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Caltech News Release
For Immediate Release
March 12, 2003

Middle School Girls Invited to Sally Ride Science Festival
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PASADENA, Calif. - Sally Ride says women make up only 19 percent of 
the science, engineering, and technology workforce. The roots for 
this, she says, run deep: the physicist and America's first female 
astronaut says that in the 4th grade, the number of girls and boys who 
like math and science is about the same. But by 8th grade, twice as 
many boys as girls show an interest in these subjects.

Ride has devoted a good portion of her life to improving the 
percentage of women in science. One of her efforts, the Los Angeles 
Sally Ride Science Festival, will be held on Saturday, March 29, on 
the campus of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 
While all are welcome, the festival is directed at girls in grades 5 
through 8, their parents, and their educators.

This will be the second year the festival takes place at Caltech, and 
is one of a number of such festivals that occur around the country. 
The festivals are designed to pique the interest of middle school 
girls, a group that for a variety of reasons begins to drift from 
their natural interests in science and math.

The Los Angeles festival will feature keynote speeches by Sally Ride 
and Los Angeles Times science writer K. C. Cole; workshops will be led 
by local female scientists and engineers; there will be a street fair 
with booths, exhibits, food, music, and a raffle. There is also a 
special adult track of workshops for parents and educators.

The children's workshops will include such topics as "Animal Friends: 
What a Vet Knows and Does"; "Medical Researchers: From the Lab to the 
Patient"; "Making Friendly Robots"; "Exploring the
Seas: Antarctica 
and Beyond"; "A Tumble through Time: How You Developed from a Single 
Cell"; and "The Mars 2003 Rover Mission: Exploring the Red Planet."

For adults, the workshop topics will be "Hands on Family Science"; 
"Nurturing Their Inquisitiveness: Exploring the Science Experience"; 
"The 'Trek' to Gender Equity: How Are We Doing? "; and "Facing the 
Music: College and Finances!"

Ride, a member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, became the first 
American woman to orbit Earth when she flew aboard the space shuttle 
Challenger in 1983. Her second flight was also aboard Challenger in 
1984, and she was training for a third mission when the spaceship 
exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986.

Ride was a member of the team chosen to investigate the Challenger 
explosion, and this month was also appointed a member of the NASA 
investigative board for the recent explosion of the space shuttle 
Columbia. She is the only person to have been named to both panels.

In 1987 Ride left the astronaut corps and is currently a professor of 
physics at the University of California, San Diego. She is also the 
founder, president, and CEO of Imaginary Lines, Inc., which created 
the festival, and is intended to provide support for the large numbers 
of girls and young women who are, or might become, interested in 
science, math, engineering, and technology. Programs include the Sally 
Ride Science Festivals; TOYchallenge=81, where teams of children 
design and create a toy or game; and the Sally Ride Science Club=81-- 
a national club created to keep middle school girls engaged in science 
adventures by connecting them to people, information, and attitudes 
that will nurture their relationship with science at a critical time 
in their lives.

Registration on the day of the event is $25, and begins at 11:30 a.m.; 
the festival runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is a $20 
registration fee if paid in advance. The deadline for pre-registration 
is March 27 and can be done online at www.SallyRideFestivals.com, or 
by calling 1-800-561-5161. The cost will include full festival 
participation, souvenirs, a snack, and lunch.

The Los Angeles Festival is presented in association with Caltech and 
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The event's sponsors include Northrop 
Grumman, Raytheon, the Aerospace Corporation, and Caltech. For more 
information on Sally Ride Science Club Festivals and festival 
registration, visit www.SallyRideFestivals.com. For information on 
Imaginary Lines Inc. and the Sally Ride Science Club, visit 
www.ImaginaryLinesInc.com.


Contacts: Imaginary Lines: Toni DiMartino
			   (858) 638-0960
			   tonidimartino{at}hotmail.com

	    Caltech:       Mark Wheeler
		   	   (626) 395-8733
	    		   wheel{at}caltech.edu

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