In cooperation with the VT’s CEED program, our lab group had the chance to host two groups from TechGirls this summer. TechGirls is a program that exposes, encourages, and promotes young women interested in science, engineering, and technology from North Africa and the Middle East. Using small scale experiments, the girls were introduced to basic river mechanics and the idea that rivers are continuously reshaping their boundary and flow path. They made time lapse movies and competed in teams to see who could keep the stream from washing away their river-front houses and from eroding the banks and exposing a mine tailings pond (buried instant coffee… which is an excellent, and good smelling, flow tracer). Many thanks to students Brandon Dillon, Christian Mooneyham, and Rachel Kuprenas for designing and running the experiments and games.
