 | Materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez (left) organized the new "Science Saturdays" series for youngsters, which will feature talks by biomedical engineer Erin Lavik (center) and astronomer Priyamvada Natarajan. |
If you've ever wondered why leaves change color or how a compact disc works, you have the makings of a scientist, says Ainissa Ramirez, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
That is a message she passionately imparts to Yale students in her engineering courses and is one that she will soon direct at middle- and high-school-aged youths in a new program she has organized called "Science Saturdays."
The program will feature five talks by noted Yale scientists on consecutive Saturdays beginning March 26. Covering diverse subjects in fields ranging from astronomy to ecology to biomedical engineering, the series is aimed at piquing young people's interest in the sciences and encouraging them to think about careers in the field.
Ramirez believes the best way to achieve those goals is to show the youths that scientists are people who are pretty much like themselves.
"Being a scientist is not being someone who is making breakthroughs all the time," explains the assistant professor. "It's just the act of being curious and thinking that it's okay to be curious."
Almost all of us have inquiring and inventive spirits when very young, but we often lose some of that unrestrained curiosity as we age, Ramirez believes.
"When we were five, we asked 'Why?' all the time," she comments. "We also explored with our hands, and that's why our hands were dirty all the time. Now [as adults], our hands are clean, and we don't ask 'Why?' I think that's an absolute travesty."
All of the featured scientists in the five-week series are renowned in their field, and yet are also able to communicate their scientific knowledge to laypeople and younger audiences, says Ramirez.
"I selected people who are very much experts but who are also compelling speakers who have a proven commitment to science education in the public sphere," the engineer says. "Beyond that, they are people who don't look any different from their intended audience. The kids who will listen to them might think, 'He looks like my uncle' or 'She looks like me, or my aunt.' In other words, like the rest of us, they put their pants on one leg at a time, look like we do and solve problems just like we do -- only they are good at solving different kinds of problems."
The featured speakers and their topics are:
March 26 --Peter Salovey, dean of Yale College and the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, "Emotional Intelligence: Is There Anything To It?";
April 2 -- Priyamvada Natarajan, assistant professor of astronomy, "Mapping the Universe: A Quest for Dark Matter";
April 9 -- Michael Donoghue, the director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, "Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: Weird New Life on Earth";
April 16 -- Erin Lavik, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, "Tissue Engineering: Growing New Organs in a Dish"; and
April 23 -- John Wargo, professor of environmental risk analysis and policy in political science and at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, "Environment and Health: What's Worth Worrying About?"
All of the talks begin at 10:30 a.m. in Davies Auditorium, 15 Prospect St., and will last approximately one hour. They are free and open to the public, but are geared toward students in seventh grade and above.
Ramirez believes that, in addition to curiosity, youngsters need first-hand experience with dynamic scientists to kindle their ambition in science.
"It's all about access and exposure," says Ramirez, who recalls that her own interest in science began before she was even in school.
"My dad repaired computers for IBM, and when he came home from work, I would get his tools -- tiny screwdrivers and tweezers -- and take things apart," she says. "I liked to take stuff apart and sometimes put things back together again. My mom is a nurse, and there were anatomy and health books around the house. In addition, I think that being exposed to public television [when there was an abundance of educational shows on scientific topics] helped. And I would ask for chemistry sets for Christmas. All of these things helped to create in me a fascination for science, and I was fortunate to have access to people and things that encouraged it."
While the engineer admits that much of the science taught in school was "dry," she fondly recalls a teacher in her Catholic high school in New Jersey who nurtured her interest in the subject.
"She taught me two things: one, that science is fun and two, that science is for me," Ramirez remembers. "She was a good role model for me."
Likewise, at a time when the high school guidance counselors were encouraging most of her peers to apply to a local college, Ramirez's science teacher urged her to aim higher and apply to competitive universities.
Ramirez, who had excellent grades, followed her advice and was accepted at Brown University, where she decided to study engineering.
"I choose engineering because it was science that could be applied in practical ways," comments Ramirez, who went on to earn her Ph.D. in materials science from Stanford University.
While at Stanford, Ramirez discovered that she enjoyed science education as much as her work in the laboratory. She became involved in a program called Expand Your Horizons, which encouraged female high school students to study the sciences. Later, while working at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, Ramirez became a science curriculum adviser to public schools. She has since given talks at Princeton University and elsewhere to budding young scientists, and is particularly interested in attracting women to scientific careers.
Ramirez -- along with "Science Saturdays" speaker Erin Lavik -- was named one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators for 2003 by Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Magazine of Innovation. The TR100, as the list is more informally known, honors individuals under age 35 whose innovative work in technology has a profound impact on today's world. Ramirez was cited for her discovery of a universal solder that can bond metals to ceramics, glass, diamonds and other materials. The discovery has had wide implications in the electronics, optoelectronics and Micro Elector Mechanical Systems industries.
Her accolades and accomplishments (she is the first African-American materials scientist at Yale and was selected by the National Academies as a delegate to a meeting for the nation's top engineers) have served to strengthen Ramirez's sense of responsibility toward fostering the scientific talents of New Haven youngsters.
"I grew up in Jersey City, a place not unlike New Haven, and I resonate with the kids in this city," she says. "I feel that I could have been any of the kids here who have not had a lot of opportunity and access."
Beyond wanting to help nurture a love for science, Ramirez believes that it is critical for today's youngsters to have enough of an understanding of science to be "informed citizens."
"Policies are increasingly going to get highly technological and complex, and I think it is important that this generation not be afraid of that," she says. "If today's kids don't understand science, and only a few people do -- the same few who will be making the decisions -- I think that's a decay of democracy.
"There is a lot of complexity that you are not appreciating if you don't know science," she adds. "Things seem like magic to you if you do not understand the principles behind them. If you know science, you can see parallels: The physical phenomenon responsible for the magnets on my refrigerator, for example, is the same phenomenon that allows me to store information on my hard disc or guide a boat with a compass. That's magnetism -- just employed in different ways.
"When you know science," Ramirez continues, "you get a deeper appreciation for what's around you. You don't lose the magic; you gain a greater awe that everything is so interconnected."
In her own classes, Ramirez makes a point of showing connections between science and everyday life, sometimes injecting humor into her presentations. (Before coming to Yale, she briefly did stand-up comedy in New York City.)
"I like to make analogies between scientific and everyday concepts, bridging the two," says Ramirez, who has written a yet-to-be published book, called "The Dance of Atoms," that compares bonds between those small particles with human bonds, such as relationships between family members.
As a teacher, she takes particular pleasure in seeing that her students have comprehended complex scientific concepts.
"It makes my heart sing when I hear students communicate to each other concepts that I have just introduced, which tells me that they are being absorbed," says Ramirez.
The engineer is hopeful that "Science Saturdays" will likewise ignite a fascination with and understanding of a broad range of scientific topics. This first series of weekend talks is just the beginning of a program showcasing Yale scientists, says Ramirez, who is currently working with the National Society of Black Engineers on demonstrations to accompany the talks. The society -- along with the National Science Foundation, the Yale Faculty of Engineering, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Tau Beta Pi and a consulting firm Ramirez founded called Scienceworks -- are sponsoring "Science Saturdays."
"The program has blossomed into something that is bigger than what I originally anticipated," says Ramirez, noting that future talks will include engineering and other scientific disciplines.
"Because of the breadth of the series, I think kids will be interested in at least one of the subjects, if not all of them," says Ramirez. "That's the goal. As I tell kids, science is fun because you can do almost anything with it. If you don't want to work in a lab, you can write, or make policy. A science background is useful for every field. It teaches how to solve problems and figure things out. That ability, I think, is something that we very much need."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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