Despite the rainy weather outside, Montgomery County Community College’s Blue Bell Campus buzzed with the enthusiasm and excitement of more than 100 girls who attended the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Lansdale Branch’s annual Discover Your Future on Saturday, March 9. Designed to fuel the passions of middle school girls and steer them towards exploring STEM careers, the day was packed with inspiration and opportunity.

The event started with keynote speaker, Mali Cosden, an Associate Principal Scientist hailing from the Neuroscience Department at Merck and Co. As a neuroscientist with 18-plus years of drug discovery research and project management experience in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, Cosden’s current research focus is on lysosomal and lipid biology. Her work helps to understand the brain biology within the context of these diseases and seeks to discover novel targets and therapies to create new medicines.

From biology to engineering to architecture and more, the event boasted a diverse array of interactive sessions designed to provide the participants with insight into potential career paths.

In the vaccine manufacturing world, for example, Merck engineers, Taylor Segal, a chemical engineer, and Lauren Repmann, a biomedical engineer, showed the girls how to create their own vaccine vial, mimicking the processes that engineers and scientists use to manufacture vaccines. In the area of math and medicine, Briana Heintzelman, an R&D engineer, shared how information about the biomedical engineering field.

Several engineers from Lockheed Martin were onsite to share flight principles using drones or paper airplane launcher, while architects from KCBA Architects demonstrated the software they use to design buildings. The participants then worked together to build an earthquake-proof building using marshmallows and spaghetti. In another workshop held by Kathleen Van Citters, Ph.D., Director of Cell & Gene Therapy Process Development at Johnson & Johnson Innovation Medicine, the girls used engineering and process development skills to design and build a catapult.

Several sessions led by MCCC faculty and staff, including Kris Bompadre, M.S.; Kelli Corrado, M.S.; Debbie Gnutti, Ph.D.HP; Gayathri Moorthy, Ph.D.; Samali Datta, Ph.D.; and Stephanie Nnadi, Ph.D. (with her sister Olivia Nnadi, MBA). Along with other volunteers, they guided the students through engaging activities and discussions. Student volunteers from Montco’s Dental Hygiene, Engineering, and Environmental Studies programs, and well as area high school students, assisted with the sessions.

Between sessions, participants had the opportunity to visit the Discovery Lab in the Advanced Technology Center Portal to explore numerous hands-on activities involving physics, space science, geology and more. Students also studied the universe and its constellations in a portable, inflatable planetarium, StarLab, located on the stage of MCCC’s theater.

As the event unfolded, Dr. Jamie Bretz, MCCC Dean of STEM; Alison Ritter, Coordinator of High School Programs and Educational Partnerships; Riley Morton, Coordinator of Admissions and Recruitment; and Cindy Whitley, Financial Assistance Coach, shared information  with family members and guests in attendance regarding dual enrollment, planning for college, and the overall value of a Montco education.

Fran D’Angelo and Paula McDaniel from AAUW orchestrated the event. Their efforts were supported by MCCC’s Dr.  Hays, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs-STEM; Pat Drewicz, Facilities Use Manager; Eric Karol, Assistant Director Client Technologies, Media Production & Services; Frank Lieb, Multimedia Specialist; Maggie Davis, Program Technical Coordinator; Blake Harrison-Lane, Production Sound Engineer; Campus Safety; Facilities staff; and many more, who assisted in making this annual outreach event a success.