Donofrio Technology Series

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2012 Program

• Astro4Girls and their Families

The Ridgefield Library is one of just 9 libraries across the country tapped to be part of an exciting new NASA program to empower women's success, especially in science. Find out how your family can participate.

 

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2011

• WATSON: Jeopardy and Beyond - Tuesday, May 31, 7 PM at Veteran's Park Elementary School, 8 Governor Street, Ridgefield.
  

Two IBM Engineers who work on the DEEPQA Artificial Intelligence system, more affectionately know as Watson, discuss their fascinating work. Come find out how this incredible machine was built and programmed to compete on Jeopardy (and win).

Speakers:
Jennifer Chu-Carroll, PhD, Research Staff Member & Manager, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, works on algorithms for identifying relevant question content in order to generate possible answers, as well as on special question processing.

Sugato Bagchi, PhD, Research Staff Member, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, works on adapting DeepQA to provide decision support, especially related to uses in the medical field.

Over 300 people attended this program. Click here to read a Danbury News Times article and see photographs from the event.

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2010

• Dr. Heidi B. Hammel will visit all 3rd grade classes in the spring to share her passion and enthusiasm for astronomy.

2009

• Seeing Stars: Three Optical Engineers Talk about their Cool Careers in the Space Industry - with Linda Abramowicz-Reed, Tom Heydenburg and Andrea Sarnik from Goodrich ISR Systems

• School Visits - As part of our celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA09) - Dr. Heidi Hammel talked to 3rd graders at five elementary schools about astronomy

2008

• Robotics  with Aeolean founder Bala Krishnamurthy, along with Dr. Karen Trovato, Dr. Simon Hill and Ms. Shika Sharma.   

2007

• What Do Goldfish, Playstation 3 and Bridges Have in Common? - Three Engineers Talk Tech - with Dr. Stefanie Chiras, Manager, IBM; Marta Mulyk, Project Engineer, Pepperidge Farm; and Jennifer Usher, Project Manager, BL Companies
• Engineering Your Future - with Dr. Michael Hibbard, Assistant Superintendent, Ridgefield Public Schools and Lucy Brakoniecki, Gender Equity Specialist, Connecticut Girls and Tech Network

2005

• Local Women Talk Tech - with Lisa Glukhovsky, winner at the 54th Intel Science and Engineering Fair; astronomer Dr. Heidi B. Hammel; and  Dr. Jianying Hu from IBM
• How Do I Get There From Here? - a panel discussion with Dr. Michael Hibbard, Assistant Superintendent of Ridgefield Public Schools; Ms. Ann Polina, Head of Westover School; Mr. Art Amend, former physics teacher in Ridgefield; Dr. Peter Farnina, Boehringer Ingelheim; and Ms. Priyanka Ghosh a Ridgefield High School Senior
• School Visits - In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Miracle Year - 13 Female scientists from local companies including, Boehringer Ingelheim, IBM Schlumberger and the Space Science Institute made presentations to Ridgefield 6th graders to talk about their careers
• Science Fair - mini-science fair presented by the Girls Scouts
• Skits - Girl Scouts dressed up as various historical women scientists and presented short skits about their life and work

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Cool Websites

Recommended by our librarians.

Science360.gov - Cool science videos

egfi-k12.org - Engineering Go For It - a cool site for kids from Grade K - 12

Engineergirl.org - A great website for elementary and middle school girls

Engineeryourlife.org - What do engineers do? A great website for middle and high school girls

dotdiva.org - Learn how to become a computer scientist

discoverengineering.org - Discover Engineering - for all ages

pbskids.org/designsquad - Website of the PBS TV series Design Squat. Play puzzle games, design and build creative projects, draw and share your ideas, see cool engineering at work!