I just heard from a colleague at the Claremont Colleges consortium, Rachel Levy, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. She has begun a project she'd like to encourage us to participate in. After hearing too many people "say 'how would you explain that to your grandmother?' when they probably mean something like 'How would you explain the idea in a clear, compelling way so that people without a technical background can understand you?'" she decided to collect and publicize grandmothers who were in STEM fields. It's going well, collecting photos and stories of grandmothers who achieved amazing things in these technical fields, making a nonsense of the implication that if your grandmother could understand something, it had no challenging geeky side at all. Visit Rachel's blog here to see the grandmothers she has already collected. If you have STEM grandmas or know someone who did, post and spread the word!
Here is a bit of the final advertisement for more STEM grandmothers on her blog: "Wanted: grandmothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics - related fields). Send name+pic+involvement in STEM. For public awareness project. More the merrier. Thanks! Rachel Levy, Harvey Mudd College Mathematics, Email: levy@hmc.edu, Twitter: @mathcirque #ggstem Grandma got STEM!"

Enjoy reading these and do contribute if you have grandmas with STEM experience!

cheers,

Laura