INNOVATE: FUELING CHANGE is a ten minute video which focuses on opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers for high-school and college students. With the spotlight on women and diversity, Fueling Change hopes to inspire underrepresented groups to enter these innovative fields. Fueling Change introduces the viewer to a group of highschool students working on a bio-fuel project and the members of the 2009 Penn State University Decathlon Team who designed, built, and operated an attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.
WQED, the nation’s first community supported public broadcaster, points out some interesting facts in its introduction to INNOVATE: FUELING CHANGE. “In a room full of 100 engineers, only 9 would be women. Men earn 3 times as many Ph.Ds as women. The media bombards girls with messages – overt and subtle – that science is not the place for them.”
This is certainly not the message in Fueling Change, a video sponsored by Lockheed Martin, the SME Education Foundation, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Verizon, that depicts women and girls as important members of STEM teams.
You can watch the video via WQED and check out all 20 of the solar-powered houses created for the Solar Decathlon sponsored through the US Department of Energy via Jetson Green.
It is truly inspiring to watch young, aspiring scientists and engineers develop innovative technologies and designs which promise to make our world a better, greener place.
Image Credit: The video and image are productions of Creative Expansions, Inc.