Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Director of RIT's SMASH Experience for Girls Wins STEM Award

The director of the Summer Math Applications in Science with Hands-on Experience for Girls (SMASH) program at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has received a STEM Program Recognition Award from the Finger Lakes STEM Hub.

Kara Maki, director of the program and award recipient, created the SMASH program in 2014 "in response to alarming statistics from the U.S. Department of Education highlighting the nation's drop in math and science rankings," according to a news release from RIT. Since then, SMASH has become an annual event in response to feedback from participants, their parents and the program's corporate sponsors.

The third annual SMASH program will be held this summer July 18-22. The five-day program can accommodate up to 40 girls entering grade 8. Participants engage in hands-on activities designed to connect math skills to real-world problems and develop small-group communication skills, according to information from the university. Scholarships are available for students who cannot afford the $250 registration fee.

"SMASH is about building confidence in math and science," said Maki in a news release. "It's about participants starting to see the relevance of mathematics in everyday life. With application-driven mathematics, it is often not about getting the answer right the first time, but instead trying different and creative ways until you learn something new."

The program is supported in part by Sophia Maggelakis, dean of the College of Science at RIT, as well as RIT's Women in Science program and Center for Advancing STEM Teaching, Learning and Evaluation (CASTLE). Funding for the program's needs-based scholarships is provided by RIT alumni.

Further information about the SMASH program can be found on RIT's site.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • Graphic of connected devices protected by digital padlocks

    Veeam Launches Agent Commander to Help Detect Enterprise AI Risk

    Veeam Software has introduced Agent Commander, a new platform designed to help enterprises detect AI risk, protect AI systems, and undo AI mistakes.

  • abstract coding

    Anthropic's New AI Model Targets Coding, Enterprise Work

    Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.6, introducing a million-token context window and automated agent coordination features as the AI company seeks to expand beyond software development into broader enterprise applications.

  • globe surrounded by network connections

    AI Adoption Is Surging, but Infrastructure and Language Gaps Persist

    Artificial intelligence may be spreading faster than previous waves of consumer tech, but a report from Microsoft's AI Economy Institute suggests its benefits are concentrating in a relatively small set of countries, with infrastructure and language emerging as major dividing lines.