Conference for teen-age STEM students draws over 800 attendees

Over 800 promising young scientists—middle- and high-school students with a proficiency in STEM subjects—gathered across three venues on Princeton University’s campus last week to hear one powerful message: you can pivot your career at any point.

From the keynote address at Richardson Auditorium to the career panel in McDonnell Hall to hands-on exhibits at Princeton Chemistry, the conference delivered guidance for the next generation that stressed a passion for work and the ability to welcome unexpected opportunities.

“When I was young, I would have given you a definite answer about what I wanted to do, and every week it would have been a different one. I didn’t even like physics then,” said keynote speaker Inès Montaño, a theoretical condensed matter physicist and associate professor at Northern Arizona University. “So don’t overthink your choices. Don’t be afraid to change your path. Try something different, because you just don’t know. It doesn’t always have to be love at first sight.”

The conference opened to a standing-room-only audience at Richardson Auditorium.

First on the day’s schedule: the Women in Engineering (WiE) Math and Science Award for high-school juniors. That award went to Cameron Coates, of Gill St. Bernard’s School; Zoei Leary, of STEMCivics High School; Daira Moran, of Somerville High School; Mariah Montano, of STEMCivics High School; Grace Morales, of Steinert High School East; and Madison Szczepanski, of Steinert High School East. Each awardee received a certificate and a year of mentorship and networking with engineers and other STEM professionals.

Following several quick speeches from conference organizers—one of whom told the audience, “Knowledge is going to be your superpower”—Montaño took the stage for her keynote address.

Stirring conference opener

One of the most striking qualities of the program was the robust level of science offered to attendees, whose ages ranged from 14 to 18. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident than when Montaño opened her speech with the words: “I want to talk about quantum,” and then did. Her half-hour lecture on quantum computing offered an object lesson in relatable science, along with a challenge to her young listeners.

“We are at Quantum 2.0, the next technological revolution,” she said. “The changes underway now are going to need the people in this room. We want you to be excited about quantum because there are going to be a lot of careers connected to it. Quantum will change our lives in ways we don’t even anticipate yet. That’s why it’s important that people at least know something about it. Knowledge is power.”

After her talk, Montaño participated in a live podcast, Science News Periodically, taped from stage and hosted by two East Brunswick High School students who attended the conference last year and were inspired to start their own program.

Afterwards, when a student from Lawrenceville Middle School named Elaine was asked about her favorite part of the day, she answered: “Quantum physics, obviously. That talk was great. I’ve always liked the STEM club at our school, because why not? I’m pretty good at it but never considered it for a career. But now I might.”

Her classmate, whose name was Evie, said: “It’s so interesting to hear about how you can overcome setbacks and learn to do what you love.”

Panelists and “Mystery Balloons”

The conference also featured a career panel with four accomplished scientists. Their responses to a sophisticated range of questions drove home again and again the idea of self-advocacy and the need to pick up skills along the way.

“Learn the skills now. Close your eyes and try everything,” said Mia Nixon, who does volunteer work with AI for Girls Enterprise. “Please learn Excel. Take that class a lot more seriously, trust me. Try and explore as much as you can. If I could go back in time, I would explore a lot more.”

Amelia Melendez, a student STEM ambassador intern at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory who received her B.A. in mathematics at Princeton, responded to a question about how to study by exhorting students to dig deeper.

“It’s not just about being able to solve a problem, but understanding how they created it,” said Melendez. “Learning the history of the math is going to help you out a lot. So, okay, I can solve the equation, but can I create it? How did they create it? How did they have those thoughts? Those people are just like us. They love what they do. Go back in time and ask yourself, how did they get their ideas?”

Pavithra Lakshminarayan, who plans STEM workforce strategies for the New Jersey Department of Labor, told students not to be afraid to ask direct questions, using the field of mathematics as an example.

“A lot of times people will say, this is something you may not use. So just give yourself examples: hey, how do you use this in your day-to-day life? What kind of math do you use in work? You’re a chef? Awesome – what kind of math do you use? Just start asking people. You will find that people in their different professions use math constantly.”

Shortly after the panel discussion wrapped, students cycled into Princeton Chemistry’s Frick Laboratory for exhibits and a chemistry demonstration by the department’s Angela Miller. One student, entering the auditorium and spying the experiments set up on the auditorium bench, was heard to ask: “Is that a vacuum chamber?”

Miller’s program was grounded in the scientific method and the steps used to test hypotheses. She has a roster of demonstrations for general chemistry classes and for outreach events, including the Mystery Balloon demo. Miller set up three balloons, one filled with helium, one with hydrogen, and one with a mix of hydrogen and oxygen, and set each alight, asking the crowd to make predictions about outcomes.

“This crowd was really good,” Miller said. “They know a lot about what’s going on already. They have really good hypotheses and guesses.”

Upstairs, Taylor Commons was packed with over two dozen exhibitors: TechnoVerse, the Columbia Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton Engineering, Princeton Satellite, and Lockheed Martin, among many others offering an afternoon of hands-on science.

The supportive spirit of the conference was best summarized by Montaño herself during the conference opening. During her keynote, she looked out across the audience and closed with an offer of assistance: “If this research is something you’re interested in,” she said, “email me.”