URI to host Tech Collective’s GRRL Tech expo

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island will play host to the Tech Collective’s GRRL Tech expo on Thursday, March 14, offering hands-on workshops in science, technology, engineering and math to the state’s high school girls.

GRRL Tech – Girls Reaching Remarkable Levels – is a day-long science, technology, engineering and math expo for 450 sophomore and junior high school girls.

The program, a brain child of Tech Collective, Rhode Island’s industry association for information technology and bioscience, offers access to hands-on workshops and career mentoring for high school girls interested in STEM careers.

The expo is slated to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes opening remarks from Ruthe Farmer, director of strategic initiatives for the National Center for Women & Information Technology, and two sessions of student and teacher hands-on workshops.

The 25 student workshops focused on STEM fields ranging from bioscience, animal science and oceanography to engineering, physics and computer science, according to a Tech Collective release.

The day will end with closing remarks and the announcement of between three and five GRRL Tech attendees, who will be awarded four-year, $4,000 tuition scholarships to URI. Recipients will be chosen via their essay submissions by the GRRL Tech Scholarship Committee.

Slated to attend this year’s event are 450 female high school students and 50 educators representing 31 local high schools and tech centers.