Jaclyn Figg

Staff Writer

Women are not in as many Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields as men, and the Center for New Directions wants to inspire and encourage change in this aspect.

It will be holding its sixteenth annual Women and Work Conference March 8 in the Pond Student Union Building.

“We encourage women to learn about careers, and here you get hands on experience, education and demonstration,” said Marlene Darling, equity counselor in the Center for New Directions.

Primarily for high school girls grades nine through 12, community women are welcome to join as well.

The focus for the conference is to encourage women of all ages to explore the many different job opportunities available in STEM fields.

“Historically, one of the things we still have a problem with is girls getting a chance to actually see other women in these careers,” said Shannon Kobs-Nawotniak, volcanologist and associate professor in the department of geosciences.

Many STEM occupations are nontraditional occupations for women.

Nontraditional occupations are defined as having less than 25 percent of a gender represented in a workplace field. 

A successful woman keynote speaker presents at each conference; this year Nawotniak is going to deliver a speech.

“We tell kids growing up they can be anything they want to be but then when you never see a woman do some of these things, you start to internalize that maybe you can’t either,” Nawotniak said.

Nawotniak will talk about opportunities for women and opportunities she has come across.

She is currently working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) simulating manned missions to Mars.

They are working to understand volcanoes in Idaho, which will help better understand the Martian surface.

“This is right here in Idaho. Sometimes people don’t realize we have all these opportunities right here,” Nawotniak said. “We need women and men in this.”

Women and men take things on from different perspectives according to Nawotniak, and so working together can help obtain better solutions to problems facing society.

Career exploration workshops are a big part of the conference, according to Darling.

“In our evaluations we’ve learned what goes over better and one of the things they really like is hands on,” Darling said.

Those workshops are a way for students to experience something new in the STEM fields, to learn, answer questions and maybe even face some of their fears going into college or careers.

Running the workshops is a campus-wide effort;  the volunteers include ISU professors, college of technology instructors, staff and students.

“There are all these fantastic activities from all across the entire department trying to give girls a chance to get hands on and see what this stuff is,” Nawotniak said. 

Due to the a limit of space, the 18 high schools in southeast Idaho that normally participate in the conference are only allotted a certain number of girls to attend.

In the past, there have been around 225 to 250 applicants, although Darling is expecting to get closer to the 300 limit this year.

The conference has a committee of about 16 people and planning for it takes six to seven months.

The committee is trying something new this year: inviting the parents of students involved.

“Students that want to go into a nontraditional occupation or even a STEM occupation sometimes experience resistance from their parents,” Darling said. “This is going to give them information on those fields so maybe they can be supportive.”

There is a raffle for baskets of prizes at the end of the conference consisting of things donated from throughout the community.

A $500 ISU College of Technology scholarship is the grand prize for one of the senior high school students attending the conference.

Although many different local business and industry sponsors fund the event, The State of Idaho Equity Grant is the main sponsor. 

Food cost is the largest expense; the conference will provide breakfast, lunch and a snack, as well as totes with information packets.

“It really gives women and girls a good picture of what a professional conference is like,” Darling said.

Students and community members are required to register prior to the event at isu.edu/cnd.

“I’m really excited we are doing this, to be able to share the various opportunities,” Nawotniak said. “Idaho State is a great university with great resources for southeast Idaho.”