texASHRAE in UT Girl day!

Swarms of young girls and boys flooded the UT’s lecture halls on the morning of Saturday, February 23rd. Each accompanied by parents and chaperones as they explored different scientific activities, inspiring the children with the wonders of science. This year, UT ASHRAE took part in Girl Day, an annual campus-wide tradition seeking to introduce elementary aged girls to STEM careers. Dozens of interactive exhibits are lead by UT engineering students to ignite the wonder of math, physics, chemistry and engineering to girls. UT ASHRAE hosted a panel on “bunny copters,” a paper mechanism featuring artificial rotor blades which cause the ‘bunnies’ to spin while free falling. The girls were encouraged to cut, fold and optimize their design so that their bunny copter would spin the most and fly the highest when dropped over a fan. It was a wonderful experience working with the kids and watching their puzzled expressions turn into gasps of wonder when their bunny copters flew to the ceiling. The entire premise of Girl Day was to inspire and empower girls so that they could picture themselves living out a career in STEM. Judging by their reactions, I (Megan Canik) think we nailed it! We are looking forward to hosting many more panels for Girl Day in the future.

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