Simran Kulkarni
About Simran
Simran Kulkarni is currently a sophomore from Mechanicsburg, PA, and she attends Cumberland Valley High School. She is extremely passionate about increasing the number of girls involved in STEM. She joined her first robotics team when she was ten and since then has been in love with all aspects of STEM. She also noticed a lack of female representation in activities heavily based on science, technology, engineering, and math. She started a mission to increase female participation in STEM-based activities in and around her community. Simran participates with the FIRST organization, is part of a robotics team in her area, and is also part of her school’s Science Olympiad team. She is also passionate about dance and has been dancing since the age of six. She also loves cooking, reading, teaching, and music. |
Discussion ForumAbout Simran's Project This year, Simran was selected as an EngineerGirl Ambassador by the National Academy of Engineering. As a part of the program, she is starting a club for underprivileged girls in her community. This club will focus on all areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This club will focus and shed light on major engineering fields such as robotic engineering, chemical engineering, and computer engineering because these are fields where there is a lack of female representation. At each meeting, she will teach a lesson on a STEM concept or a specific career in the STEM field. After teaching students about the new concept, they will use the skills acquired in a STEM-based activity. The club includes girls from third through seventh grade. The club will have other strong young women as guest speakers to provide the girls with role models. As a part of her project, Simran will be working with STEM leaders and Ambassadors around the country as well to provide the best experience possible for the club. Simran's hopes for the project are to help provide more girls with the resources they need to succeed in the STEM field. Although many people try to argue that girls do have the opportunity to pursue careers in STEM, they tend to forget that there is still a strong stigma around girls in STEM, and it is still socially normal for STEM to be male-dominated. When she was younger, Simran would feel outcasted while participating in STEM activities because of the lack of female representation. She hopes that other girls do not go through the same negative experiences that she went through, and she hopes that she can be a part of the solution. |