a girl holding a viewing device up to her eyes

For girls in science, the time is now

Programs in science, technology, engineering, and math are boosting a new generation of female students—and countering some familiar barriers to success.

At ISEF 2019, Russian high school student Inna Larina peers through a viewing device she designed with teammate Nataliya Ivlieva. The wireless apparatus is equipped with sensors that map the distance to an obstacle, such as a sidewalk curb, allowing blind and visually impaired people to navigate unfamiliar terrain.
ByClaudia Kalb
Photographs byDina Litovsky
October 15, 2019
8 min read
This story is part of our November 2019 special issue of National Geographic magazine, “Women: A Century of Change.” Read more stories here.

Sixteen-year-old Shriya Reddy can't remember a time when she wasn’t excited about science. At seven, she read biology books with her mother, who was studying for her medical board exams. By sixth grade, Reddy was competing in rigorous science fairs. The summer before ninth grade she began doing research in a bioengineering lab at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she devised a noninvasive approach for rapidly diagnosing melanoma lesions. The project earned her a top prize at the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) last May.

three science fair participants talking outside of a presentation board
High school students from 80 countries, regions, and territories competed in ISEF 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. Ramita Chueamuangphan (at left), Natthamon Sriprom (middle), and Phananong Chuenchokchai (at right) traveled from Thailand to take part in the plant sciences category. The classmates, from Chiang Rai Province, created a hydrogel that helps protect crops from invasive snails without harming nearby plants and animals.
crossed hands with a hand tendon machine linked to one hand
Amanda Shayna Ahteck of Holmdel, New Jersey, found scientific inspiration while crocheting under her desk during physics class. She crocheted stainless steel conductive thread in a chain of hooked loops to create soft, stretchable sensors that mimic tendons in the hand. Ahteck hopes her wearable Bluetooth device will promote a more seamless adoption of technologies like virtual reality and help visually or physically impaired users interact more naturally with computers.
two women working on their science fair station
Esther Anyanzwa (at left) and Salome Njeri created a revolving disk apparatus to help visually impaired and deaf people measure objects. At home in Kenya, the students face skepticism about their scientific abilities as girls. “I really wanted to prove society wrong,” Njeri told the Society for Science & the Public.
the feet of science fair participants running
a young woman standing at her booth at a science fair
three young women each displaying a prosthetic hand, which covers their forearm
a science fair participant sitting in a chair using a cell phone
two twin sisters seated at their science fair booth
At ISEF’s opening ceremony, representatives of each country are called up to the stage to celebrate their diverse contributions. The annual fair, which will take place in Anaheim, California, in 2020, provides an opportunity for students to share their research and develop international friendships.
Photograph by Dina Litovsky
many woman doing each other's hair and makeup
Michaela Samanta, from Tangerang, Indonesia, prepares for the Grand Awards Ceremony in her hotel room with friends. Samanta won a $500 award for her research on bioengineered rice that contains carnosine, a protein building block that is not found in plants but is important for maintaining good health.
a group of young women wearing green, cheering and carrying a green Saudi Arabian flag
a young woman looking surprised as she walks down an auditorium isle
a young woman wearing many ribbons as she walks toward the stage
a young woman smiling as sitting in an auditorium chair
Shouq Faisal Madani of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, celebrates with her peers during the Grand Awards Ceremony on the closing day of ISEF 2019. Madani won a $1,000 award in the environmental engineering category.
Photograph by Dina Litovsky
book cover with nine small portraits.

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“Science dwells on the how and why things happen,” Reddy says. “I really want to be a part of that.” Reddy’s determination coincides with a growing effort across the United States to boost the number of female students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Universities and institutions, from NASA to the United States Naval Academy, are hosting STEM days for girls. Organizations such as the New York Academy of Sciences are pairing women in STEM careers with girls seeking advice and mentorship. ISEF, a program of the Washington, D.C.-based Society for Science & the Public, offers a forum for select high school students to compete at an international level. This year’s event had 1,842 finalists, evenly split by gender, and three of the top four awards went to young women, including Reddy. “Just being part of that experience blew my mind,” she says.

a young woman dancing
After judging, participants let loose at the student mixer and dance party. The weeklong science fair will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2020.
two students kissing at a dance party

Young student scientists have fun outside of the lab too. Here, participants get close at the student mixer and dance party.

a young woman lying across a set of chairs in an auditorium
Michelle Lee, who competed from Austin, Texas, in the biochemistry category, finds a moment to rest during the student celebration. ISEF’s jam-packed schedule includes symposia with professional scientists.

Mary Sue Coleman, a biochemist and president of the Association of American Universities, is optimistic about women’s future in science. When she was in ISEF as a high school student in 1959 and 1960, about 35 percent of the participants were girls. Gender balance matters, she says, because women bring fresh perspectives to tackling scientific conundrums. “People who have different life experiences ask different questions,” she says. Clear gaps remain. Young women at ISEF outnumbered males in microbiology and biochemistry this year, but they made up fewer than a third of the finalists in mathematics and engineering mechanics. More women are getting advanced STEM degrees, but men hold most professorships and leadership roles in STEM-based industries, the Association for Women in Science says.

a science fair participant posing
a science fair participant posing
a science fair participant posing
a science fair participant posing
a science fair participant posing
a science fair participant posing
Vongayi Marazanye, Zimbabwe
CATEGORY: Chemistry
PROJECT: Water purification by capillary action in paper towels
AWARD: $1,000
Photograph by Dina Litovsky

Still, a transformation is taking place, says Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public. Young women, inventive and tenacious, are harnessing technology to tackle issues they care about, whether it’s engineering nutritionally advanced rice or using a crocheting technique to design a wearable Bluetooth device. For these emerging scientists, “it’s going to be different,” Ajmera says. “I feel very confident that this generation of girls is in a much better place to take on the world’s most intractable problems.”

Author Claudia Kalb wrote the cover story about Leonardo da Vinci in the May 2019 issue.

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