When EXPLO and Wheaton College began to consider building a new Focus program for young women interested in STEM research and careers, one thing was for sure:
“The facilities are just outstanding,” says EXPLO Executive Director and President Moira Kelly. “The Mars Science and Technology Center is truly something that you would find only at a top-tier research university. But here it is, in our own backyard at Wheaton College.”
Opened in September 2011, the Mars Center for Science and Technology will become the summer home to Bioengineering for Girls, a transdisciplinary program in bioengineering and medicine for young women entering grades 9 through 11. For two weeks, the students will explore emerging and innovative careers on the leading edge of science, visit industry-leading labs and meet with professionals in the Boston area, as well as gain hands-on experience under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Biology Laura Ekstrom.
The Center was designed to mirror the future of science — collaborative, transdisciplinary, and creative. It features glass partitions dividing the Center’s 23 research labs and 12 teaching labs (you’ll find no auditorium-style lecture halls here), multiuse labs to encourage cross-disciplinary study, group study spaces, and a café. Among its remarkable features are:
The Mars Center is the homebase for students enrolled in the Bioengineering for Girls program — an accessible and unrivaled launchpad as they undertake hands-on research and travel to labs and simulation centers in Boston and surrounding areas (a major innovation hub for biomedical and bioengineering research and development within arm's reach of Wheaton’s campus in Norton, Massachusetts).