Introduce a Girl to Engineering with Jewelbots!

Do you have a daughter or granddaughter between the ages of 8 and 18? If so, this week provides an excellent opportunity to nurture her passion for creativity and problem-solving. February 25th is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, a holiday designed to spark the imaginations of tech-savvy girls all over the world.

Computer science and engineering have become hugely male-dominated industries, which is sad news when you consider all the fantastic female talent and skill we may be missing out on. Studies have shown that diverse teams create better solutions -- because it is only by working together that everyone's ideas and points of view can be heard!

For example, take a look at Margaret Hamilton. As a computer scientist and systems engineer, she did incredibly important work for NASA during the Apollo missions. In fact, she was the lead software engineer for Project Apollo. Her team's work saved the Apollo 11 mission when the Lunar lander's computer became overloaded. Because of the computer's robust design and architecture, it was able to prioritize the most important tasks and prevent disaster.

Today, computer-related fields are still one of the fastest-growing job sectors in our economy, and workers in these fields can be highly compensated. If we encourage our daughters and granddaughters to go after their dreams, no matter what they are, we'll naturally see even more bright women paving their way through the tech industry.

Introducing... Jewelbots!

Wondering how to get your girl interested in engineering? We found an awesome product that could be just the thing! It's called Jewelbots, and it offers a fun way for girls to learn how to code.

A Jewelbot is a programmable bracelet that can be made to do all sorts of things. It's equipped with 4 LED lights that can be triggered to react to other Jewelbots nearby or to go off at certain times (like an alarm). There's also a vibrating mechanism that can alert the wearer to new messages received through the Jewelbots app.

How does she code the bracelet? Easy: by hooking it up to a computer with the included USB cord. Jewelbots use free Arduino software that empowers kids to program their bracelets to do what they want -- plus, they can share their code with other users!

We think Jewelbots are an excellent example of designing for the greater good. Girls who explore the world of engineering today could become the great innovators of tomorrow! If you'd like to learn more about Jewelbots, how they work and where to get one, please visit their official website at www.jewelbots.com. Happy coding!