Alexis Schindler
Staff writer
aschindler1@murraystate.edu
Photo courtesy of Aleck Leedy
A Murray State professor is taking action to improve local girls’ interest in STEM fields with the help of the Girl Scouts and a grant from NASA.
Aleck Leedy, associate professor of engineering physics, searched for a way to increase the local interest in these areas among women. Leedy saw he had an opportunity right in front of him through his daughter in Girl Scouts.
He wanted to have an Engineers Day, or E-Day, for the Girl Scouts that would help them work toward earning STEM badges while teaching them what the STEM fields have to offer.
“We need more girls interested in STEM fields of study,” Leedy said. “The earlier girls are interested, it’s more likely that they will select a STEM field of study when they enter college.”
Leedy is partnering with the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana to host this event. There are about 800 girls in the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana program in the western Kentucky and Purchase area.
The Girl Scouts who choose to attend the E-Day event will get hands-on experience in areas of practical engineering such as robotics, space science and mechanical engineering. There will be five types of badges the girls can earn at the event. Three can be earned in robotics, one in space science and one in mechanical engineering.
This E-Day outreach event will provide practical engineering experiences that focus on improving their hands-on skills, robotics skills and enhancing the quality of their STEM education. This outreach program allows the opportunity to build the number of local girls interested in STEM fields.
For this event to happen Leedy knew he would need some funding, so he applied for an Enhanced Mini-Grant Award through the NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium. The grant award was for $25,000.
Leedy submitted a grant proposal with a support letter from Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana to the NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium. He was awarded the grant and is moving forward with the E-Day plans.
“I am proud and grateful to have the support of the NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium and the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana in this endeavor,” Leedy said.
Jennifer Wilcox, chief operations officer of Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana, wrote the support letter for Leedy’s grant proposal.
She said due to the competitiveness of the grant, the fact that Leedy was awarded it serves as a testament to the great work he did on the proposal.
“Grants like this are important because it allows organizations like Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana to broaden our program and partnership reach and to serve our girls better,” Wilcox said. “This particular grant is important because it provides an access point to STEM education and experience to our girls in a society where girls are encountering technology at a rapid pace.”
According to the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana website, women make up approximately 52 percent of the workforce, but only about 14 percent are in science and technology careers.
“This grant will not only benefit Girl Scouts in the Murray/Calloway County area – the program will be open to Girl Scouts across our council footprint and may even be used to encourage new girls to join Girl Scouts,” Wilcox said. “This benefits our girls in two key ways – first, they are exposed to a variety of topics and career prospects in STEM that they might otherwise not know; and second, participating in activities that are challenging helps girls build resilience and encourages them to try new things and to take safe risks.”
The proposed date for the E-Day is Oct. 26, 2019.