The GeoGirls Program in the News

The GeoGirls program is getting some great publicity, thanks to the efforts of the USGS, The Mt. St. Helens Institute, and even comedienne Amy Poehler.

The program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation under grant EAR 1349572. Besides NSF, funders for the program include the American Association of University Women, the Association of Women Geologists, the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists, and individual financial contributors and volunteers.

The USGS article noted that "Twenty middle school girls from Washington and Oregon are participating in 'GeoGirls,' an outdoor program jointly organized by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Mount St. Helens Institute. During August 3–7, female scientists, from the USGS, the Mount St. Helens Institute, UNAVCO, Boise State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Oregon State University, and a former NASA educator astronaut will participate as leaders, teachers and role models for a pilot field camp at Mount St. Helens. The GeoGirls will spend five days conducting hands-on research and interacting with scientists, educators, and older students, learning about volcanoes, natural hazards, and modern scientific monitoring technologies.  They will camp, hike to field sites, work on research projects with scientists, and learn how to document and share their findings by building a public webpage."

The Mt. St. Helens Science and Learning Center Geogirls page adds that "This program is a collaborative effort between the Mount St. Helens Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey – Cascades Volcano Observatory along with partners from UNAVCO, Boise State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Washington, and Oregon State University." The center also has provided a one-page flyer describing the program in detail.

IRIS/PASSCAL supported the project by supplying seismic instruments for the GeoGirls project (201504). The PI is Kate Allstadt of the USGS, and the University of Washington.

	Here, some GeoGirls get training in connecting seismic data collectors. (Click the images for a bigger version).
The training continues...
	The GeoGirls learn that Documentation is one of the most important parts of science.
GeoGirls getting training in deploying seismometers in the field.
	Comedienne Amy Poehler gave the GeoGirls a big "Thumbs up!" on her "Smart Girls" FaceBook page. Poehler linked to an article from TV station KATU in Portland, Oregon, which features a brief video on the GeoGirls project.