroom. There are many books in the libraries college degree section that detail all the different types of engineering and what it takes to get those degrees. Good Luck A: FROM MENTOR ESTHER PEARSON, MANAGER, THE PEARSON GROUP IN GROTON, MA This is a wonderful question and I am glad you asked it. Most students before participating in engineering studies, believe engineering is affiliated with working for the railroad. It is associated with being a railroad engineer. But, simply stated, "engineering is humans attempts to duplicate and simulate what is found in the natural universe". So, in a sense the structure is Science --> Engineering --> Technology. Engineers develop technology, which includes the design and development of earth, life, and physical sciences as artifacts that are helpful in our everyday lives. The classes you must take are dependent upon what type of engineer you want to become. But the foundation classes that most engineers are required to take are college level: Mathematics (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry) Science (Chemistry, Physics) Technology (Computer Programming, Electronics) A:FROM MENTOR JACQUELYN JURGA, MANAGER DESIGN/FABRICATION AT CABOT CORP. IN REGION I Hi Kata- I can only speak in detail about one kind of engineering - mechanical. However there are many kinds spanning through all aspects of life and the world. Think about what your interests are and I bet there is some sort of engineering applied. Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematic principles into practical use. My team here at Cabot Corp. designs equipment and fabricates those ideas into actual pieces of hardware that are put into practical use at our manufacturing plants around the world. The mechanical engineers sit down with a blank piece of paper and a task given to them to solve a problem regarding how we make a product to be sold. They use math, basic design principles, ingenuity and mechanics (how things move) to determine what needs to happen. They visualize a concept and methodically document their ideas on CADcam systems (computer drafting boards). Their computer software helps them draw technical pictures with dimensions and details about what this will be made from, specifically identifying with symbols and notes what materials are to be used, how it is to be fabricated and assembled together. It could be plastic, steel or some exotic alloy or a combination and may include electronics, pneumatics or hydraulics. Then they work closely with the machine shop part of our team. These are the folks who actually take pieces of materials and put them on machines to make the components that are eventually all put together to make a piece of equipment. To do so they read the drawings that the engineers created. Take a look at something at home. Say for instance a toaster. If you look at it closely, you will see that it is a combination of many parts that have been designed to fit together to accomplish the task of cooking bread to a controlled temperature and timing. Each one of those parts was engineered, fabricated and put together. It all started with a mechanical engineer. Good luck in finding an engineering field you will be happy working in. With so many to chose from you have a challenge ahead of you. A: FROM MENTOR MARY JO MULLEN, CIVIL ENGINEER AT PATRICK ENGINEERING IN REGION V Engineering is a very broad field. I'm a civil engineer. Civil engineering deals with infrastructure generally. Civils design roads, subdivisions, storm water ponds, and utilities. I also do studies of rivers and lakes - how they flood, what their water quality is like. Structural Engineers also fall under civil. Structurals design bridges and buildings and other things whose components are critical to supporting weight. The other engineers here will probably comment on their own disciplines, but engineers create and design many things around you. Mechanical engineers can design cars or design machinery and tools for creating the pieces that make up your cell phone. Electrical engineers design electrical substations for utility companies, layout lighting and wiring indoors and outdoors, and design circuitry for the electronics you have. And these are just a few of the disciplines. As far as classes for engineering, its helps to be good at math and physics for any of the disciplines. Chemistry is also important to environmental, industrial and a few other engineers. In college, I took a basic programming class, 3 semesters of physics, 2 of chemistry, and 5 of math to meet my basic engineering requirements. Beyond those, everything else dealt specifically with civil engineer. I took classes in traffic, water management, wastewater, soils, and structures. A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS, DIRECTOR, WOMEN IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE PROGRAM AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS Kata, engineering is "about" many different kinds of things. The one thing that all kinds of engineering have in common is the idea of solving problems - coming up with ideas and designs to make something work better, more efficiently, make something work that didn't exist before - all to make the lives of human beings easier, safer, more convenient and comfortable, more pleasant. One phrase I like that describes engineering is "Engineers turn ideas into reality. Engineering is the art of applying scientific and mathematical principles, experience, judgment, and common sense to make things that benefit people." (from a brochure from the National Society of Professional Engineers.) That common sense part is really important - engineers have to make things that not just work, but that make sense and are easy for people to use - they have to find solutions that people will accept and want. One of my favorite examples is you could design the best cell phone in the world but if it weighs 10 pounds and costs a thousand dollars, you aren't going to sell many of them! so you have to come up with a solution that works, AND a solution that is cost effective and convenient and acceptable to those who will use it. To learn more about engineering, and engineers, especially women engineers and what they are up to, check out the Engineer Girl web site, at<HTTP: www.engineergirl.org www.engineergirl.org In high school, you should take as much math and science as you can, and maybe a wood or metal shop class if you can. In college, you will take math and physics and chemistry, and then the special courses in the area of engineering you have chosen, along with English and humanities and social science classes. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE KATIE A. IN REGION V We have been learning about moles (scientific) in Chemistry class. I understand how to use them and when, but what exactly is a mole measuring? (i.e. a gram measures mass, a mL measures volume) A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS, DIRECTOR, WOMEN IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE PROGRAM AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS Katie, I hope you will get several answers to this because the more times you hear it explained, in different ways, the clearer it will become. This is a concept that is often difficult to understand when you first encounter it. A mole is actually a number of atoms or molecules - a very particular number. The number is called Avogadro's number, and it is 6.022 times 10 to the 23, or 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000! When we have 12 eggs, we say we have a dozen eggs. A dozen is a special name for 12. A mole is just a special name for another number, the one I just gave. If you have that many atoms or molecules of one type, then you have one mole of that substance, just like if you have 12 eggs, you have a dozen eggs. So if you had that huge number above of carbon atoms, you would have a mole of carbon. A mole is connected to the atomic weight of atoms. For example, the atomic weight of carbon is 12. So if you have 12 grams of carbon, you will have exactly one mole of carbon atoms in that 12 grams! For any atom, if you know the atomic weight and then have that many grams of that type of atom, you will then have exactly one mole of that type of atom. Now, if you had a dozen rocks, they would probably weigh more than a dozen eggs. And if you had a dozen feathers, they would weigh less than a dozen eggs. So a mole of carbon will not weigh the same as a mole of something lighter (like hydrogen) or heavier (like lead), but a mole of carbon and a mole of hydrogen and a mole of lead will each have the same number of atoms. The atomic weight of hydrogen is 1, the atomic weight of carbon is 12, and the atomic weight of lead is 207. One mole of hydrogen weighs one gram, one mole of carbon weighs 12 grams, and one mole of lead weighs 207 grams - but all three moles have the same number of atoms. Just as a dozen feathers, eggs, or rocks would each have 12 feathers, eggs, or rocks in it. Apologies to the chemists out there if I have messed anything up, and I hope you will see some more interesting answers to this very interesting question. ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE FABLEX in REGION ?? What is exactly the field of computer graphics, how much does it pay for, and is it a good career for me to go into? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ARPITA G. IN IL What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist? ***** Q: FROM MENTEE MARIA H. IN MN I was wondering if there was a real demand for lawyers, corporate lawyers to be exact. That's what I'm extremely interested in, and I was just wondering if it would be hard to find a job. Also, what kind of classes should I be taking? ***** Q: FROM ALEXIS K. IN REGION ?? I am in the eighth grade and must soon make course selections for my freshman year in high school. Aptitude profiles show that I should consider becoming an architect. I have also been given feedback from teachers and my parents that I might want to consider engineering or computer science. Let me give you more background: I am happiest buried in a book (I read one every 1-3 days, provided I don't get caught reading late into the night!), I am writing a novel, I love anime, pokemon (for which I am relentlessly teased), creating codes, and playing computer games. Analysis and strategy are fun for me. Math class is not. Well, it's okay. My science teacher is smart, odd, and doesn't teach very well. I have changed schools often the last few years: 3rd and 4th grade in a French speaking school in Belgium, 5th and 6th grade in a German speaking school in Germany, 7th in the States(where I had to learn to do everything in English), and now 8th in an English gifted program. I am continuing to work on my French(in school) and German(on my own). I have had to relearn math techniques because every country approaches the same thing differently(changing from metric was the least of my problems). I think I should go into computer graphics or computer game design so that I can combine art, strategy and programming. I've been told that computer gaming is highly competitive and there are very few people needed, so as a girl I can forget about this field. Could this be why people are suggesting engineering and computer science? Part of the problem is that I do not think that I really understand what 'engineering' and 'computer science' are all about. And if I don't understand what they are, how can I decide if they are options for me? And, if I don't understand what they are, how can I make good choices in my school course selections? What if I try an engineering course in school and find out I am not good at it or don't like it? And let me add this. My mom says that she believes that one of the main reasons that fewer girls go into these fields is because their moms are not trained in these fields and don't know how to help guide kids like me, and that dad's who are in these fields don't know how/don't bother to teach their daughters. Neither of my parents is in a science, tech or math field so they don't have insight. But I know that if they were, they would help. They advised me to turn to all of you. Help! Course selections are due in two weeks. Also, I think that any advice you can give me will help other girls like me out there!!! ******* Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm thinking in majoring in child psychology. Should I also think of taking on a minor and in what field? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? __ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 15, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. The quiz question for this week is: Who was the first African American woman astronaut at NASA? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ********* TO ALL MENTEES AND MENTORS FROM SUZANNE FRANKS, PHD, DIRECTOR, WOMEN IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE PROGRAM AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY IN MANHATTAN, KS Earlier, one of the mentees wrote asking for words of wisdom or quotes that could be helpful in getting through a difficult period. Yesterday I was reminded of something I would like to share, because I am dealing with some personal difficulties right now. It is this: Successful people are not the ones who never need any help - they are the ones who, when they need help, aren't afraid to ask for it and can figure out where to go to get it. Having at least one person you can talk to, just to lean on and pour your heart out, or to ask for advice, is so important. Whether it's a friend, a family member, a counselor or teacher or pastor, seek out someone you can trust to turn to in times of trouble, and don't be afraid to ask when you need help and support. Think about how good it feels when you can help someone else - and remember that others may be just as glad to provide that comfort for you! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE FABLEX in REGION ?? What is exactly the field of computer graphics, how much does it pay for, and is it a good career for me to go into? A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN IL Computer graphics involves development of graphics and art to be used in a multitude of ways. They can be used in pamphlets for a company, or in a new company logo. They can also be used in educational software. In this case, often you are also required to have some programming skills if you need some animation or if you are developing the course on CD ROM. Also, computer graphics are used on the internet. Again, having programming skills will help you in this arena. Knowing how to animate the gif or knowing how to incorporate it into a web page is required. Computer Graphics designers are often the lowest paid of the computer careers. Entry level graphic designers earned between $21,000 and $24,000 annually, on average. Experienced designers can earn much more, depending on location, level of experience, and type of work. (Source: Society of Publication Designers). Here is what I found when I did an internet search using "computer graphics salaries". The url was Here is a web site that I found that tells you EVERYTHING you want to know about graphic designers:<HTTP: cnc-designer.html cmp-careers resources html www.tcm.org http://www .tcm.org/html/resources/cmp-careers/cnc-designer.html Another site<HTTP: careers-updated.html www.richmond.tech.purdue.edu http://www.richmo nd.tech.purdue.edu/careers-updated.html and was a Purdue site. This shows what you can do with a degree from Computer Graphics Technology. You have to take more than graphic design classes and develop a lot of other skills. Job Titles for recent Bachelor's degree graduates of the program in Computer Graphics Technology Actual Job Titles of Recent Bachelor's Graduates (4-yr degree): Animator/VR Imager Software Engineer Supervisor AET/CAD Instructor Multimedia Producer Production Director Designer Graphic Artist/Designer 3D Animator Multimedia Specialist Computer Graphics Artist Engineering Animator Graphic Artist CAD Detailer Technical Illustrator Mechanical Drafter (The Titles toward the bottom half of this list might be more attainable for two-year graduates) Bachelor's degree graduates of the class of 1999 had an average starting salary of $41,184/yr. Placement was 99%. Statistics for Associate's degree graduates are not available; A.S. starting salaries would be lower than B.S. starting salaries. For details, refer to the placement statistics published by Purdue's flagship campus in West Lafayette at www.tech.purdue.edu/placement/place98-99. ***** Q: FROM MENTEE MARIA H. IN MN I was wondering if there was a real demand for lawyers, corporate lawyers to be exact. That's what I'm extremely interested in, and I was just wondering if it would be hard to find a job. Also, what kind of classes should I be taking? A: FROM CHRISTINE M. KUTA, PATENT ATTORNEY, PERKINS, SMITH, & COHEN, LLP, IN BOSTON, MA The demand for lawyers rises and falls slightly behind the rise and fall of the economy, with the exception of patent lawyers who can pretty much always get a job. A few years ago, there were many more legal jobs than available lawyers. Right now, there are many unemployed lawyers. As for practicing corporate law, there are two meanings to "corporate law" and I am not sure which one you are asking about, but I will answer for both meanings. First, all kinds of lawyers work in corporations. There are real estate lawyers, SEC lawyers, labor and employment lawyers, environmental lawyers, licensing lawyers, patent lawyers, business and contract lawyers. The general rule is: the larger the corporation, the larger the legal department. Notice that I haven't named any "corporate" lawyers because lawyers in corporations don't work under that title. This is because what it means to practice corporate law in a corporation depends on the corporation and the size of the legal department. In a small corporation, you would be required to practice in more areas than in a large corporation. There are corporations with only one lawyer and you would have to practice in all the fields I named with the exception of patent law because it requires additional qualifications that most lawyers don't have. The lawyers who seem to have the most fun in corporations are the ones who handle the deals with other corporations, that is, the contracts lawyers. The best classes for this area are English, math, and languages because reading contracts is very precise and you need to be able to assist in the evaluation of the economics of the deal. You should study languages because corporations, both large and small, tend to be international these days. While the deal-making is done in English for the most part, you will be more valuable to the corporation if you are able to speak to the people on the other side of the deal in their own language. Second, there are people called corporate lawyers who work in law firms. They handle the incorporation of companies, contracts for corporations and help corporations abide by the rather large body of commercial and trade law that corporations must follow. The classes to take for this kind of job are also English and math. ***** Q: FROM ALEXIS K. IN REGION ?? I am in the eighth grade and must soon make course selections for my freshman year in high school. Aptitude profiles show that I should consider becoming an architect. I have also been given feedback from teachers and my parents that I might want to consider engineering or computer science. Let me give you more background: I am happiest buried in a book (I read one every 1-3 days, provided I don't get caught reading late into the night!), I am writing a novel, I love anime, pokemon (for which I am relentlessly teased), creating codes, and playing computer games. Analysis and strategy are fun for me. Math class is not. Well, it's okay. My science teacher is smart, odd, and doesn't teach very well. I have changed schools often the last few years: 3rd and 4th grade in a French speaking school in Belgium, 5th and 6th grade in a German speaking school in Germany, 7th in the States(where I had to learn to do everything in English), and now 8th in an English gifted program. I am continuing to work on my French(in school) and German(on my own). I have had to relearn math techniques because every country approaches the same thing differently(changing from metric was the least of my problems). I think I should go into computer graphics or computer game design so that I can combine art, strategy and programming. I've been told that computer gaming is highly competitive and there are very few people needed, so as a girl I can forget about this field. Could this be why people are suggesting engineering and computer science? Part of the problem is that I do not think that I really understand what 'engineering' and 'computer science' are all about. And if I don't understand what they are, how can I decide if they are options for me? And, if I don't understand what they are, how can I make good choices in my school course selections? What if I try an engineering course in school and find out I am not good at it or don't like it? And let me add this. My mom says that she believes that one of the main reasons that fewer girls go into these fields is because their moms are not trained in these fields and don't know how to help guide kids like me, and that dad's who are in these fields don't know how/don't bother to teach their daughters. Neither of my parents is in a science, tech or math field so they don't have insight. But I know that if they were, they would help. They advised me to turn to all of you. Help! Course selections are due in two weeks. Also, I think that any advice you can give me will help other girls like me out there!!! A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS, KC, MO Don't go by what your aptitude test says. They are not completely subjective and could change depending on the mood of the testee. My aptitude tests said I wouldn't amount to much, and it was wrong. I have a degree and in Physics and Plastics Engineering and a great job as a designer. The opposite of what my aptitude said I should do with my career. Many companies have a requirement for a certain percentage of females in the work place. Being a girl is to your advantage. If the decision to hire was narrowed down to you and a male, and the company needed more women in its workforce you would get the job. If you do what you enjoy in life there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't succeed. Pursuing a career because you think it is easy will not make you happy in the end. You will be bored and restless. Pursue what you enjoy most and you will excel in it even more than in the easy program. And may I suggest, with your international background computers and toys would be an area I would look into more. A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFO TECH TRAINER AT U. KENTUCKY Alexis, you should definitely consider architecture, computer science, engineering and more. You seem to have very broad academic abilities. I encourage you to keep the doors open to as many areas of study as possible. So, how do you do that with only so many classes that you can take at one time? Let me share my High School scheduling strategy -- I'd start looking at classes that are pre-requisites to other classes. You need to give high priority to those, or you might not be able to take all the classes in the sequence you want. I obtained permission (through our guidance counselor/advisor) to take an extra class instead of study hall. I usually scheduled the science, math and required classes first, then looked carefully at foreign language options and other electives. Our high school had many choices in English, so I'd select among those classes by considering 1) who were the better teachers, 2) which classes would be smaller, and 3)which classes focus on areas that seemed more interesting and helpful. If you are picking among foreign language options, the same strategy could apply. It sounds like you are used to the rigors of school life in Europe. You may be able to carry an extra class and/or take on some study that interests you outside of your high school classes. You and your mom are wise to point out that having a parent with a math, tech or science background would have been an advantage. But I think your strong determination is the Number 1 key to success. With persistence, you can overcome that barrier. Good Luck to you in your studies and your career choices! A: FROM MENTOR STACY WOOD, PROJECT DESIGNER AT PORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY IN PITTSBURGH, PA Alexis, from the information contained in your question to all of us, I can tell that you are an intelligent and well rounded girl and are taking your education very seriously. I was very excited to see the part about the aptitude test revealing that you should think about being an architect. You indicate that you like art as well. The architectural field can be very rewarding will also allow you to use your creativity and artistic talents. It sounds to me that you are very concerned about choosing classes for your freshman year in high school because you feel that you must know exactly what you want to do as your profession. You are correct to an extent, however I feel that high school is also the time to discover what interests you enough to want to pursue it as your career. I would like to share with you how I chose my career. I have always since a young girl had an interest in interior design. I had this little floor plan drawn up to scale on graph paper and cutouts of all of the furniture in my bedroom that were also to scale. This allowed for me to move my room around often. When I went to high school they offered interior design classes as part of the home economics courses. I took my first year of interior design as a junior in high school. I thought that I had found what I wanted to do as my career. When choosing my classes for my senior year I signed up for the 2nd course offered in interior design, but also signed up for a drafting course as it would help me in my pursuit of being an interior designer. By taking the drafting course I found out that I would rather pursue a career in the architectural field. Both career choices are related yet very different, but my career was chosen because it was something that I had taken a special interest in for the better part of my life. I enjoy what I do very much. My roles and responsibilities have changed dramatically over the years and it has been very rewarding. I enjoy the process of being a part of the design of a structure and then being able to see it all go together during construction. Some architects specialize in design, others in art renderings of the structure and site around the structure or model building, while others specialize in the technical portions of the project by detailing exactly how the structure is going to be built. An architect also gets to work closely with the engineers that are designing the other aspects of the structure such as, with the electrical engineer for the lighting and power for the structure. There are many web sites to visit that you can visit to help to decide whether or not you would enjoy being an architect. Hopefully by sharing how I came about choosing my career it will help you in doing the same. As far as choosing your classes for next year, I suggest that you choose classes related to the career that you think you want to pursue the most. In high school, by taking classes in your related job field you will be able to learn if you are going to like it or are going to do well in it. By finding out in high school what you enjoy, you will be able to make better choices for college. A: FROM MENTOR JULIA HOCHBERG, MECHANICAL ENGINEER, MOTOROLA IN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL Wow, Alexis. You have had some amazing experiences thus far and I am sure you will continue to do so. I think its wonderful that you are putting forth effort to explore your interests, in consideration of the future, but I think it's impossible for you to decide and specialize in your career now. There are too many experiences to be had, classes to take, people to meet, bad professors that will frustrate you, good professors that will inspire you, late night conversations with your best friends, etc. that will influence your decisions. As for deciding your freshman (and throughout high school) course choices, take a balanced course load including all the major subjects. One thing the mentors have reiterated time and time again on this listserv is that we have all needed a variety of skills which we gained from a variety of classes. You need all those skills to get into college, to get your first job, and to succeed in life. It does sound like you have an aptitude for a technology related career, but continue to explore all your options and all the technology-related careers there are. Don't worry about "what if" you don't enjoy a class or have to change majors in college- all your experiences help you discover what you are interested in and who you are. Personally, I did okay, but did not excel in math and science in high school or engineering school but I like the subject matter and enjoy problem solving and stayed with it. If you don't try- how will you ever know? And, leave being a girl out of all your decision making. Girls can do anything! Keep a positive attitude about you and your abilities and nothing will stop you in ANY profession. My parents didn't have a background in engineering either, but they believed in me and were very supportive of whatever I did and that's all I needed. Finally, its hard to explain what engineering or computer science is- I like the quote, "Turning ideas into reality," but I don't think that really answers what you want to know. The best bet is to research the internet- especially engineering related societies and organizations for a multitude of definitions, articles, and ideas. Personal friends with these degrees went into a variety of jobs including: the Peace Corps (designing waterway systems in 3rd world countries), medical school (to design biomedical products like the artificial heart), environmental policy (help set government policy to preserve the environment), a Fullbright scholarship (to study international business in Mexico), design/write code (for government combat scenario training modules), mechanical design engineer (designing the next generation kitchen appliances). The possibilities are endless- which is why I think its such a great area of study! Good luck. A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN IL Alexis, Add good writing skills to your list of abilities! Try to make good use of your language skills in your future career. With the globalization of most industries, you will be in HIGH demand!! Please do not discount a career because you think it's too competitive. You sound like you can do anything and if you have the confidence and persistence and you really want something, you can get it. Also, in this day in age, being a woman sometimes can be helpful. Because of the lack of women and minorities in many engineering areas, companies are trying to hire more women and minorities. You have to have the ability to do the job, but they will encourage women and minorities to apply for the job. You will learn that diversity (people with different backgrounds and cultures) helps a company to be more creative in new designs and in resolving difficult problems. Everyone comes from a different situation and can use their experiences to add input. So, if computer gaming is a dream for you, go for it!! If you are really good, you will be the one with the job!! Also, computer gaming, if I understand correctly, is basically a computer science or software engineering based degree. You should take classes in areas you THINK you are interested in. If you decide you don't like a class, it doesn't mean you won't like the career. You have to keep digging to understand what the career involves. If it involves use of the concepts in the class to a large degree, then you probably won't like that particular career. Then, you should consider another career. But, taking this class is not a mistake and doesn't take you backwards. It still will count towards your curriculum. Also, if a particular class is hard for you, that doesn't mean you should not go into that career. Sometimes people who have to work harder to understand a concept, dig deeper and in the end, understand it better than those who got the original concept early on! I think what your mother said has some truth. Girls look to their mothers and other women for role models. If they do not have someone close to them in engineering, for example, it's hard for a girl to picture themselves in that career. That's why this mentoring program was developed. So, that you will have women you can ask questions and learn from them. Good luck with your decisions! ******* Q: FROM MENTEE JEN S. IN IL I'm thinking in majoring in child psychology. Should I also think of taking on a minor and in what field? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI I think you should follow your heart and study whatever you love, whether or not it seems related to your current career choice. There's more to life than a career, and no better time to explore it than when you're young. I majored in chemistry and became a biochemist, but courses I took in music, art, languages and literature have greatly enhanced my adult life. Personally I don't think it's important to have an official "minor" (unless of course your college requires one) if your interests are broad - go for a broad foundation now and you can build in many directions later. If your interests are more focused, then a minor may make sense - if you simply _want_ to study its requirements. But if they feel like a straightjacket, you don't need to tie the arms. Throw it over your shoulders and enjoy the warmth, but keep your hands free for other interests you may have. I'm in the midst of admitting applicants to graduate school now, and we get a significant number who didn't major or minor in the field to which they are applying. They took enough courses or sometimes have worked to acquire experience, and the only reason I'm looking at their applications is that our faculty are recommending that we admit them. We get quite a few who switched fields part way through college and suddenly turned from B/C students to A students because they finally discovered the right field for them. If they hadn't explored... whatever would have become of them? ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ARPITA G. IN IL What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN KY My friend asked me to enroll in Anatomy class next fall. I want to be a dermatologist. Would I need this class and what is it about? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 18, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman astronaut at NASA? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ********* Q: FROM MENTEE ARPITA G. IN IL What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist? A: FROM MODERATOR DENISE HARBERT, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO Psychiatrists have medical doctorate degrees (M.D.) and Psychologists have philosophical doctorate degrees (Ph.D.). Psychiatrists get their degrees from a medical school in a university, while Psychologists get their degrees from a Psychology department often located in the Letters and Science college of a university. Both can either be practitioners who deal with "patients" (also called "clients") or researchers who develop new treatments for the practitioners to use. Both deal with the various aspects of human behavior, but the main differences lie in the practical applications of the different degrees. Psychiatrists are licensed to write prescriptions for drugs and Psychologists are not. Although this is not always the case, in general, Psychiatrists focus on the physiological (medical or biological) aspects of human behavior and Psychologists focus on environmental (family, friends, co-workers) influences. Most people today believe that human behavior is caused by a complex mix of both physiology and environment. For example, consider two make-believe women who are suffering from severe depression. They both cry frequently, are exhausted constantly, have trouble getting out of bed, and feel like the world is crashing in on top of them. They both suffer from the same symptoms. However, the causes of their symptoms may be entirely different and they may need to be treated differently. The first woman has a successful career, a stable home life, and a supportive network of family and friends. The second woman has no close friends, has just been laid off from her job, and came home early from her last day at work to catch her husband having an affair with a much younger woman. By these brief descriptions, it would probably be best for the first woman to see a Psychiatrist and the second a Psychologist. The first woman's depression seems to have no outward cause and may be caused by a chemical imbalance in her brain. She probably needs medication and perhaps some counseling to understand her medical problem and how it can affect her life. The second woman has some obvious environmental problems. Although taking medication may alleviate some of her depression symptoms, there is no pill in the world that is going to fix her job or marriage problems. For that, she will need practical advice, a list of options to act on, emotional support, an understanding of how she got to the place she is in so she can try to prevent it from happening again, and perhaps a good lawyer. These are things that a Psychologist is better trained to handle. Furthermore, Psychiatrists may deal with mental illnesses severe enough to require hospitalization, such as Schizophrenia. Severe mental illnesses can involve patients who have audio and visual hallucinations, are completely unaware of the world around them, or have murder or suicidal tendencies. Psychologists may encounter such patients, but are likely to refer them to Psychiatrists or Psychiatric Hospitals where they can get medication or be hospitalized. Finally, there are many areas to Psychology other than Clinical or Counseling, which are the types of Psychology consistent with the description above. There are academic Psychologists in universities who perform experiments and publish results on learning and memory, perception and cognition, interpersonal relationships, gender and women's studies, ethnicity, genetics and biology, industrial organization (corporate psych), personality, psychometrics (statistical methods needed to analyze data), etc. Hope this helps! ********* NEW QUESTIONS ****** Q:FROM MENTEE JENNILYNN H. IN MD I am very interested in science and math. However, my real passion is musical theatre... I am not sure that there is any way to incorporate the two.... actually, I'm positive, but I have been told that people who enjoy acting seem to enjoy law. Would a good route for me be patent law, since I like science and math AND law-related things? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN KY My friend asked me to enroll in Anatomy class next fall. I want to be a dermatologist. Would I need this class and what is it about? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 19, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** ATTENTION MENTORS IN CHICAGO AREA: Trinity High School in River Forest is hosting a Leadership Day for Women in Technology and Engineering on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30am-Noon. If you are interested in being a speaker and telling the young women who attend Trinity all about your career, please contact Debby Pascal at the Region V Women's Bureau at 1-800-648-8183 or e-mail her at Pascal-Deborah@dol.gov. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman astronaut at NASA? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Q:FROM MENTEE JENNILYNN H. IN MD I am very interested in science and math. However, my real passion is musical theatre... I am not sure that there is any way to incorporate the two.... actually, I'm positive, but I have been told that people who enjoy acting seem to enjoy law. Would a good route for me be patent law, since I like science and math AND law-related things? A: FROM MENTOR BIRGIT SORGENFREI, P.E., BUSINESS PLANNING SPECIALIST, LINCOLN MERCURY BUSINESS OFFICE IN REGION V There are many opportunities to combine an education in science and math with musical theatre. For example, pyrotechnics requires knowledge of science to safely and effectively accomplish the desired effect. You could also study acoustics (electrical and maybe mechanical engineering) in order to develop equipment which enhances the musical theater experience for the audience. Good luck! ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN KY My friend asked me to enroll in Anatomy class next fall. I want to be a dermatologist. Would I need this class and what is it about? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? ****** Q: FROM MODERATOR SARAH SHIRK, MPH, PROJECT COORDINATOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IL AT CHICAGO Since this is National Engineers Week I would like to ask what you think is the most significant engineering feat of the past century? Opinions from BOTH mentors AND mentees are welcome! _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 20, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** ATTENTION MENTORS IN CHICAGO AREA: Trinity High School in River Forest is hosting a Leadership Day for Women in Technology and Engineering on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30am-Noon. If you are interested in being a speaker and telling the young women who attend Trinity all about your career, please contact Debby Pascal at the Region V Women's Bureau at 1-800-648-8183 or e-mail her at Pascal-Deborah@dol.gov. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman astronaut at NASA? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** African American History in the Making: This week, Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete in the world to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. After injuries prevented her from competing for a Summer Olympic medal, she switched to bobsled and teamed up with driver Jill Bakken to win the gold in the two women bobsled competition. (http://www.sportsline.com/u/ce/multi/0,1329,5032208_281288,00.html) Bobsled involves a lot of SET: the blade design and steering/brake mechanisms of the sled, sports equipment designs (helmet, bodysuit, shoes) that increase push off speeds and decrease wind resistance during the run, the radius and downward slope of the track curves, cooling systems that keep the track ice from melting during warm days, athlete mastery of centripetal and gravitational forces acting on the sled during the run, medical knowledge needed by trainers and emergency rescue personnel, etc. Applying SET to Olympic Freestyle Skiing: Former Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Bergoust revolutionized the sport of freestyle skiing with his wizardry in math and geometry. His instincts told him that the sport could be re-invented to improve the skier's rotation control, increase the time spent in the air, and decrease the force applied to the knees during landing. This would allow more acrobatic jumps while simultaneously decreasing the likelihood of injury. Bergoust took out a pencil and began computing. He examined the angle, radius, and length of the regulation take-off ramp (called the "kicker") and computed a better way to design it. (Check out his paper called "Evolution 5/98" on his official web site below.) He also changed the positioning of his arms during take-off and made adjustments to ski boots and other equipment. Today, over 90% of aerial skiers worldwide use at least one of his revolutionary techniques. (<HTTP: storytopics.asp www.airbergy.comhttp://www.airbergy.com/storytopic s.asp) Have you seen any other Olympic sports that use SET? ****** Q: FROM MODERATOR SARAH SHIRK, MPH, PROJECT COORDINATOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IL AT CHICAGO Since this is National Engineers Week I would like to ask what you think is the most significant engineering feat of the past century? Opinions from BOTH mentors AND mentees are welcome! A: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO I think one of the most influential engineering feats at least to the common person was probably the computer, and the development of microchips. I think as far as political influence, probably the atomic bomb A: FROM DR. ESTHER PEARSON OF MASSACHUSETTS I believe the structured development of software programming language by Grace Hooper is the most significant engineering feat. Her work provided a framework for the development of many programming languages that followed. These languages make possible our utilization of computers as useful tools to achieve work in our everyday lives in academia, government and corporation/businesses. A:FROM MENTOR DEB GRUBBE, DUPONT IN WILMINGTON, DE Landing a man on the moon and bringing him back in one piece! ****** Q:FROM MENTEE JENNILYNN H. IN MD I am very interested in science and math. However, my real passion is musical theatre... I am not sure that there is any way to incorporate the two.... actually, I'm positive, but I have been told that people who enjoy acting seem to enjoy law. Would a good route for me be patent law, since I like science and math AND law-related things? A: FROM MODERATOR DENISE HARBERT, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO I'm not convinced that I see the connection between musical theatre and law. Perhaps the person who recommended law to you was thinking more of movie or television acting, which involves a lot of "slow" times behind the scenes and is much more understated than live theatre. Good live theatre involves grandiose physical movements and exaggerated emotions. Although Hollywood may show this type of behavior in courtroom movies, real judges would probably throw you out! See if you can arrange to visit one of your local courtrooms for the day and watch what law is really like. Many court cases are open to the public, provided that you follow the rules, and you could probably convince your parent(s) and/or school that this is a legitimate reason to miss class for a day. I am glad that you are interested in SET, but you said that musical theatre is your "real passion". Real passions are rare and you shouldn't give them up even if they seem impractical. You should set out with the belief that you will pursue two careers simultaneously: one in SET and one in musical theatre. Simply keep taking classes that emphasize math, science, music, and drama and you'll eventually figure out which areas interest you most. The combination of SET and musical theatre might take you places you cannot possibly imagine now. You could have a SET career and keep musical theatre as a hobby. The world is in desperate need of people with all kinds of advanced SET careers who are also creative artists. Creativity can allow you to solve problems no one else can and to think of things that need to be invented. The interaction experience you will have with artsy people who don't understand SET will become invaluable in business negotiations, in creating things that everyone in the general public can use, in writing books and articles, or in countless other professional situations. SET skills can also enhance a career in musical theatre. Putting on a professional musical theatre show involves a lot of SET: lighting equipment, sound equipment, pyrotech explosions, moving equipment like cranes and pulleys, engineering to build and design stages and props, and even computer software and hardware required to manage the business. These skills could also apply to any musical group that tours (e.g., pop, rock, R&B). There are technical colleges that specialize in electronics needed to work on such tours. (Be aware, though, that living on a bus is NOT glamorous like most people think. Trust me, I know a lot of people who do it. They tend to be cyclical people who work their brains out with virtually no sleep for about 9 months and spend the rest of the year bumming around the house recovering from their exhaustion. Most are "loners" without much family or friends because they're away from home most of the time.) You could combine both by studying SET, then creating and performing in musical theatres about SET. Theatres could be designed to get teens and pre-teens interested in SET or they could educate artsy adults who don't understand SET and won't learn it any other way. One thing to keep in mind is that SET careers usually pay much better than theatre careers. If your "real passion" is to be in theatre, then pursue it and use SET to fall back on if you simply need to pay the rent. Just to name some actresses who can fall back on SET if they need to, model/actress Cindy Crawford studied chemical engineering at Northwestern University and Baywatch model/actress Donna D'Errico excelled in math and almost became an accountant. A: FROM MENTOR CHRISTINE KUTA, PATTENT ATTORNEY, PERKINS, SMITH&COHEN, LLP IN BOSTON, MA You might enjoy patent law, probably patent litigation. Your interest in acting would be helpful in court. Patent prosecution (the writing and arguing of patents before the US Patent Office) involves a lot of writing and not a lot of public presentation, so this does not seem like something you would be interested in doing. A few patent lawyers do both litigation and prosecution but not many because it is difficult to organize one's time to do both. A: FROM MENTOR AMY MCMILLAN, NRC POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN CINCINNATI, OH Jennilynn, I understand your interest - when I started college I double majored in Theater and in Zoology! It was really a great way for me to go at the beginning because I was passionate about theater AND loved science. I decided after 2 years that I, personally, couldn't do both and chose a career in science and a hobby in theater. I should mention that it took longer to finish my Bachelor's degree as a result but I had more fun doing it! I try to find ways to be involved in theater and always will (there are lots of great community theaters out there!) but I love my career choice too! My advice to you is try some courses in a variety of things so that you can get a feel for what will keep you happy in a career - I like your idea of combining your interests. If you remain open to possibilities you are going to find what is really satisfying - and remember that you never really have to give up something you are passionate about - just maybe change the way you do it. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN KY My friend asked me to enroll in Anatomy class next fall. I want to be a dermatologist. Would I need this class and what is it about? A: FROM MENTOR MARGO AUXTER, RADIATION THERAPIST IN OK Anatomy class is one of the classes that all medical professions have in common. You will learn the body inside and out. It helps you to understand how all of the different parts work together to make us run. It is a very valuable class that I think everyone should take, even if they don't plan on entering the medical profession. Most high school anatomy classes dissect cats or pigs. It sounds gross, but it isn't near as bad as it sounds. If you plan on going into med school, you will take the college-level class that uses human cadavers. That, too, isn't as bad as it sounds. You cannot truly understand how the body works unless you really get to see it and touch it. I hope you enroll with your friend, it is a great class and it will give you a head start when you are doing your college-level anatomy class. ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO How can a sunburn as a child cause cancer 50 years later even though all of the skin has been replaced? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXX M. IN IL Hi! In the spring my eighth grade class does a project called notable American women. It is where each girl picks an American woman who is notable (they have to have written a book), and does a report on them. I am having a lot of trouble finding someone! I am interested in veterinarians, do you have any suggestions? thanks :) ******* Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA H. IN REGION IV What is the employment rate of pediatricians right now? _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 21, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** ATTENTION MENTORS IN CHICAGO AREA: Trinity High School in River Forest is hosting a Leadership Day for Women in Technology and Engineering on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30am-Noon. If you are interested in being a speaker and telling the young women who attend Trinity all about your career, please contact Debby Pascal at the Region V Women's Bureau at 1-800-648-8183 or e-mail her at Pascal-Deborah@dol.gov. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman astronaut at NASA? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMANDA T. IN MO How can a sunburn as a child cause cancer 50 years later even though all of the skin has been replaced? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI Good question! That replacement skin comes from the division of skin cells, cells whose ancestors were out in the sun when you were a child. The ultraviolet light causes mutations, and there is some evidence from the dose response - from how much mutagen, how many mutations, it takes to cause a certain number of cancers - that it takes more than one mutation. I recall hearing a number around 5... but I can't swear to the precise number. So, after one mutation the skin cells may be pretty much OK and keep dividing, each daughter cell having that mutation, and after you go back into the sun some years later, by chance one of those mutant daughters gets zapped and now you have cells growing with two mutations... and eventually, skin cancer. I've had several basal cell carcinomas removed, and lots of "actinic keratoses" which is a term for reddish scaly patchy skin that is not cancerous yet but getting close - no one has told me how many mutations it probably has accumulated. My own interpretation of the dermatologist's advice that it's still wise to use sunblock however old you are is that stopping the UV rays will lessen the chance of progressing to cancer in those cells that have some mutations already. We know a lot more now about cell division, about which genes might mutate so that, taken all together, the altered gene products might let cell division go on too much. When I say "we" though, I'm not one of the "we" who know the details! I've been lucky that all my lesions have been basal cell, the least likely to be lethal. Lucky to have had a really good surgeon who left me a normal-looking nose, lucky that liquid nitrogen and fluorouracil have taken care of the rest. Any of you who are studying biochemistry can read in your textbooks about fluorouracil and how it blocks DNA replication. I taught that topic years ago, never imagining what fluorouracil would do to sun-damaged skin! It was such a pleasure having that sailboat years ago.... very little shade on a sailboat, alas. ****** Q: FROM MODERATOR SARAH SHIRK, MPH, PROJECT COORDINATOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IL AT CHICAGO Since this is National Engineers Week I would like to ask what you think is the most significant engineering feat of the past century? Opinions from BOTH mentors AND mentees are welcome! A: FROM MENTOR DEB MACKAY, PRODUCT MANAGER AT LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL IN LEXINGTON, KY I polled two friends who are also electrical engineers and got their opinion too: the Apollo project - sending a man to the moon and returning him safely. the invention of the silicon transistor the invention of the atom bomb ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXX M. IN IL Hi! In the spring my eighth grade class does a project called notable American women. It is where each girl picks an American woman who is notable (they have to have written a book), and does a report on them. I am having a lot of trouble finding someone! I am interested in veterinarians, do you have any suggestions? thanks :) A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN IL I found a bunch of web sites by searching on yahoo for "woman veterinarian". This is a web site on non-traditional roles for women. One named was Mignon Nicholson who was the first woman vet in 1903.<HTTP: aa120797.htm weekly library careerplanning.about.com http://careerp lanning.about.com/library/weekly/aa120797.htm If you then search for "Mignon Nicholson" you will find more sites on Mignon Nicholson. Another idea is to write on a woman veterinarian that lives and works in your area. Not only will you write about an American woman, you will learn a lot about what it really takes to be a vet. A: FROM MENTOR MARTY CHINTALA, RESEARCH BIOLOGIST, US EPA, ATLANTIC ECOLOGY DIVISION IN NARRAGANSETT, RI Alexx, what a great project! I have always been interested in the role of women in science since many great discoveries happened because of women, but they often are in a supporting role and/or don't get the glory that the men do (a great example of this is Rosalind Franklin. Without her, Watson & Crick would not have discovered the double helix- they weren't very collegial toward her and she died before she could get any Nobel credit for helping with the discovery so many people don't know who she is). Here are some web pages that look at notable women in science- you might be able to get some ideas from there:<HTTP: 4000WS.html 4000ws www.astr.ua.edu http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000ws/40 00WS.html (4000 yrs. of women in science)<HTTP: 4000ws www.astr.ua.edu links.html http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000ws/lin ks.html (a series of links for women in science)<HTTP: faces.html display chem lib www.lib.lsu.edu http://www.lib.lsu.edu/ lib/chem/display/faces.html (African Americans in science)<HTTP: past-women.html tap homes www.cs.yale.edu http://www.cs.yale.edu/ho mes/tap/past-women.html (women in computers and mathematics) Let me know who you choose! ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN VIRGINIA As a Junior in High School, everybody is trying to get me to commit to one path for the rest of my life. While I realize that that isn't at all what is going to happen, it has made me think about what I want to do with some of my life in the future. I have developed an interest in Marine Biology, but I'm not sure about the Types of jobs, availability and skills required. I was also wondering if someone could tell me the difference between an oceanograph, a Marine Biologist, and an Oceanographic chemist. Thanks a Bunch! ****** Q: AFROM MENTEE REBECCA H. IN WI Would I be crazy to double major in aerospace engineering and wildlife biology? I really love both and am finding it hard to choose. Are there any other ways to combine these two fields? ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ISRRA A. IN PA I'm a high school freshman. I'm at a point in my life where I should start thinking about the career I want to pursuit. Right now I am looking at the drafting field. I took a technical drawing class last semester and I had some interest in that class. I think it might be something I want to do. I am trying to increase my knowledge in the drafting field. Right know I am taking a CAD class(computer Aided Drafting).So far I think it is going well. I was wondering what other things should I get involved in to increase my knowledge in this field? What kinds of things should I do and where can I get more information about this career. Thank You! _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 22, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** ATTENTION MENTORS IN CHICAGO AREA: Trinity High School in River Forest is hosting a Leadership Day for Women in Technology and Engineering on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30am-Noon. If you are interested in being a speaker and telling the young women who attend Trinity all about your career, please contact Debby Pascal at the Region V Women's Bureau at 1-800-648-8183 or e-mail her at Pascal-Deborah@dol.gov. ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree? What year did she earn it and from what medical college? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** RESPONSE FROM MENTEE ALEXIS K. IN REGION III Thank you to all the mentors who answered my questions recently. I also used answers from mentors about what engineering is (Thanks to Danell Oliver-Collins , Esther Pearson, Jacquelyn Jurga, Mary Jo Mullen, and Suzanne Franks). My favorite part from Danell Oliver-Collins was about not taking the easy road and risking being bored or unhappy. With this I decided to try the harder classes for next year. My counselor said I could change if it was too tough, but I am going to try. From Annaliese Bratcher my favorite part was about how to do class scheduling. This was exactly right! I spent a long time reading about all the classes, underlining the ones I liked/thought I needed, and made sure I noted the prerequisites. It was time consuming, tedious, and exciting, because when I finished I understood where I needed to go and how to get there. And you are right. There isn't enough time for everything. But I can see how if you don't make a plan, you don't make a future. From Stacy Wood my favorite part was about discovering what interests me and trying related classes to see if I like them and can do well enough. I used that in my class selections, too. I signed up for basic technical drawing. I'll let you know later how that goes. >From Julia Hochberg my favorite was, well, everything! I especially liked all their examples of people you know who have used their engineering in so many ways. I didn't know that stuff was engineering. And from Kristin Taghon my favorites were about persistence, digging deeper, and what happens when you work harder at concepts. I know all about this. I've had to work really hard at Algebra this year but I never gave up when it got tough. Well, not only are my freshman year course selections in, but I have a good idea what to take after that and have built in alternatives. Thank you to everyone!!!!!!! ****** ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ALEXIS IN REGION III Look what I found in my sister's high school newsletter: Exploring Engineering at the University of Maryland - is a one week summer program for 10th and 11th grade girls interested in Math, science, or engineering. Contact www.engr.umd.edu/wie. Application deadline April 12 and C-Tech 2 Summer Camp for rising Junior and Senior students. To explore applications in engineering, math and science in a way that is fun and exciting. This is a two week camp at Virginia Tech. Call 540-231-3973 or visit website<HTTP: ctech21 www.eng.vt.edu www.eng.vt.edu/ctech21 Maybe this is good for someone in the GEM SET program! ****** Q: FROM MODERATOR SARAH SHIRK, MPH, PROJECT COORDINATOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IL AT CHICAGO Since this is National Engineers Week I would like to ask what you think is the most significant engineering feat of the past century? Opinions from BOTH mentors AND mentees are welcome! RESPONSE: FROM MENTEE ALEXIS IN REGION III In response to the question about the most significant engineering feat of the century, let me answer the question with a question. Given that there are many types of engineering (aerospace, chemical, civil, electrical, electronic, industrial, mechanical, metallurgical, ceramic, mining, nuclear, and petroleum, to name a few) (I found this in a book when I was trying to learn more about what engineering is!), and that all have value in "design and development of earth, life, and physical sciences as artifacts that are helpful in our everyday lives" (see GEM SET from 14 Feb!), how can any one determine that one field's invention is better than another? Each person could come up with a different but equally valid argument why their selection is best and be as right as the next persons view. So if the types of engineering are different but equal parts of a system, wouldn't the most significant invention be the one which integrates the most number of types of engineering into its design? Like an invention which combines aerospace, nuclear, metallurgical, electrical and chemical might be considered better than one which is only used in mechanical. Does this make any sense? Okay, so what invention qualifies? That's my answer...a mystery! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ERIN R. IN VIRGINIA As a Junior in High School, everybody is trying to get me to commit to one path for the rest of my life. While I realize that that isn't at all what is going to happen, it has made me think about what I want to do with some of my life in the future. I have developed an interest in Marine Biology, but I'm not sure about the Types of jobs, availability and skills required. I was also wondering if someone could tell me the difference between an oceanograph, a Marine Biologist, and an Oceanographic chemist. Thanks a Bunch! A: FROM MENTOR MARTY CHINTALA, RESEARCH BIOLOGIST, US EPA, ATLANTIC ECOLOGY DIVISION IN NARRAGANSETT, RI Erin, Try not to worry about what someone else wants you to commit to, you are the one who has to be happy with a career. There are many type of jobs out there in the marine field at all skill levels. You do need at least a Bachelor's degree, and whether you get a Master's degree or PhD is up to you. There will be some opportunities at all levels, but the responsibility level will change with education level. I have always been interested in marine biology (my father would tell you it was because I watched Flipper as a kid, but the real reason is because I spent much of my summers on the Chesapeake Bay playing in the water!) Marine science was my main career objective for much of my life, and I consider myself a marine biologist instead of an oceanographer. What the difference is between an oceanographer and a Marine Biologist is a very good question, and not always easy to find an answer. Many people use them interchangeably. Oceanographers study how oceans work, and there are many different types of oceanographers. They often make measurements at sea, conduct laboratory experiments and make models. Physical oceanographers study water masses and currents in the oceans and interactions of different energy forms (such as light, heat, sounds, wind, etc.) in the ocean. Chemical oceanographers look at the distribution of chemical compounds and the interactions that occur in and between the air, ocean and seafloor. Biological oceanographers describe life forms in the sea with their natural environment- describing their population patterns and how plants and animals interact with each other, inorganic substances and energy sources. Geological oceanographers describe the seafloor and things like sediment transport in currents. They can also be ocean engineers and technicians. Marine Biologists study the living resources in the oceans and seas and ask questions specifically about ocean life. They look at interactions among species, ecosystems, or between the organisms and its environment. They take samples at sea or conduct experiments either in the ocean or in the laboratory. The marine biologist is similar to the biological oceanographer in many ways. There are many different career paths depending on your interest: things like chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, archeology- you name it! It might be helpful to think about what things interest you about marine science and then look at that area. Here are some good websites on jobs and careers in marine biology and oceanography that might help you sort through your options. Check them out!<HTTP: mbweb.html marinebio life.bio.sunysb.edu http://life.bio.sunysb.edu /marinebio/mbweb.html<HTTP: careers.html HMSweb www-marine.stanford.edu http://www-marine.stanf ord.edu/HMSweb/careers.html ****** Q: AFROM MENTEE REBECCA H. IN WI Would I be crazy to double major in aerospace engineering and wildlife biology? I really love both and am finding it hard to choose. Are there any other ways to combine these two fields? A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS IN MO You are never crazy to do what makes you happy. You may find that you will spend more time in college than other people because while those two fields are science based fields they do not share many higher level courses. Having a degree in both fields does give you more options for a career after you graduate. If you are finding it difficult to chose one or the other try doing a summer job/internship in both of those fields. Then you will get a better perspective on what the field is actually like and it may make your decision easier. A: FROM MENTOR JULIA HOCHBERG, MECHANICAL ENGINEER AT MOTOROLA IN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL It wouldn't be crazy but it would take some significant effort and some extra time at school to complete all the required courses in both degrees. And, lots of planning so that you could try not to have the most difficult classes from each area in the same semester! If your interest in wildlife biology expands to all types of biology, the last head of NASA (Dan Goldin) is quoted as saying that the future of NASA is in biology. As we increase our visits, and ability to visit, other planets, experts in biology will be needed to help study the origins of life, our solar system, and beyond. If not, hobbies are a great way to accommodate all your interests. If you choose the engineering route, your help would be welcomed volunteering at state parks, wildlife refuges, etc. If you choose the biology route, the aerospace interest could be maintained through literature and publications, volunteering to teach kids about space, model rocketry/airplanes, getting your pilot's license, etc. For me, it seems like there is never enough time to do all things I am interested in! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ISRRA A. IN PA I'm a high school freshman. I'm at a point in my life where I should start thinking about the career I want to pursuit. Right now I am looking at the drafting field. I took a technical drawing class last semester and I had some interest in that class. I think it might be something I want to do. I am trying to increase my knowledge in the drafting field. Right know I am taking a CAD class(computer Aided Drafting).So far I think it is going well. I was wondering what other things should I get involved in to increase my knowledge in this field? What kinds of things should I do and where can I get more information about this career. Thank You! A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER HALLMARK CARDS IN MO I think it is great you like drafting and going into CAD is a great step. So many engineering fields use CAE (computer aided engineering) in their day to day activities. I would suggest your next step being 3 dimensional CAD programs. Everything is 3D now, and employers will ask if you have 3D experience. There are many different brands of 3D computer drafting programs so learning a couple would make it very easy for you to adapt to any brand that you run across. May I suggest ProE, AutoCAD 2002, or Solid Edge. I have experience with all of these programs. Once you learn one you can easily learn the others. You might also look into Mechanical/engineering related classes that teach you how different materials (steel, wood, plastic) act. If you are going to draw them you should probably know something them. A: FROM MENTOR JULIA HOCHBERG, MECHANICAL ENGINEER AT MOTOROLA IN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL There are many things you can do with drafting and CAD experience. Knowing the proper way to create a technical drawing with correct dimensions and notes is very admirable and benefits any company that designs. Particularly the aerospace industry where all parts must meet specific criteria and stringent safety measures and require detailed and exact prints. Here are a couple jobs I thought of: mechanical engineers use CAD everyday to create parts and technical drawings, civil engineers use it to design structures, architects use it to design buildings, city planners use it to design new roadways, interior designers can use it to rearrange living spaces, facility managers use it to layout office/manufacturing spaces, teachers/educators for both schools and corporate training teach students CAD. Expertise in reading and understanding prints is necessary in construction management, architecture, interior design, all types of construction jobs, manufacturing, and working with virtually any type of engineering company. I am pretty sure that you can still get an associates (2 year) degree in technical drawing/drafting, but a 4 year degree expanding that knowledge will be more useful in today's marketplace. A: FROM MENTOR JACQUELYN JURGA, MECH. DESIGN/FABRICATION MANAGER, CABOT CORP IN BOSTON, MA Hi Isrra- I have a mechanical engineering background, but back when I was your age I also took Mechanical drawing (they didn't have CAD/CAM back then). I found I had a skill to visualize things from different views ( whether I was looking at them or had a picture in my head)and I also liked to draw so it was a perfect fit. At the time I didn't know I was actually learning the foundation and basic math skills for what I would be doing the rest of my life. I didn't learn CAD/CAM until later in my career, as I had already graduated from College and working for Digital Equipment Co. when CAD/CAM became the standard way to document drawings. I was one of the first to learn how to use it. Back then we used a system called Unigraphics. I manage the designers here at Cabot Corp. and do not get the chance to draw very much. But -- not so long ago I was a designer on CAD/CAM myself using Pro-Engineer Software. That is a solid modeler. I am taking a guess that you are using either Auto-CAD, CAD-Key, Auto-desk or Inventor and learning to draw 2-D,3-D and solid scaled drawings. I just love to hear that young women are interested in this field of work. I was the ONLY one in my class. When I got to college I was one of only a few young women. I see that has changed over the past decade and find that the women drafters that work for me are super at it. I am just so excited to hear about you! With regard to your question of what to get involved in to enhance your skills as a drafter: Draw. Even without CAD/CAM. Just free hand - look at things and draw their different views. Learn 'tolerances'. Take things apart and see how they fit together. Ask a teacher to explain to you what 'tolerances' are and how they play into drawings and how they help 'symbolically' get parts fabricated in such a way that they always fit just right. Example: Can you get a one inch peg into a one inch hole? NOT without the correct tolerances on the drawings for the peg and the hole. They are very important to a drafter. Later, as your skills grow you can learn to master Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. Metrics. If you ever work for an international company like I do - you will need to know how to work with the metric system as well as English. Sometimes we double-dimension with both methods so Americans as well as Europeans can understand. I am pretty sure your CAD/CAM system can be set up for double dimensioning. Math. All the math you can get. Geometry is very helpful. You may not think so now -- but trust me, get good at it. Study fractions and what their decimal equivalent is. Your drafting teacher probably has a chart you can study to learn these. 1/2 inch equals .500, 3/4 inch = .750 etc. Take as many classes as you can. If you are doing 2-D drawings, try to expand into solids. You will need a software and computer that can handle the capacity you will need. If you ever have the chance - Pro-Engineer or Inventor skills are very good to have on a resume. I realize you have a few years before entering the job market - and things will undoubtedly change, so keep up to snuff on what the latest and greatest softwares for CAD/CAM are and learn to use as many as you can. Different companies use different ones and you will be a valuable asset to them if you know more than one kind. If you are interested in architectural or mechanical drafting I might suggest looking for magazines that will inform you of new and inspiring designs to study. 'Architectural Design', Design News, and 'Design' are good ones. Visualize. Listen to what is being said - but turn it into a picture. I have seen very successful drafters use this skill of illustrating to get a point across that is hard to do verbally. Let's say you draft some parts that need to fit together by an assembly process. Learn to show with drawings (illustrations) how to do it. Step by step instructions using pictures along with words. I hope I have been of some help. I know it sounds like a lot of work... and it is. But, if you can master the basics - the rest will come much easier. The more you draft - the better you will get, so keep up an aggressive pace with your class work and ask for extra. Good Luck to you and your exciting challenge of becoming a drafter. Regards, -Jacqui ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ANNA IN INDIANA I need some 'splainin of this whole Edison effect thing...I'm lost..(I'm writing a paper on Edison). ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXIS K. IN REGION III Question one: what are the most common obstacles/ impediments in becoming a female engineer (and don't be funny and answer "being a male" hee-hee)? Question two: what remedies do you recommend to avoid or conquer the obstacles/impediments? Question three: what have been some of the best/worst situations you've experienced with male engineers reacting to you being a female engineer? Question four: the engineering classes at my next school have mostly boys. How do I handle that? Question five: Know any good engineering jokes? I love jokes! _____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 25, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree? What year did she earn it and from what medical college? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** ANNOUNCEMENT ON ENGINEERING CAMPS: FROM ALEXIS IN REGION III Exploring Engineering at the University of Maryland - is a one week summer program for 10th and 11th grade girls interested in Math, science, or engineering. Contact http://www.engr.umd.edu/wie. Application deadline April 12 and C-Tech 2 Summer Camp for rising Junior and Senior students. To explore applications in engineering, math and science in a way that is fun and exciting. This is a two week camp at Virginia Tech. Call 540-231-3973 or visit website<HTTP: ctech21 www.eng.vt.edu http://<HTTP: ctech21 www.eng.vt.eduwww.eng .vt.edu/ctech21 Maybe this is good for someone in the GEM SET program! FROM MARY JO MULLEN, CIVIL ENGINEER AT PATRICK ENGINEERING IN LISLE, IL Similarly, there is also an engineering camp offered by University of Missouri at Rolla. I went to it in high school. It was a week in the summer where you get to learn a lot more about the engineering fields out there and little bits of things that would be involved in their jobs. If engineering interests you, but you want to learn more about what you can do, I highly recommend doing something like this! ******** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXIS K. IN REGION III Question one: what are the most common obstacles/ impediments in becoming a female engineer (and don't be funny and answer "being a male" hee-hee)? Question two: what remedies do you recommend to avoid or conquer the obstacles/impediments? Question three: what have been some of the best/worst situations you've experienced with male engineers reacting to you being a female engineer? Question four: the engineering classes at my next school have mostly boys. How do I handle that? Question five: Know any good engineering jokes? I love jokes! A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL Common obstacles/impediments to becoming a female engineer and how to conquer them: The field is male-dominated, so you will find that sometimes people will expect you to fail or not do as well. You may have to prove yourself, whereas men don't ALWAYS have to prove themselves. Sometimes people will be surprised that you can do the job. You will have to learn to be assertive. Don't sit back and let the men take the tougher assignments. You have to speak up and show that you are interested. Also, in foreign countries, it's even more male-dominated. Many times they won't even listen to your ideas. Experiences: My best and worst experience happened when I worked as a software engineer in Paris, on an assignment last February. It was terrible. When we were trying to integrate our code, the two men I was working with did not even acknowledge the suggestions I made or questions I asked. Luckily, my code worked and their code didn't work. I proved to them that I could do the job. When I got to Paris, I already had done my homework and knew what problem I was trying to solve. I had made the contacts I needed in the U.S. I had written a design. The first thing I had to do was to present my design in front of a group of men. I proved to them that I had thought it out and could back it up. Next I had to write the code and prove that I could get it working. Luckily, I had made my contacts in the U.S. to help me when I encountered problems I could not solve on my own. When it came to integration of their code with mine, they did not listen to me, but I proved that my code worked. Had I had another project to do with them, I believe that they would have then believed that I could do the job and would have listened to me a little bit more. It takes time when the working environment is male-dominated. In order to prove yourself, you need to do your homework early. Understand the problem, find the contacts who can help you with problems you may encounter. You cannot know everything. You have to know the experts and get to know them. Do not be afraid to get help. Teamwork is important. If you make mistakes, which you will, do not fret. Just get them resolved. In France, I did learn that the culture there is to not admit you made a mistake or that you don't understand. It was tough working in this environment because I was used to working in the U.S. Here, it's okay to make a mistake as long as you acknowledge it, can get it resolved and learn from the mistake. The good that I got from this experience is that I got to live in Paris for 5 weeks which had been a dream of mine. I also learned that I can accomplish a task even under the worst conditions. And I proved to them and to myself that I could do the job. It was lonely there, but it was GREAT getting to see Paris and to bring back the experience to my job in the U.S. I learned a lot and was able to be the "expert" in certain areas when I returned. I gained some self-esteem from this experience. Your classes : Take the advice I gave you about the job world and apply it to your classes. Do your homework, be assertive, ask questions and take the tough assignments. Prove that you can get the job done. And have fun!! Being in a class with all boys can be fun, too!! :-) sorry no engineering jokes! Also, Alexis, Thanks for your letter telling us all how our responses helped you. It's really great to have some feedback. It sounds like your counselor is very supportive. I think you'll do well in high school. A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER KC, MO When I went to plastic engineering school I had no problems at all being a female. Partly because I didn't make the difference between males and females an issue. In other words, I acted/believed I was an equal and they treated me as an equal. And the same applies to my career. I had no problems being accepted in the workplace, I believe I am getting equal pay for equal work all because I acted/believed I was an equal. I asked many of my engineer friends if they have encountered problems and the consensus is NO, again all because we believe we are equal so we are treated as equals. Response to Question four: I had only one class where being a female rather than a male was a problem. There was a major project requiring us to write an engineering computer program dealing with basketball statistics. I know many females who know a lot about basketball, but I don't. I was having problems trying to understand the different basketball statistics so I didn't know how to write a program dealing with it. I went to my teacher and explained my problem and he said that since I was the only girl in the class he didn't think it would be a problem for the class. He suggested I learn basketball and then write the program. I ended up getting a B on the project because the basketball part of it was incorrect. I went from an A to a B just because I didn't know basketball. Here are a few of Murphy's Laws of Engineering and Technology If builders built building the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy a civilization. Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget. A meeting is an event at which minutes are kept and hours are lost. A failure will not appear until a unit has passed final inspection. To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer. A: FROM MENTOR MARY JO MULLEN, CIVIL ENGINEER AT PATRICK ENGINEERING IN LISLE, IL I want to try and broadly address your questions. In most disciplines of engineering, men far outnumber women. This can be good and bad in your career development. There are a couple obstacles that I run into. Some men look differently at a woman's abilities and a man's. I find myself trying to prove myself to managers all of the time. This isn't necessarily outright discrimination, most men who are at a management position have been around a while and are not used to women working for or with them. I'm not going to lie to you, sometimes it is outright discrimination. There are some men out there who don't believe women can be as capable as men or that believe women should not work. Yes this sounds straight out of the 1950s, but surprisingly these views still exist. Like I said, I deal with this by trying to prove to them that I am as and more capable than my male counterparts. And when that didn't work, I left and found another job, where I didn't have to deal with anyone with such negative views of women. The other main obstacle is sexual discrimination. I actually had a vice president who interviewed me a couple years ago actually say to me, upon first meeting, "My, aren't you a tall glass of water." Not only a sexual comment, but a stupid one. Pretty hard to respond to, what do you say, "Why yes I am?" Anyway, the only way to handle this is to first tell the person that offends you that they did so. They may just be joking around and not meaning any harm, and once you point this out, they will hopefully apologize and not do it again. In a predominantly male office, you get treated like one of the guys a lot, so someone may not realize they are being offensive. If comments, jokes or contact continues, I'd go straight to authority. It also takes a little bit of a defensive shield to be the only or one of few women in a firm. You can't be offended at everything. Like if someone asks if you want to go to lunch with everyone to Hooters, this isn't an attack. But there is a definite line that people step over that is just wrong. And it has to be addressed. There are some positives to working in a largely male field. A lot of firms are trying to expand and "diversify" their staffs. Being a woman may help get your foot in the door. Then its up to you to show them what a woman can do when given the chance. I've also noticed in jobs that I had mostly female coworkers that those offices can get pretty catty. Engineering offices that are largely male don't have those problems as much. As for your classes, treat it as any other class or social situation. Hey, you're surrounded by boys, go you! It really shouldn't* be any different than any other class. But if you get any problems from the guys, just keep in mind that they are either a) really immature for acting like that or b) really threatened by an intelligent woman. They're not worth your time to even stress over. Q: Why did the engineers cross the road? A: Because they looked in the file and that's what they did last year. ******** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ELIZABETH O. IN IL Hi! I'm in eighth grade and for an end of the year project, we have to choose a notable American woman. We then have to "become" that person, which includes researching, and then speaking about her in costume. I am really interested in all forms of art, along with architecture and photography(especially black and white). Can you give me a few ideas of a notable American women I could choose according to my interests? Thanks! ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ANNA IN INDIANA I need some 'splainin of this whole Edison effect thing...I'm lost..(I'm writing a paper on Edison). ____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 26, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree? What year did she earn it and from what medical college? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXIS K. IN REGION III Question one: what are the most common obstacles/ impediments in becoming a female engineer (and don't be funny and answer "being a male" hee-hee)? Question two: what remedies do you recommend to avoid or conquer the obstacles/impediments? Question three: what have been some of the best/worst situations you've experienced with male engineers reacting to you being a female engineer? Question four: the engineering classes at my next school have mostly boys. How do I handle that? Question five: Know any good engineering jokes? I love jokes! A: FROM MENTOR JACQUELYN JURGA, DESIGN/FABRICATION MANAGER, CABOT CORP. IN BOSTON, MA Hi Alexis: I will take your questions one at a time: Question one: what are the most common obstacles/ impediments in becoming a female engineer (and don't be funny and answer "being a male" hee-hee)? This is different with respect to where you work and the company's values & visions. I have worked for different companies and found the obstacles tough at times and a breeze in others. From my experiences: you may find that you will have to prove yourself over and over again. Your engineering degree will not give you immediate respect and comradery as you might see happening to young male engineers. Bite the bullet and work to show you are just as capable. I'm sorry to be blunt - but that is the way it was through most of my career. You may also find it lonely. You may not be invited to play golf with the guys, out for a drink or bite to eat with them after work (even lunch), you may need to travel alone when they often take a peer, You may walk into a meeting and all will stop their conversations making you feel uncomfortable. You may observe that the young male engineers will be in a competition with you and the married older guys will be scared to death of you. My best suggestion, which worked for me was to take it with a good sense of humor. Do your best, and the climate will become much more friendly and the respect will come. I found the 'old timers' when realizing I was there to work hard and not to be a threat to them - would take me under their wing and that is when I would turn into a 'sponge' and absorb anything they would share. Now, I have many wonderful colleagues all over the world that I share technology and ideas with. I guess my toughest experience was working for a foreign company ( I may as well say it - Japanese) where I was not allowed to talk in meetings even if I had good input - a male had to do it for me, I had to sit on my hands (I'm from New York - I grew up 'talking' with my hands so this was tough!), was excluded from any evening dinners or cocktail parties, was expected to come in early and leave later than anyone else, treated as if I did not exist but did an enormous amount of the work, studies, reports and presentations. I hope that has changed over the 15 years since I was there. I found it lonely, demeaning and although I learned how to put in very long hours, and what "Nose to the grindstone" meant -- my self-esteem took a nose dive for a while. Question two: what remedies do you recommend to avoid or conquer the obstacles/impediments? Above all - keep your chin up and your sense of humor in tact. NEVER let them see you cry. Find mentors in your field and company. Work hard, and earn the respect you deserve. The work is exciting and challenging and worth the efforts. Keep your focus on the end result - not the day to day frustrations. Stay in touch with those who have helped you, even if it just a Christmas card every year to touch base. They will remember you and look for you when the need for your expertise is needed which will help your career develop. I find my network of old colleagues keeps me grounded. Question three: what have been some of the best/worst situations you've experienced with male engineers reacting to you being a female engineer? You will find with time they will be your dear friends. Once they get over their competition 'thingy' and find you are a good comrade they will turn around. Show them you have skills they never dreamed of -- you know, the soft skills of cooperation, win-win conclusions to issues. They will find you an asset to have on a team. A helpful hand from you will eventually be there in return. Do walk a fine line and do not be too overly friendly at first - let the relationships grow. In a case of another female engineer who I met along the way who didn't make it because she was labeled quickly "a man eater' and only became an engineer to be near men. I have always kept my private life private and work relationships just that. Friendly, but casual and task orientated. It has worked for me. Play it by ear, your instincts will click in. My worst situation was when I was just out of school and went to work at a small company. The owner of the company came to me one morning - handed me $100.00 ( Big money in those days) and told me to take a customer, who had a sparkle in his eye for me, out to show him what a woman engineer is 'really' like. Being totally naive I asked him to explain. That he did, in the most vulgar terms. I refused, and was immediately told my career would go no where. I went to work every day, did my best while being blatantly ostracized. I hung in there for 3 months while looking for another job. In those days (early '70's) there was no recourse like there is today. I loved my job but could not let myself be treated like that. I did not fight it - I just left. I was then hired by Digital where my career soared by hard work and a company that had values. After that bad situation, I so appreciated my new company and their visions and values, that I worked with double diligence for them for 18 years until they were sold. In hind sight and with experience under my belt I should have and would now expose any such behavior and disrespect. Live and learn. I am stronger for living through it and holding my personal integrity where I can respect myself. Question four: the engineering classes at my next school have mostly boys. How do I handle that? Do not fear! Younger people (including guys) are more in tune with political correctness. You may feel some of the competitive edge from them, but it is a good place for you to learn how to deal with it. There is a fine line between fitting in and losing sight of who you really are. Don't forget who you are and your core values. They will respect you for it. Be prepared to take some jokes from them ... and if inclined to do so - give it right back. Starting study groups might help your comradery start early. Remember, they are learning also, and most likely will love having you around adding another dimension to discussions and thought process. Engineering is a community and culture in itself and you will undoubtedly run into these people through your career. Keep them as a network. Question five: Know any good engineering jokes? I love jokes! I wish I had time to go search through some old e-mails... people have sent me some great engineering jokes over the years, but alas, I am booked solid today. Sorry. If I do find some soon.... I will send them to GEM-set. Good luck!! Regards, Jacqui ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ELIZABETH O. IN IL Hi! I'm in eighth grade and for an end of the year project, we have to choose a notable American woman. We then have to "become" that person, which includes researching, and then speaking about her in costume. I am really interested in all forms of art, along with architecture and photography(especially black and white). Can you give me a few ideas of a notable American women I could choose according to my interests? Thanks! A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI How about Margaret Bourke-White? http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/bour-mar.htm is the first of many sites that Google turned up. Her photographs were spectacular, particularly for architecture; black and white, the ones I remember, massive subjects like big dams and factories. Many appeared in Life magazine, which is where I remember them from - coming home for lunch during grad school and fighting my brother for first crack at the magazines. (That web site says one "adorned the first cover" of Life.) A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL The International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA), established in 1985, is a joint program of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the University Libraries at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). The purpose of the archive is to document the history of women's involvement in architecture by collecting, preserving, storing, and making available to researchers the professional papers of women architects, landscape architects, designers, architectural historians and critics, and urban planners, and the records of women's architectural organizations, from around the world. The IAWA focuses primarily on collecting the papers of those who practiced at a time when there were few women in the field (before the 1950's). The IAWA collects this information to fill serious gaps in the availability of primary research materials for architectural, women's, and social history research. The IAWA also collects books, biographical information, and published materials as part of its mission to act as a clearinghouse of information about all women in architecture, past and present.<HTTP: IAWA spec.lib.vt.edu http://spec.lib.vt.edu/IAWA/ Also, I searched on "women artists" and found a great site:<HTTP: womenart.html women ~plin www.csupomona.edu http://www.csupomona.ed u/~plin/women/womenart.html Freda Kahlo would be easy to dress up as. Dark hair and one LONG eyebrow!! Her art is very distinctive. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ANNA IN INDIANA I need some 'splainin of this whole Edison effect thing...I'm lost..(I'm writing a paper on Edison). A: FROM MENTOR DANELL OLIVER-COLLINS RETAIL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER KC, MO "The Edison Effect - 1883 One of Edison's engineers, William J. Hammer, made a discovery which later led to the electron tube. The electron tube led to the electric signal, which led to electronics. Electronics is a branch of science that is related to electricity. Without electronics we might not have radio, TV, CDs, computers, X-Ray machines or Space travel. The discovery of electrons was patented as the "Edison effect" which is the basis of electronics. " "The Edison Effect Print section While Edison was working on the electric light, he made a scientific discovery that would become important to future generations. Edison noticed that particles of carbon from the filament blackened the insides of his light bulbs. This effect was caused by the emission of electrons from the filament, although Edison made the discovery before he and other scientists knew the electron existed. Not until 1897 did British physicist J. J. Thomson prove that the blackening observed by Edison was caused by the emission of electrons. This so-called Edison effect became the foundation of all modern electronics. Radio, television, radar, and computers all depend on it. In 1884 Edison received a patent for a device based on the Edison effect. The device was designed to indicate variations in the output from electrical generators. The indicator proved ineffective because obtaining a good vacuum in devices at that time was difficult, but this was the first patent for a device that made use of the emission of electrons. It marked the beginning of the field of electronics. " I found these quote by looking up Edison Effect on the Internet. There are many writings about Edison on the internet and in many books. I'm not sure how much you want to go into the Edison Effect or just Edison himself so I can't explain much more for fear of confusing you too much. The internet is a very good source of information so I'd do a search for Edison and Edison Effect and you will get lots of information. ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE WENDY B. IN MN I want to pursue a career in nursing. I want to eventually get my neonatal nurse practitioner degree. I was wondering if anyone knows what some of the best colleges are for this field. I do not mind at all if it is out of state, ( I actually want to go out of state, partly because I want to be a nanny during the summer.) I was also wondering if you know exactly why colleges charge so much for out-of-state tuition. It is nuts how much more you pay!!! Thank you for your time and input. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMBER R. IN KY I recently was given an assignment to do a news letter completely on women's rights. I really like science, and I also want to incorporate science in my project. I've done all kinds of research, but I'm still clueless as to if it's possible to combine the two. Any Ideas???? ____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 27, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree? What year did she earn it and from what medical college? ****** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMBER R. IN KY I recently was given an assignment to do a news letter completely on women's rights. I really like science, and I also want to incorporate science in my project. I've done all kinds of research, but I'm still clueless as to if it's possible to combine the two. Any Ideas???? A: FROM MENTOR TERESA ESSER. WRITER IN CAMBRIDGE, MA Amber, I recommend checking out a book called Equal to the Occasion: Women Editors of the Nineteenth-Century West, by Sherilyn Cox Bennion. This book contains a chapter called "The Suffragists" and another called "Doctors and Editors." These nineteenth-century women created newsletters of various kinds to promote the causes that they believed in. By acting as editors of their own newsletters, the women were able to promote their own agendas and educate the population about their own causes. Some women chose to promote women's rights while other women chose to promote hygiene and human health. You could also write an article on Ellen Swallow Richards, a chemist who founded the field of ecology. http://anthropology.vassar.edu/bianco/hidden/ellen.html A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI There are stories about the struggles of the first women doctors, and scientists, to be allowed into classes with men. And horror stories about how, though they proved their worth, they couldn't get real professorships but had to work on the sidelines. Thank goodness those days are (almost) gone - the barriers now are less institutional and more due to the limitation of having only 24 hours/day, even if you want a career and a family and don't get much help from a husband. Names... I'm bad at names... searching on one inaccurately remembered name turned up the site for the Schlesinger library at Radcliffe (Harvard) http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles/libcolls/bksper/bibs/scibib2.htm there's a section on that site listing women's biographies and a history section with provocative titles, three chosen rather arbitrarily here: Rossiter, Margaret W. Women scientists in America: struggles and strategies to 1940. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1982. LOCATION: Schlesinger: 500 R82w Science and sensibility: gender and scientific enquiry, 1780-1945. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, MA, USA: B. Blackwell, 1991. LOCATION: Schlesinger: 508 B468s Uneasy careers and intimate lives: women in science, 1789-1979. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, c1987. LOCATION: Schlesinger: 509.22 A148u You won't travel to the Schlesinger library from Kentucky, but you might track down relevant books in local libraries and some might be in print. Those titles are pretty daunting though - "struggles", "uneasy careers"... I do think life has gotten better, if not exactly _easy_! And we have no choice but to make the best of our time in our own era. That pesky 24-hour day limit probably accounts for why people (men and women) pretty much have to chose to be political activists _or_ active scientists. The atomic scientists who turned political made the transition rather sequentially, and I can't think of women among them; but I could be wrong about that. Good luck! A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON, SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES IN NAPERVILLE, IL My first thought was about Marie Curie. She was one of the early scientists and had to battle for her rights. You might want to think about the history of women in Science and show how their rights changed throughout the years. ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXANDRA M. IN REGION V Hi! I previously asked a question on famous American veterinarians (and received wonderful answers). One of the woman that someone suggested was Mignon Nicholson. I haven't been able to do any research on her, and I was wondering if she was, indeed American? I'm not sure if I had mentioned that the woman had to be American. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE WENDY B. IN MN I want to pursue a career in nursing. I want to eventually get my neonatal nurse practitioner degree. I was wondering if anyone knows what some of the best colleges are for this field. I do not mind at all if it is out of state, ( I actually want to go out of state, partly because I want to be a nanny during the summer.) I was also wondering if you know exactly why colleges charge so much for out-of-state tuition. It is nuts how much more you pay!!! Thank you for your time and input. ____ END ========================================================================= GEM-SET Daily Digest for February 28, 2002 Send all questions AND answers for mentors OR mentees to GEM-SET@uic.edu. We will try our best to answer your questions within 2-3 days. ****** ANNOUNCEMENTS: ****** QUIZ-of-the-WEEK contest for students has begun! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place GEM-Scholar awards will be presented to the students who answer the most quiz questions correctly. To find out who answered last week's question correctly go to http://www.uic.edu/orgs/gem-set/scholars.htm ****** THE QUIZ QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK IS: Who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree? What year did she earn it and from what medical college? ******** ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR GEM-SET CAREER-OF-THE-MONTH. TO PLACE YOUR VOTE GO TO http://www.gem-set.org and follow the instructions. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE AMBER R. IN KY I recently was given an assignment to do a news letter completely on women's rights. I really like science, and I also want to incorporate science in my project. I've done all kinds of research, but I'm still clueless as to if it's possible to combine the two. Any Ideas???? A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK, ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL, BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE, RI After shutting down the computer last light I thought I should have mentioned the activist report on the status of women faculty at MIT, by women faculty scientists at MIT. It's on line at http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.html and I think it has had some effect, certainly on raising consciousness. The writers are scientists first, activists second. Articles that cite this one might get you quite a story to write up. ****** Q: FROM MENTEE ALEXANDRA M. IN REGION V Hi! I previously asked a question on famous American veterinarians (and received wonderful answers). One of the woman that someone suggested was Mignon Nicholson. I haven't been able to do any research on her, and I was wondering if she was, indeed American? I'm not sure if I had mentioned that the woman had to be American. A: FROM MENTOR MINI VARUGHESE OF STEMCELL IN REGION III Plug her name into www.google.com. She is American. A: FROM MENTOR ANNALIESE BRATCHER, INFO TECH TRAINER, U. KENTUCKY Hi, Alexandra! It appears that Mignon Nicholson was American. Here is something I found on the web: "the first female veterinary school graduates were Dr. Mignon Nicholson (McKillip Veterinary College, 1903); Dr. Elinor McGrath (Chicago Veterinary College, 1910); and Dr. Florence Kimball (Cornell University, 1910)"<HTTP: s041598e.htm apr98 javma onlnews www.avma.org http://www.avma.org/o nlnews/javma/apr98/s041598e.htm ****** Q: FROM MENTEE WENDY B. IN MN I want to pursue a career in nursing. I want to eventually get my neonatal nurse practitioner degree. I was wondering if anyone knows what some of the best colleges are for this field. I do not mind at all if it is out of state, ( I actually want to go out of state, partly because I want to be a nanny during the summer.) I was also wondering if you know exactly why colleges charge so much for out-of-state tuition. It is nuts how much more you pay!!! Thank you for your time and input. A: FROM MENTOR TERESA ESSER IN CAMBRIDGE, MA Wendy, when I went to high school in Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Minnesota had a reciprocity agreement that allowed students to get in-state tuition at Universities in several states. Is the reciprocity agreement still going? In-state tuition makes sense if you consider how public schools and state universities are funded. Public school systems in many states get their money from property taxes and/or state income taxes. If you live in a state that has property taxes and income taxes, you (and your parents) will pay taxes that will support education in your state. Taxes vary from state to state, and so do educational systems. Some states have almost no taxes, and hideous educational systems. (There may be some exceptions -- if any mentor knows about a state that has no taxes and excellent schools, I'd like to hear about it.) Other states have high taxes and excellent school systems. The states that charge their residents high taxes want to give their youth a discount on the excellent school systems that the students' parents have already paid for, and that the students too will pay for as long as they live in the state. If you live in a low tax or no tax state, it is not fair for you to suddenly decide to go to University in another state and receive the educational benefits that were paid for by that state's heavily taxed residents. So states charge "normal" expensive tuition to out-of-staters and subsidize local residents' tuition with money from the state tax system. The point I am trying to make is that in-state tuition is heavily subsidized by tax dollars. By the way, you can get a summer job wherever you want to get one, no matter where you go to college. You could go to college in Minnesota and get a summer job in Australia or the United Kingdom. It's not a big deal. Look at some travel books in the local library, or check out<HTTP: www.roughguides.com http://www.roughguides.com/ ****** NEW QUESTIONS: ****** Q: FROM MENTEE LAUREL S. IN INDIANA I consider myself a bit of an environmentalist, and I am wondering what kind of jobs are out their in this field? ******** Q: FROM MENTEE KRISTEN K. IN NH I enjoy working with and helping people. Do you have any suggestions for a field for me to go into? I would like to work with people directly, and I don't want to be a doctor. ____ END Home \| Welcome \| Mentors \| Partners \| Calendar of Events Daily Digest Archive \| Regional Contacts \| Links \| FAQs This site uses WebTrends traffic tracking. 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