Mathematics, astronomy, geology, chemistry, engineering. All of this is a girl thing, yes. This is what 50 Elementary School 2 students were able to see at Unicamp this June. For four Saturdays, the group spent mornings and afternoons at the University, listening to women scientists and developing activities with them. The event, called SuperScientist Girls, was organized by professor Anne Bronzi, from the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (Imecc), in partnership with students Julian Furtado Silva, graduating from the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM); Juliane Baiochi, master's student at Imecc; and Marcela Medicina, also a graduate student at Imecc. The closing took place on Saturday (30), with programming at Imecc and a visit to the Open Astronomy Museum, located in Joaquim Egídio.
O SuperScientist Girls was inspired by Girls with Science, carried out for the first time in 2016, by the Department of Paleontology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The event has also been held at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR), in 2017, and the University of São Paulo (USP), in 2018. Hosted in different departments at each university, the common denominator is the objective of stimulating the interest of girls for scientific careers.
“We seek to work in areas where women are underrepresented, precisely to encourage girls to seek these fields. These are areas where already at graduation, there are few female students and the percentage continues to decrease as you progress in your career”, said Anne Bronzi. According to her, this contact between elementary school students and female scientists can make a big difference. “When you see something that is only done by men, subconsciously, you think that it doesn’t belong there. When we show examples, the desire to continue in the field increases,” she said.
According to the organizer, the first edition of the event exceeded all expectations. Registration for the 50 vacancies announced, 35 from public schools and 15 from private schools, exceeded a thousand registrations on the first day and reached 2.500 registered. Among the motivations reported in the registration forms, the organizers found moving testimonials of girls overcoming barriers to find their place in the world.
For Beatriz Fernandes de Lima Sá, 14 years old, who is studying 9th year in Escola Estadual Doutor Telemaco Paioli Melges, participating in the event brought new perspectives and a lot of inspiration. “This event is very important to me. In here, I can see the opportunities. I intend to study at Unicamp one day, I want to study Astronomy. For me, it has been wonderful to see the representation of women in science and how Unicamp positions itself on this issue”, he pointed out. “The main thing that the event brought me is that we can. It can be within science, it can choose the area we want, it can carry out research, it can do anything we want,” she said.
However, the event was not just inspiring for the participants. Tássia Oliveira Biazon, a master's student in genetics at Unicamp and Boldrini, who was a volunteer monitor, said that she left even more motivated to develop her research. “There are several barriers for women to overcome. I think this is the largest number of girls that Imecc has ever accommodated. That's awesome. It shows that we are moving the borders. I leave even more motivated to continue my scientific career,” she said.
“It was an incredible experience in my life”, declared Maya Fernandes Homsi, 11 years old, who is in the 6th year at Projeto Vida school, in São Paulo. Maya highlighted the format of the event, which deviated from the merely expository standard. “I imagined it would be lectures, and more lectures. But no, it was very interactive. We did things. Which made the event twice as incredible,” she highlighted. Maya said that she is starting a blog about Mars and that she wants to make a difference in the world by studying astronomy.
The participants' concern for the future of the planet was what most impressed Julian Furtado, one of the organizers of the event. SuperScientist Girls. “I asked one of the girls why she wanted to be a scientist. I expected her to respond that she liked science, but no. She replied that she is worried about the planet. She told me: 'By 2030, there will be more plastic in the Ocean than fish. In 2050, there will no longer be water in Mexico. I want to be part of the solution.' This was the type of reflection that permeated the event,” she said. For Julian Furtado, the event has enormous potential to influence the future of children and adolescents. “They are talking about being a scientist, about going to college. We built our dreams here. This changes people’s lives,” he pointed out.
Lectures, exhibitions, shows and workshops made up the program
Teachers and students from inside and outside Unicamp were responsible for the activities carried out on the four Saturdays. The opening of the event, on June 1st, was attended by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Eliana Amaral, and the director of Imecc, Paulo Rufino. After the ceremony, Marcia Mendonça from the Permanent Commission for Entrance Exams at Unicamp (Comvest) spoke about ways to enter the University, highlighting vacancies for medalists and programs such as ProFIS (Higher Interdisciplinary Training Program), aimed at students from public schools .
The program included exhibitions such as "She is in everything", developed by USP in partnership with UFABC, which features interviews with mathematicians. The participants also visited the Exploratory Science Museum and the Open Astronomy Museum, in addition to seeing the sophisticated equipment at Lapac (Laboratory of Automation and Prototyping for Architecture and Construction), with professor Gabriela Celani, from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (FEC).
Scientists such as Pro-Rector Eliana Amaral; Imecc professor, Laura Rifo; and the researcher at the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Ana Zeri, spoke about their careers and areas of activity. Activities also included paleontology, software programming, physics and robotics.
Find out more about what happened on the Facebook page: SuperScientist Girlss
