growing into a career

When I was in middle school, maybe early high school, I changed my current career ambitions of being a teacher to being someone that was important enough to have their name in a textbook. I know, it's an odd thing to aspire to be, but it's actually still true today. I've always wanted to do big, important things. I have always found immense satisfaction in leading a group, being in charge, and pushing myself to do more good and better.

This perspective change helped to shift what I wanted to be when I grew up. It put a very academic focus on my future career. I would read about what Newton, Franklin, Tesla, and Crick did and how valuable their thoughts were to the scientific community. I envied their accomplishments and their Nobel prizes!  It resonated with me and gave me reason to load up on science courses through high school.

I eventually discovered what an Engineer was from my dad, who was a Computer Engineer by training and experience - not by education. 

Growing up, I played extensively with Legos - however, it only opened up the doors to house construction and interior decorating. If I had one of these cute toys, I might have sparked my Engineering bug sooner!




Landing Page 10.8.12-SHARE-WEB from GoldieBlox on Vimeo.

I wish

That every student could meet an Engineer or Scientist.

project:scientist

Before and after students met a real scientist.

looks like science

real people are nerds too

Are you making a difference in your field of passion?

Science EXPO day

Part one of two for our SWE-PNW booth at the Science EXPO Day, June 2nd

Part two of two for our SWE-PNW booth at the Science EXPO Day, June 2nd 

UPDATE:

This post seems to be getting a lot of traffic --- if you do perform any of these activities for an outreach event, please post a link in the comments to the event - I'd love to see how it's used or modified!

Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Region J Conference Recap!

This past weekend I spent another inspiring, information packed adventure with amazing women engineers!


This year, the regional conference was held in Corvallis, OR - home of Oregon State University. There are ten regions under the national umbrella and each region has a handful of professional and collegiate sections.


Before I made it to glorious Corvallis, stopped in Portland to try some fried pies. OH! it was so worth it! I got a delish Chicken Pot Pie (I'll see you soon Whiffies)

And Here are some pictures of the OSU campus. so pretty!!!

Also, this marked my presentation debut! I gave the SWE Membership presentation and opened up the dialog for best practices, idea sharing, and help needed. 

Overall the conference was another great success; the speakers were amazing, inspiring, and innovative. So happy I went!

Barbie's 126th Career

By popular vote, mattel's Barbie is getting nerdy for her 126th career!! drum roll please, Computer Engineer!!

How cool is that? I'm so proud and excited to have such an icon get the message of engineering out to young girls. The society of women engineers (SWE) worked with mattel to design this special Barbie. Please read more at the links below.

& hooray! the power of nerds!

PS... the binary code everywhere is overkill for me... and we get it, nerds need to wear glasses. but i looove the skinny black pants!

http://www.barbiemedia.com/?subcat=42

http://www.barbiemedia.com/admin/uploads/ComputerEngineerBarbie.pdf