JORDANIAN WOMEN AND STEM EDUCATION
VIMY 2014
project updates
We got the grant!!!
03/21/2014
Photo: Fareeda Zikry
Yesterday the three of us stood at the front of a conference room at the FedEx Global Center on the Campus of the University of North Carolina.
In the final stage of the Vimy Application, we presented our project proposal to a panel of application reviewers. Following the presentation we engaged in a Q&A session with the reviewers.
We left the conference room uncertain. My brain raced from "we did all we could do" to "that one guy asked really hard questions" in seconds.
Overall, the response we had gotten was good, but we had no idea what other proposals the application committee had received.
All that was left to do was wait.
The next morning, my email pinged and there was the decision. We were to be the next Vimy team.
Vimy application submitted
02/19/2014
It all started with a Google Doc. In conversations, we were always coming up with topics and issues that we wanted to learn more about. We finally started to write them down. As it stands today, the list ranges from an entry that simply says "Zanzibar" to one that reads "How governments are able to control citizens’ access to the internet/mobile telecommunication capabilities."
While we began pursuing the topics on our "Things to Learn About" list, Fareeda discovered CGI's Vimy grant. The Vimy is awarded to a diverse group of students seeking to complete a summer research or service project abroad.
We brainstormed topic ideas and landed on one that piqued each of our interests. In Jordan, 46% of students studying STEM fields at the university level are female. This number is nearly double the rate in the U.S.
Why is this? We applied for the Vimy to answer this question.
