First Lady of Science

Michelle Obama gaat een soort Platform BètaTechniek-ctie in deUSA ondersteunen. Tijdens haar recent bezoek aan minister Chu -‘Myhusband was extremely excited that he had a real nerd on his team’-en zijn energieministerie omarmde zij de National ScienceBowl, waaraan 1800 scholen en 20.000 studenten aandeelnemen.

Hier leest u enkele van haar woorden uit de speech bij haarontvangst door Chu en zijn depatement:

As you know, Secretary Chu isn’t just a brilliant scientist, he’s also an inspiredleader, and he’s bringing new ideas and perspectives to Washington,challenging all of you, all of us, to look at your own work, at ourown work, in a whole new way.  And we are so incrediblygrateful for his leadership.  My husband loves hisCabinet.  He was extremely excited that he had a real nerd onhis team.  (Laughter)  He talked about it forweeks on end. 

We’ve been talking in my staff about this visit for a whilebecause it’s unique in what we’re doing and what you all aredoing.   The National Science Bowl you host every year –and I think there are a lot of people out here who don’t know thatthe Department of Energy has really been supporting this type ofinitiative for so long — the National Science Bowl that you host,it draws 20,000 students from 1,800 schools.  That isamazing.

And the young people who participate in this competition, theyput in late nights and long hours, they’re pushing themselves andchallenging each other to get ready and to get focused on thetopic.   And they don’t just learn biology, chemistry,physics and math in the process.  You all know that whatthey’re also learning is discipline and teamwork andproblem-solving and communication skills.

The middle school students even design, build and race their ownhydrogen-powered cars.  It’s science at its best, truly. It’s hands-on and it’s very collaborative in a way that reallymakes young people excited.  I know my kids — there’s nothinglike a little competition to get them going. It fuels kids’imaginations and encourages the innovative thinking that we’ll needto meet our nation’s challenges in the years to come.

It’s my understanding that more than a hundred employees here atthe Department of Energy help run the national competition inWashington, and more than 6,000 volunteers contribute their time torun regional competitions across America.

And this includes one individual in particular that I want tojust acknowledge who has run the entire operation every year forthe past 19 years, and who’s waited to retire, I understand — sheput off retiring until she can make it an even 20 years. She’s grown this program from just a handful of schools to aninstitution that’s inspired more than 150,000 students since itbegan in 1991. So I want us to take a moment to recognize Sue EllenWalbridge for her terrific work.