200 young women from Hudson County middle and high schools
will be in attendance at the daylong event on March 23

March 21, 2017, Jersey City, NJ – Hudson County Community College (HCCC) will host the “Girls in Technology” Symposium on Thursday, March 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held in the College’s Culinary Conference Center at 161 Newkirk Street in Jersey City. 200 young women from Hudson County middle and high schools will participate.

Now in its fourth year, the HCCC “Girls in Technology” symposium provides the young women attending with opportunities to learn about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) studies and careers from educators and individuals actually working in STEM, and STEM-related, careers.

The event will begin with breakfast, followed by a welcome from HCCC President Glen Gabert, Ph.D. and an overview of the day’s activities from the HCCC Dean of the Division of Non-Traditional Programs, Ana Chapman-McCausland.

North Bergen High School junior Isabel Carvajal will then deliver her winning essay titled, “The Beauty of Technology.”

A panel discussion, “A Day in the Life of Women in Technology” will follow. The panel will be moderated by HCCC Instructional Technologist Adele Merlino, and will include Johnson & Johnson IT Director – Data Platforms Amany Basily, Digital Bodies Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Maya Georgieva, New Jersey City University (NJCU) Chairperson and Professor of Education Technology and School Library Media Dr. Laura Zieger, and Accenture Security Analyst Arielle Zwang.

A variety of workshops and activities will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., including: a coding/decoding competition conducted by NJCU Educational Technology Leadership doctoral students; “World of Drones” session conducted by Towhee Co./JC Fab Lab; a robotics race from PicoTurbine International; a virtual reality experience from Digital Bodies; and a community wind, solar, electric and hydro energy planning lab presentation by the HCCC STEM division.

Just prior to a luncheon, students in attendance will be able to view – and cast votes for – students’ contest displays which center around the theme, “Technology: Past, Present and Future.”

Also during the luncheon, Dr. Miriam Frolow, Director of Academic Affairs, University of Phoenix – a sponsor of the event – will give a presentation. Mikaila Read, Manager of Community Partnerships, Girls Who Code, will facilitate a presentation on coding. At that time, Fahima Bacha, a North Bergen High School teacher who is also a professor of mathematics at DeVry University and an Educational Technology Leadership doctoral student at NJCU, will be presented with the Women in Technology Leadership Award. Winners of the display contest will be announced at the conclusion of the luncheon.

Hudson County Community College expressed its gratitude to the partners, sponsors and patrons of this year’s “Girls in Technology” Symposium: The Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Hudson County Freeholder Anthony Romano, Liberty Savings Union, Mona Lisa Pizzeria Ristorante, SILVERMAN and University of Phoenix.

This coming Fall, Hudson County Community College will hold the grand-opening ceremonies for its new six-story, $25.9 million STEM Building on the College’s Journal Square Campus. The 70,070 square-foot structure has been designed to educate and nurture future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians and is being outfitted with the very latest technological innovations and equipment. The building includes lecture halls, classrooms, science labs, biology, microbiology and chemistry labs, a physics and a histology lab, computer labs, conference rooms, and breakout rooms.  There will also be suites of administrative and faculty offices, as well as student lounges and a café and deli.

In addition HCCC will have new STEM academic offerings starting this Fall, including Computer Science A.S. – Cybersecurity Option, Computer Science A.S. – Bioinformatics Option, Construction Management A.A.S., and Biotechnology A.S.  There will be continued offerings in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Computer Technology, Electronics Engineering Technology, Engineering Science, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Science and Mathematics – General and Technical Studies in the new STEM Building and at the HCCC North Hudson Campus in Union City.

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