Hundreds of middle and high school girls will take over the UA on Saturday for a conference dedicated to science and math.

The Expanding Your Horizons Conference, hosted by Women in Science and Engineering, is dedicated to teaching girls about science, math, engineering and how college can be a part of their lives, said Carly Thomsen, WISE events coordinator.

“”It’s a conference dedicated to getting middle school and high school girls excited about areas where females are traditionally underrepresented, and specifically in this case the fields of science, engineering, technology and math,”” Thomsen said.

Two hundred and fifteen girls signed up to attend the conference, up from around 100 who attended last year, she said. About 135 UA professors and students will also participate in the 27th annual conference.

Around 75 UA students will mentor the girls, speak about their careers and conduct workshops during the conference, she said.

“”The students that usually volunteer are largely science, engineering, technology and math students so they’re getting a chance to share with young students their passion and that’s always a fun thing,”” Thomsen said.

Many of the volunteers have experienced discrimination or sexism because of their field of study and they want to work to help stop the bias, she said.

“”This is a way for them to envision a different type of world, where the next group … that would be a part of these fields wouldn’t have to experience (sexism or discrimination),”” Thomsen said.

In the morning, a keynote speaker will talk to the girls about the ways technology impacts education in an attempt to inspire the girls to keep college as a life goal, Thomsen said.

The girls will attend two workshops held by UA professors and students, Thomsen said. Some of the workshops include topics like DNA forensics, earthquakes, marine biology, and astronomy.

All of the workshops are aimed at getting girls excited about fields of study they wouldn’t normally be encouraged to pursue, she said.

“”Institutionalized sexism still exists and women continue to face discrimination within specific fields and also in our general world,”” Thomsen said. “”There’s no way we’re going to reverse the trends of having under representations of women and people of color and other minorities in certain fields if we don’t start with youth.””

Holly Rosen, a molecular and cellular biology freshman, said she hopes the girls will realize they can enter a scientific field, a normally male-dominated world.

“”In the afternoon we have career panels which show them even more examples of actual successful females in several fields,”” said Rosen, a WISE intern.

She said the women who help put on the conference serve as positive role models for the girls who attend.

It cost $10 for the girls to attend and is sponsored in part by Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, which allows the girls to attend “”largely free of charge,”” Thomsen said.

Exposing these girls to a wide variety of scientific activities and getting them excited about it is the main goal of the conference, she said.