Brookhaven Women in Science Hold High School Career Day at Brookhaven Lab

December 2, 2008

UPTON, NY — About 40 female students from Eastport-South Manor Central High School and Patchogue-Medford High School recently learned about careers in science and related fields from female scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. Funded by Brookhaven Science Associates and coordinated by Brookhaven Women in Science, high school career days at Brookhaven Lab allow female students to learn first-hand about the day-to-day life of a scientist, as well as the education and personal qualities needed to become a scientist.

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Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist Cecilia Sanchez Hanke (seated, center) discusses her research with (from left) Patchogue-Medford High School students Norah Liang and Alexandra Zegel, and Eastport-South Manor High School students Melissa Danowski and Cendry Cheeseman during Brookhaven Women in Science Career Day.

After an introduction to the Laboratory and an overview of its programs given by BWIS board members Stephanie LaMontagne and Jeanne Marie Petschauer, the students listened to a panel discussion given by Linda Bowerman, a Brookhaven chemist who works in atmospheric sciences; Lisa Miller, a chemist at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), where she is currently focusing on applications of synchrotron imaging to diseases such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease; and Cecilia Sanchez-Hanke, a physicist who studies magnetic materials and their properties at the NSLS and is participating in the planning and design of a new, state-of-the-art light source, the NSLS-II, which is due to be commissioned in 2015.

Also, Patricia Woicik, a psychologist with Brookhaven Lab’s neuropsychoimaging group, gave a talk titled “Reward Processes and Self-Control in Addiction.” Carrie-Ann Miller, coordinator for the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at Stony Brook University (SBU), gave an overview of the program, which aims to increase the number of women in science, engineering and related fields. Kristine Horvat, a WISE student at SBU, spoke about her experiences as a female undergraduate student in the sciences.

In addition, the students toured the NSLS, where researchers probe materials as diverse as computer chips and viruses, and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, where scientists study and design materials at the nanoscale — on the order of billionths of a meter. They also enjoyed hands-on science activities at the Laboratory’s Science Learning Center.

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