More than 100 high school girls from nearly 30 schools will participate in the Women in Science Conference at UNL on Feb. 21-22.

The conference is sponsored by Nebraska’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the UNL Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education. The students come from schools across Nebraska and Kansas.

The keynote speaker for Friday’s banquet is Tiffany Heng-Moss, professor of entomology and associate dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Heng-Moss, who earned the 2013 National Teaching Award for Food and Agriculture Sciences from the APLU, will discuss a variety of science careers and notable female scientists throughout history.

Workshops on Saturday provide the students with hands-on activities across campus. In the morning, more than 20 female scientists in the George W. Beadle Center, which was named for a 1927 graduate and Nobel Prize laureate whose research laid the foundations for modern genetics, will welcome students into seven different laboratories. Students will perform experiments in DNA extraction, cancer, plant oils and microbiology. These scientists’ areas of study include agronomy, biochemistry, biological sciences, biotechnology, food science, horticulture, plant pathology and plant science.

In the afternoon, scientists from the departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Entomology and the College of Dentistry will provide hands-on workshops in Avery Hall and Bessey Hall. Students will build comets from dry ice, work with the stream table in Bessey, learn about pollinator conservation, and perform dental examinations.

Students also get the opportunity to hear from panels of successful female scientists in industry and academia who describe their career paths and how to prepare for a science career. These scientists represent a diverse array of science careers including health professions, biological sciences, animal science, engineering, mathematics and nutrition.

The conference concludes with a behind-the-scenes tour of Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center.

For more information, please visit: http://scimath.unl.edu/csmce/wis.