Students participate in a oenology and viticulture yeast activity at Brock during last year's Scientifically Yours, which encourages high school girls to pursue education and careers in the sciences. 
Students participate in a oenology and viticulture yeast activity at Brock during last year's Scientifically Yours, which encourages high school girls to pursue education and careers in the sciences.
High schools students from throughout Ontario are doing hands-on science this week at Brock during a two-day adventure designed to encourage young women to pursue an education and careers in science.
About 100 Ontario students from southern and central Ontario are attending Scientifically Yours, now in its 23rd year, on Thursday and Friday, participating in workshops and seminars about measurement techniques, factors influencing heart and bone health, and how to use fossil preparation tools and techniques employed by paleontologists and museum curators.
New this year is a plant biology project, in which participants learn how plants can be used to produce compounds that can be used as pharmaceuticals. The project is modelled after Brock Canada Research Chair Vincenzo De Luca’s research on the same topic. There are also be guided tours of the research labs in the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.
Other seminars explore physics, computer science, psychology, mathematics, and oenology and viticulture.
This year’s keynote speaker was Anne-Marie Robinson, president of the Public Service Commission of Canada, who has also served as associate deputy minister, First Nations and Inuit Health branch at Health Canada. Robinson holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an honours degree in business administration from Brock University.
Robinson has also worked for Revenue Canada, Industry Canada and Indian Affairs and Northern Development. She also has her Master’s of Science degree in business studies with a specialization in human resources management from Salford University in the United Kingdom.
On Friday, scientific mentors – all women working in science-related fields – will attend a dinner with participating students. Mentors include naturopathic doctors, risk modelling analysts and those working in the finance and energy sectors, among others.
