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44 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 Feature Interview by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 Andy Shaughnessy recently spoke with Brooke Campbell, R&D chemist from BTG Labs, during the IPC Summer Meetings in Ra- leigh, North Carolina. Brooke discussed her efforts to get more young girls involved in STEM careers through the Girl Scouts and oth- er learning opportunities, and she offered ad- vice for technologists who are interested in drawing young people into these rewarding careers. Andy Shaughnessy: I'm here at the IPC sum- mer meetings with Brooke Campbell from BTG Labs. Nice to meet you, Brooke. Brooke Campbell: Nice to meet you too. Shaughnessy: I enjoyed your story about how you spoke to the Girl Scouts of USA about STEM and trying to get girls into science and math careers. How did you get involved with that? Campbell: My local Midwest Chapter reached out. They do an annual leadership conference where they get groups of several hundred girls in the Greater Tri-State area together and take over a hotel. They have different sessions on gardening, skill-building, etc. They were look- ing for, and struggling to find, women to sup- port the STEM area, to speak to younger ladies about pursuing a career in STEM and what that entails as well as some of the challenges that we face being in a STEM field. It was men- tioned earlier today that there are six women here out of a conference with 300 people. That is one of the challenges associated with being in the industry and being a woman. The girls there made comments such as, "It's too hard," or, "I've been told that's a hard subject matter." Sciences can have challenges, but we spoke to that and how it doesn't have to be as hard as they think it is. Some of the mathematics and fundamentals can take some time to learn, but saying to someone who is younger, "This is hard, so don't pursue it," is such a huge disservice. We talked a little bit about the scientific method and observation, and how that can be applied to the medical in- dustry where doctors do small experiments all the time to see what works to help someone if they have a health issue. We also covered ex- perimentation in the industry or on a big proj- ect and everything that goes into that. Teaching Young Girls About STEM Careers