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Introduce a Girl to Photonics: Empowering the Next Generation

“When shown what engineers can do, 76% of girls become interested in engineering.”
(Verizon Study)

One of the main goals for the Introduce a Girl to Photonics program seeks to encourage and support the next generation of women in photonics. Volunteers, educators and chapters plan 110+ programs worldwide to show young women and pre-university students how photonics impacts the world around them.

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UC Santa Barbara Chapter conducting outreach with a Girls Inc. group.

The program empowers volunteers to serve as role models and present photonics and optics related curriculum to pre-university classrooms (K-12) and young women groups.

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Testimonial Example: As a women who is a postdoc researcher in photonics, volunteer Farzaneh Bayatit, from the University of Tabriz in Tabriz, Iran, has participated in the program, by offering and donating STEM kits in local primary school language classes on concave and convex lense experiments with LED lights. The girls were asked to help guess the light ray paths and at the end of class, produce experiments with the lenses on their own. Bayatit stated, “At the end of the class, I could see the interest in their shiny eyes and I was delighted I had the opportunity to introduce these girls to Photonics.”

If you’d like to volunteer for Introduce a Girl to Photonics, contact the program’s representative, Mira Ganesh, at mira.ganesh@ieee.org.