WISE Conference coverage features GRS Senior

The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at Iowa State University have hosted the Road Less Traveled conference for more than 30 years. The conference pushes to get more girls in Iowa involved in STEM-related classes and eventually into the careers of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Senior in Biological Systems Engineering and Global Resource Systems Rachael Barnes said her interest in engineering was sparked when she attended the conference as an eighth grader.

“I remember thinking about all these aspects of STEM that I had never considered before,” Barnes said. “I had never thought ‘oh, an engineer planned that’ or ‘oh, different STEM majors are doing those activities in their everyday life,’ and so it started just making big connections about how you can use a STEM degree to really improve and change the world.”

Read more about the conference: Iowa State Conference Breaks Barriers for Girls in STEM