WE-STEM offers pizza, planets, empowerment
The first of three more events planned for the remainder of the semester
Women Empowerment in STEM (WE-STEM) hosted a planetarium Feb. 21 in Singleton Ballroom where attendees were able to experience a tour of the stars.
At the event, there were several do-it-yourself science kits available to interact with, such as a spectrometer and a Raspberry PI camera kit.
The planetarium was inflatable and portable, and attendees could walk in and see a projector displaying the sky. Inside the dome is where the Chair of Computer Science Jean French, hosting the event, could change the time of day, highlight constellations and show art visuals for students.
According to Jean French, the chair of the Computing Sciences Department, Coastal Carolina University purchased the planetarium using a grant from the Horry County Higher Education Commission.
Kimora White, a freshman who attended the event, said it was a great experience.
“I’ve never seen a planetarium before, so I wanted to see what it was like,” White said. “It was really cool and a lot more informal than I thought it would be, she really went into detail about the constellations and how they were named including how they were different in other languages.”
Besides the planetarium, WE-STEM is hosting two more events during the remainder of the semester. WE-STEM intern Rebekah Miles who also runs the social media for the organization said these will take place later in March and April.
“We host an event every month. Next month for Women’s History Month, we’re hosting a salary negotiation workshop on [March 28], and in April there’s a research symposium,” Miles said.
Director of Women’s and Gender Studies Ina Seethaler said the March event looks at gender differences and equity nation wide in workplaces and will show techniques on how to negotiate better salaries and be interactive. She said the April event is a showcase of WE-STEM sponsored student work and research that will be displayed. Miles said any member of the community is welcome to attend.
For more information about the upcoming events and WE-STEM works on campus, follow their Instagram @stem_women_ccu.
