Students in 10th through 12th grade are invited to apply for the QuarkNet internship program, which offers summer research opportunities in science and technology. Students will work with scientists for six weeks on projects related to the Fermilab research program. The application period begins March 1.

Program Description

• What are neutrinos telling us?
• Are there extra dimensions of space?
• What happened to the antimatter?

High school students living in the Fermilab area work full-time with scientists and engineers who advance our understanding of the nature of matter and energy. QuarkNet offers summer research opportunities in science and technology for students who have demonstrated a strong interest in and aptitude for science and mathematics. Students work with scientists for six weeks on projects related to the Fermilab research program.

Research Topics:

• Direct detection of dark matter using the COUPP bubble chamber
• Building 3D electronic circuits to trigger events at the LHC
• Making neutrino detectors more sensitive
• Using interferometers to measure holographic noise
• Developing software for imaging spectroscopic cameras
• Building better accelerators
• Using astronomical surveys to study dark energy and dark matter
• Looking for particles at the LHC

I have two daughters.  The oldest was a typical first gifted child; there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was gifted. She read and did multiplication before kindergarten. Her vocabulary was advanced and her thought processes were sharp as a whip; she picked things up with ease and passed every test with flying colors. Of course she qualified for the gifted program! (She is old enough that Illinois still had gifted programs in most districts. These programs were systemaically dismantled starting in 2002, but that is the subject of another post!)

Along came child number two.  She is four years younger than her sister and has always adored her! She did not read or even add before kindergarten.  She was shy and quiet.  One day in preschool she announced, “My sister is the smart one and I am the cute one.”  Instead of academic pursuits, she engaged in every sort of imaginative play.  She put on plays with her friends. She played with “guys,” building elaborate scenes that could not be dissassembled until the story had played itself out.  She told stories and later wrote stories and poetry. 

I figured I had a gifted child and a “normal” child, okay by me!  I had both girls tested when the youngest was in Kindergarten when we briefly considered switching from our local public school to a private gifted school.  I was amazed to learn that she and her sister were both not just gifted, but profoundly gifted! I have since learned that it is quite common for giftedness to present completely differently in siblings and uncommon for siblings to be more that about 10 IQ points apart. 

When I asked her second grade teacher for a letter of recommendation so she could take classes at the Worlds of Wisdom and Wonder, the teacher said, “But she isn’t gifted.” Unlike her sister, she did not qualify for the local gifted program at the end of second grade. One of the many tests they required for admission was a picture test, which she did not do well on.  On one of the questions they were given four choices for what goes with a dolphin.  These were something like a fish, a swan, an elephant and turtle.  I asked her why she chose the swan and her explanation was priceless, “They both move with same undulating motion.” Definitely not gifted. 

Now she is at the top of her class in high school, has taken scads of APs and is a National Merit Finalist. She can compete academically with the best of them, but her real strength continues to be her creativity and imagination.  She writes fantasy, plays and creative non-fiction. She composes music and writes songs.  She writes and performs slam poetry. She draws and creates games.  And she sees connections between things and bridges across things that are novel and exciting. She is extremely imaginationally overexcitable.  And she is clearly gifted!   

Newenka DuMont

The Society of Women Engineers - Northwestern University Chapter

CAREER DAY FOR GIRLS

2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208
8:30 am - 3:30 pm 
The Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University is pleased to announce our 45th annual Career Day for Girls, scheduled for Saturday, February 27, 2016. 

Saturday, February 27, 2016 McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

This program is designed for female junior high and high school students who have an interest in science and mathematics. The program will contain educational and career information about opportunities in engineering and applied science. Our speakers are women who have engineering degrees and current female engineering students.

Cost: $10 for lunch. Registration closes February 5, 2016 or when the program reaches capacity. Click here for complete details.

Join the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) - Chicago Professionals Chapter for our National Engineers Week Expo! The Expo takes place on February 27, 2016 at the Illinois Institute of Technology. We have a full agenda with interactive and exciting Engineering and Science activities for Kindergarten - 12th grade students. Some workshops include App Design, World of Polymers and the Marshmallow Challenge for grade school students and a college panel and Speed Networking for high school students.

We will also host a local NASCAR Ten80 competition, but you must be a registered racing team to participate.

*** Registration closes Friday February 5, 2016 ***

Parents & Educators are encouraged to stay and talk to our Engineers! Find out how to engage your children and hold their interest with fun experiments at home.

No walk-ins, no on-site registration, no cash, no medical forms and no permission slips will be accepted on the day of the event, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Tickets are $11.54 per person and include lunch. Click here for details and registration.

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To learn more about our chapter, go to http://www.chicagonsbe.org/ 
or to  http://www.nsbe.org to learn about our national organization.

Follow us on Twitter  @NSBE_ChicagoAE and Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/ChicagoNSBE

NSBE Mission: "To increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community."

NSBE-Chicago is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For donations to support our STEM Programs, please add ticket type "Support NSBE-Chicago STEM Programs" to your order.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day

Saturday, February 20th

9 AM - 5 PM

Various buildings on UIUC's Engineering Campus - details to come

Description: High school girls are invited to the third annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Saturday, February 20, 2016 from 9 am to 5 pm. The students will have an opportunity to learn about the different types of engineering through hands-on activities, participate in a design challenge, and present their designs challenge ideas to judges. A concurrent program for the parents is also provided. The event is free (deposit required, but will be fully refunded upon attendance), and lunch and a T-shirt will be included. Registration is first come, first serve and is limited, so register soon! Deadline is February 5, 2016.

See complete details here,

My youngest is a poet.

One of her most recent poems is about the beauty of calculus. Another is about the mysteries of music. As she heads off to college, what will she study? So many gifted kids face this paradox of choice. I have heard that many gifted children actually find their life’s work in the first field that does not come easily to them! As though the one thing they truly crave is a challenge!

This question: “What will you be when you grow up?” is one asked of kids all the time. When my youngest was in first grade, she told me she knew just what she wanted to be: On Mondays and Tuesday she would be a writer, on Wednesdays and Thursdays she would be a paleontologist. Yes, I asked what about Fridays; she said that weekends were too short! (Smart kid!) I am not sure that this plan has stood the test of time, but I am confident that she will find lots of interesting things to learn about going forward and will settle on something amazing. On the other hand, I am considerably older than my then first grade daughter, and have to admit that I do not have a definitive answer to that question for myself!

Happy new year to all of you. May this year find you and yours figuring out what you want to be when you grow up, or at least what you want to be doing for now!

From the SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) web site:

CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND PRELIMINARY REGISTRATION FOR SENG CONFERENCE 2016 

Most conferences about giftedness focus primarily on educational issues. While they may include a few presentations about the social and emotional development, and needs of the gifted and the challenges facing the gifted population, these presentations play a minor role.  SENG conferences reverse the priorities.  

Founded 1981, SENG was formed to bring attention to the unique emotional needs of the gifted.  We believe that recognizing, understanding, and accepting the social and emotional needs of this unique population are the first priorities for parents, teachers, and counselors. SENG supports strong gifted education programs, but we believe the emotional piece is the foundation for the development of healthy, happy, well-adjusted, appropriately educated, and contributing gifted members of society. 

2016 marks SENG’s 34th Annual Conference; dedicated to Gifted: Our Past and Our Future, this year’s conference shall be held in Colonial Williamsburg, Thursday July 21 to Sunday July 24, 2016.    

We invite advocates, educators, entrepreneurs, healthcare providers, individuals, parents and professionals interested in presenting to this unique community to submit their proposal for consideration on or before Thursday, December 31, 2015.    

Conference Themes 

Topics of particular interest include: 

  Social and Emotional Needs 

 Twice Exceptional 

 Counseling 

 Diversity 

 Gifted Adults; Gifted Elders 

 Homeschooling 

 Outliers among Outliers 

 Parenting / Gifted Families 

Conference Structure 

The Conference will be organized over three days Thursday July with a keynote address, Continuing Education Programs, SMPG Training, parallel sessions, an exhibitor’s hall, sponsorship and advertising opportunities.    

Projected attendance 500 persons. 

Call for Proposals 

We would be pleased to receive abstracts from interested presenters that follow SENG Conference 

Themes.  Abstracts should clearly define the objectives of the presentation, topics covered, key conclusions reached, and potential benefits for the gifted community.  Abstracts should be no more than 300 words in length and shall include:  

 Name / Contact Information 

 Presentation Title 

 Brief Description of Presentation.  Please summarize the presentation in 50 words or less   

 Presentation Theme

 Level of Content for Audience 

 Format of Presentation  

 References 

To submit your proposal follow the link.

Well, it has happened to me.

There was a time when I looked forward to this day. Like when my younger daughter was 12 months old and I was running on a year of sleep deprivation because she was still mostly not sleeping through the night. Or when she was three and had what we learned were hunger tantrums so frequently and at such volume that she had a sultry, jazz singer voice that my neighbors said would be so sexy when she grew up, though I really hoped she would grow out of it! Or when she was 4 and asked “why…” a hundred, no a thousand times a day and challenged absolutely everything I said or did.

But now that it has happened, I reflect back and adore every minute I spent with my kids, even the most trying ones. Like the day the same daughter cried inconsolably for well over a half hour. When I finally had her calmed down enough to talk she told me that she was crying because I had finally made it clear to her that she was not going to have a little brother or sister. Man was I puzzled, but I persisted with my best mom skills. Well it turned out she would always be the youngest in our family and so everyone else would die before her and she would be all alone in the world. She was three.

I could reminisce all day, but since it is her 18th birthday, I think I will take her out for her favorite meal instead. Me, the parent of two adults.

In partnership with Make:Magazine, Barnes & Noble stores are holding Mini Maker Faires at most locations.

If you're a tech enthusiast, crafter, educator, tinkerer, hobbyist, engineer, science club member, author, artist, student, entrepreneur, or maker of any kind—join us! We're getting together in stores to learn from each other, hear from the experts, and work on projects.

Make Workspace: Join us in all Barnes & Noble stores to see demonstrations that will amaze and inspire you! In the Make Workspace, a tech-educational expo, we’ll do product demos for 3D printers, drones, robots, coding, programming, and more. This is the future—come see it unfold before your eyes.

Meet the Maker: Come meet the leaders of the Maker movement! These are the people changing the way we learn, ideate, design, create, and build the future. They’ll be visiting your local Barnes & Noble store to talk about their process, their creations, and their vision.

Make & Collaborate: Makers are DIY-ers with a tech twist. Come make and collaborate—then share! We provide the materials; you dream up the product. The only limit is your imagination. Get hands-on experience in design, handcrafting, and construction in the spirit of collaboration and teamwork.

See complete details here.

ts.

When my daughter was eight years old I figured out that the end of soccer season was a real problem for her.  It took me a while to put it all together.  At the start of the school year, everything was fine.  She got along with her sister.  She was happy enough to go to school. She could tamp down her perfectionist tendencies long enough to get her homework done. She could get to sleep and stay asleep.  Then mid-November tempers flared, homework took forever, and she couldn’t sleep, became moody, and didn’t want to go to school.  Oh my.

Turns out she really needs exercise to keep herself balanced mentally.  And I mean all out completely exhausting physical exertion. What a valuable lesson for her, and one she has been able to embrace over time.  She learned to take on sports year round, and later to take up running, something you can almost always do.  She trained for a marathon in high school, and played high level club ultimate (Frisbee) for years.  She chose a college in southern California, so she could do outdoor activities, such as hiking and unicycle riding, year round.  And when she moved to New York City for her first job, finding a gym was her top priority, followed by joining the work yoga group and two different dancing groups. 

And it turns out this is not unusual for highly gifted children!  Who knew? Come join us in November for a discussion of the psychomotor overexcitabilities found in many gifted children and how these relate to AD/HD.  Learn more!