Recent Final Four Most Outstanding Player Winners and Their NBA Careers
April 4, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Anthony Davis won every possible individual award as the 2011-2012 College Basketball season concluded, including the 2012 Final Four Most Outstanding player, the MVP of the weekend. Unlike most of the guys who have won the award in recent years, Davis should go number one in the draft, the first MOP winner to go numero uno since Danny Manning in 1988. Unless something very extraordinary happens – Davis staying on for another year or not going first.
But the future doesn’t necessarily mean a great NBA career for Davis, who averaged 14.2 point, 10.7 rebounds and 4.7 blocks during his freshman year with Kentucky. Surveying the careers of the last 10 MOP winners, chances are against Davis, despite being a rare talent, becoming a huge success in the NBA.
Juan Dixon, Maryland
Dixon won the ACC’s player of the year award in 2002, eventually leading Maryalnd to a national title in 2002 and their only Final Four appearances (2001-2002). He scored 18 points in the final against Indiana, averaging 25.5 points over the Final Four weekend.
He was the 17th pick in the 2002 NBA draft, beginning his pro career with the Washington Wizards alongside Michael Jordan. He moved on to Portland, Detroit, Toronto and D.C. again before leaving to play in Europe. NBA career numbers – 8.4 points per game in 19.5 minutes. He shot a bad 41.3% from the field in his seven seasons.
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse
Another Oak Hill Academy grad, Anthony spent only one year under Jim Boeheim, leading the Orange to their only tournament championship in 2003. Anthony was huge in the Final Four, scoring 33 points against Texas in the Semi Final and 20 against Kansas in the 81-78 win.
In the NBA, Anthony has been one of the league’s biggest stars over the last 8 years, although a little short in playoff success. He’s 5 time NBA All-Star, currently playing for the New York Knicks and so far, the last real superstar out of the MOP club. He’s averaging 20.6 points and 6 rebounds this season.
Emeka Okafor, Uconn
Image: Source
Okafor player 3 seasons for Jim Calhoun in Uconn, helping the Huskies win their second national title. Okafor averaged 17.6 points and 11.5 rebounds during his Junior year, having an extremely dominant Final Four weekend against Georgia Tech and Duke, averaging 21 points 11 rebounds.
He was the number 2 pick in the 2004 NBA draft behind Dwight Howard, but hasn’t really evolved offensively as most expected him to. He has played for the New Orleans Hornets since 2008 and his numbers in pretty much everything, according to his playing time, have been dropping since the first day.
Sean May, North Carolina
Image: Source
May left the Tar Heels after three years, winning the 2005 Final Four MOP and being a 2004-2005 consensus All-American. He averaged 17.5 points and 10.7 rebounds during his junior year, leading the Tar Heels against Michigan State and Illinois in the final weekend. He was huge in both games, averaging 24 points and 8.5 rebounds.
May was the 13th pick in the 2005 draft, going to Charlotte, same as Okafor. Too many injuries meant May never played more than 37 games during his NBA career, lasting four season so far. He’s currently playing his basketball in Europe for Montegranaro (Italy).
Joakim Noah, Florida
Image: Source
Noah won two national titles with Florida under Billy Donovan, the only titles won by the school in men’s basketball. Noah was very Anthony Davis like in the 2006 Final Four, doing everything. He averaged 14 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5 blocks in the wins over UCLA and George Mason, playing alongside Al Horford and Corey Brewer.
Since entering the NBA (9th pick with the Bulls) Noah has established himself, especially over the last couple of seasons, as one of the best defensive big men in the league averaging double-double numbers over the past three seasons for the title-contending Bulls.
Corey Brewer, Florida
Image: Source
It was Brewer’s turn to shine in 2007 among the same group that won the title in 2006, although I actually think Al Horford should have won the MOP that year after the wins over Ohio State and UCLA. Brewer averaged 16 points over those two games, leaving after his Junior year.
The 7th pick in the NBA draft by the Timberwolves, Brewer has since moved on to Dallas and is playing for the Denver Nuggets this season, averaging 9.3 points in 21 minutes a night. He won the title with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, playing a very minor part.
Mario Chalmers, Kansas
Image: Source
Brandon Rush and Darrell were probably the bigger stars on that Kansas team, but Chalmers got to hit the game tying shot with 2.1 second left on the clock against Memphis. The Jayhawks had to get through the Tar Heels to make reach the final, similar to this season, with Calipari waiting as an opponent. Chalmers scored 18 points against Derrick Rose and the Tigers.
Chalmers was only a 34th overall pick by the Miami Heat, and is currently usually the guy LeBron James vents his anger at after turnovers and other bad moments.
Wayne Ellington, North Carolina
Image: Source
Wayne Ellington actually had a better Sophomore year than in 2008-2009, when the Tar Heels won their second national title under Roy Williams, with Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson leading the team. Ellington was big in the games against Villanova and Michigan State, averaging 19.5 points, while Lawson probably deserved to win the MOP award.
Lawson has been having the better NBA career than Ellington, who was the 28th pick in the 2009 Draft, also going to the Timberwolves. He has averaged 6.5 points per game in his three seasons with the team.
Kyle Singler, Duke
Image: Source
Kyle Singler actually stayed the whole four years, but is the only player on this list who hasn’t played an NBA game. He stayed on for another year after winning the national title with Duke, probably hurting his stocks, as he fell to the 33rd spot, picked by the Pistons. He preferred to play in Spain during the lockout, staying with Real Madrid. He averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds in the wins over Butler and West Virginia.
Kemba Walker, Uconn
It was one UGLY final four the Uconn won in 2010, beating Butler 53-41 after beating Kentucky 56-55. Kemba Walker, a Junior, averaging 23.5 points per game was the least terrible player on the floor in that final four, averaging 17 points in the two wins, while shooting an awful 32.3% from the floor.
He was the 9th overall pick in the 2011 draft, going to the black hole called the Charlotte Bobcats. Walker has been averaging 12 points and 4.2 assists per game while keeping awful field goal shooting numbers – 36.9%.
Article source: http://sportige.com/anthony-davis-final-four-mop-nba-career/
Share and Enjoy
Your Kids’ Careers
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
With tuition alone running about $40,000 a year at universities such as Yale, Vanderbilt, and USC, it’s easy to see why you may be nervous about your kids’ careers. A philosophy major?! How about a more sure-fire job getter such as engineering or computer science?
Not necessarily. Kathleen Peterson and her husband, Mark Peterson, both lawyers, are embracing their older son’s choice to major in history at Stanford and their younger son’s choice to major in comparative literature at Brown.
“Unless you want to go into the sciences or become an engineer, you really should major as an undergraduate in something you love,” says Kathleen, who majored in English herself. “I want them to learn how to think and to write and to be challenged and to hold their own with people who disagree with them. That’s really what you learn in a university, not so much details you’re going to use in a career…You go get your specialized training afterward.”
Kathleen thinks her older one (a travel enthusiast who attends Stanford) will get an MBA to work in the business end of the cruise industry, and her younger one (a pianist and singer who attends Brown) will get a law degree or an MBA to work in the business end of the music industry.
“We talk a lot about, ‘What are you going to do with this?’” says Kathleen. “Don’t think we’re going to support you being a fledgling musician in New York or something like that.” She also advises her kids to “keep nimble,” she says. “My son who wants to go into music management, who’s to say how music is going to be sold in 10 years?”
Kids’ careers 101. Some advice to help you figure out how you can approach your offsprings’ plans (or lack thereof):
Keep an open mind. Listen to your kids’ thoughts about career choices (and everything else), says child psychiatrist Elizabeth Berger, author of Raising Kids with Character. “To be respectful of a child’s feelings does not mean allowing him or her to write on the walls with lipstick or to stick a fork into grandma. Being respectful of a child’s feelings means empathizing with the child’s point of view, even when the parent must step in to preserve safety and common sense.”
Be honest. “Naturally, parents can be honest with their children and share their own point of view,” says Berger. “A parent who is happy with a career in medicine can certainly tell his or her children, ‘I really wish you wanted to be a doctor, like me.’” It’s OK to encourage kids to follow their hearts – but also to share your anxieties about finances, says Berger. “Children are not clay to be pushed into shape by parents, who then ‘let’ them or ‘make’ them into something that the parent has in mind. This is treating the child like an inanimate object, an extension of the parent with no force of life and growth inside.”
Share your wisdom. “What parents might wisely say to children is that the child’s world is going to be very different from the parent’s world, so that the parent readily admits the limitations inherent in giving parental advice,” says Berger. “The parent might share the parent’s own wisdom, so far as the parent has some life-lessons to share: that money is much less important than family, or that money is much more important than family, or whatever the parent’s wisdom du jour might happen to be. The parent can offer to help the child in any realistic way that the child may request. Helping a child who loves animals may mean devising a way for the child to have experiences with animals.”
Be judicious. “A child’s choosing a career or livelihood is rather like a child choosing a life partner,” says Berger. “A parent is surely entitled to speak out if the parent believes the offspring is about to make a terrible error, but most of the parent’s most useful input is indirect and lifelong and not direct coaching or teaching or preaching…The child’s judgment is strong because the parent has been there as a supportive and empathic resource throughout the child’s life. This growth process, rooted in everyday interactions, is what prepares the child for making wise choices for himself or herself.”
Know what you can do best. “The role of the parent is not so much to give information (which the child can get everywhere else) but to give those things that the child cannot get anywhere else: a commitment to the child’s best interest, wherever that may lead,” says Berger.
Help your kids see many options. “Expose [younger children] to all sorts of things so they think more broadly about the possibilities,” says Nashua, N.H., psychologist Carl Hindy, co-author of If This Is Love, Why Do I Feel So Insecure? He suggests an experiment: Give your kids three minutes to write down as many jobs and careers as they can think of. “Which comes first to mind?” he says. “Stereotypes, sex roles evident?”
Keep let-down feelings to yourself. “I would say not to share your disappointment, unless you’ve thought it through and can share what it is, and something positive will come from it,” says Hindy.
Think about why you don’t like a career choice. “Maybe you feel disappointed that your child isn’t following in your footsteps because you construe it to mean that your child doesn’t respect what you do, doesn’t value what you do, or doesn’t appreciate what you do,” says Hindy. “And maybe you over-analyze it, based on your own personality and needs to further think that your child doesn’t appreciate other things you’ve done, other sacrifices you’ve made for your child. As so often is the case in these parenting issues, you need to understand what is you and what is your child.”
See the silver lining. “Maybe you need to reframe the fact that your child isn’t following in your footsteps,” says Hindy. “Maybe you’ve raised an independent child who has the self-confidence to try something new, has the desire to follow her own dreams, and is able to take charge of her own life in ways that you only could have dreamed about when you were her age back in 1972. Be proud and happy for your child. You’ve done well.”
Consider more than salary. “I talk with my kids about career, but I really don’t talk about it in monetary terms,” says Hindy. “I guess it’s already factored into the equation that they, of course, need to make a living. So my focus is more in what interests them, what they can imagine doing for work that fits their personalities and their passions. I tend to favor and encourage career paths that allow for variety, change and growth across the years of your career, where there will be new directions and opportunities.”
Trust your child’s judgment. “I want to choose my own career,” says my 15-year-old. “Sometimes people know what they think you should do, depending on what it seems you’re good at. But they don’t know what you feel. Maybe your kid gets higher grades in math and science but enjoys English more. They should do what they enjoy.”
Don’t rush it. “As far as careers, I think people worry about that too early,” says my 15-year-old. When you haven’t even taken college-level classes in a subject, how do you know that’s what you’re going to like? You don’t have to start planning 10 years in advance. Ten years in advance you should just be doing your best in all your subjects and keeping your options open.”
For more stories about career choices, read:
For more stories about college, read:
Will Your Kids Go To School with Any of These Famous College Students?
Article source: http://family.lifegoesstrong.com/article/your-kids-careers
Share and Enjoy
Notre Dame’s seniors hope to end careers with a national title
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
DENVER — They are about to close a window at Notre Dame that has kept the women’s program comfortable — and competitive — for the last three years.
In athletics, windows are defined as opportunities. They are usually dispersed in two- or three-year increments, there to inspire a team to pursue championships. They open when great players come, close when they leave.
And after Tuesday night’s NCAA championship game between Notre Dame and Baylor at the Pepsi Center, an era ends for veterans Natalie Novolsel, Devereaux Peters and Brittany Mallory.
Win or lose, their careers will be over and the Irish will start fresh. One window closes, another opens.
“I would love them to go out as national champions,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said Monday. “There is such a huge difference between losing the last game and winning it. But for this group, it has been special (at Notre Dame) for as long as they’ve been here. And I’ve treasured every moment of this year and will be sad to see them go.”
The Irish (35-3) have already had a great season, one following a year that ended with a loss to Texas AM in the national championship game.
They defeated Big East rival Connecticut three out of four times, including Sunday’s semifinal. They have an All-American guard in Skylar Diggins. And they have the chemistry, defensive discipline, camaraderie and toughness stoked by their upperclassmen, including two fifth-year seniors, Peters and Mallory.
But what they don’t have, what Notre Dame hasn’t had since 2001, is a national championship. And time is running out.
“From the time we held our first practice after that loss (to AM), we’ve been going really hard,” said Mallory, who made two 3-pointers in overtime to help drop Connecticut. “And it soon became our motivation.”
Awaiting the Irish in the finale are the Bears (39-0), the nation’s lone unbeaten team. If they win Tuesday, they will be the NCAA’s first 40-0 team.
On Nov. 20 in Waco, Texas, Baylor gave Notre Dame its worst beating of the year, 94-81. Notre Dame did not lose again until Feb. 12 at home to West Virginia.
The Irish are a changed team. But they can’t change nature. And that means there is nothing they can do to alter the physical mismatch presented by Baylor’s 6-foot-8 junior center Brittney Griner.
Griner, the likely national player of the year, has blocked 201 shots (Notre Dame’s team has 166), averages 23.2 points and shoots 60.7 percent from the field, 80.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Griner is coming back next season so Baylor will have another chance at a championship (it last won in 2005). There are no such guarantees for Notre Dame.
“We didn’t talk about it too much until the Big East (tournament) started,” Mallory said. “We didn’t want our last game to be anything other than the national championship game.”
jaltavilla@tribune.com
Article source: http://www.fox43.com/sports/ct-spt-0403-women-ncaa-final-advance--20120403,0,143645.story
Share and Enjoy
Top 10 Athletes Who Resurrected Their Careers: A Fan’s Choice
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
People tend to love a story about someone who overcomes great adversity to achieve success. In this article, we look at previously successful athletes who, after being given up for dead athletically, resurrected their careers.
These are my top 10 favorites:
10. Chris Weinke, Baseball/Football: A multi-sport star in high school, Weinke was a second-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990. After a failed baseball career, he won the starting quarterback job at Florida State University, as a 25-year-old, in 1997. He led the Seminoles to a national championship in 1999, and in 2000 became the oldest Heisman Trophy winner of all time.
9. Mario Lemieux, Hockey: Following two back surgeries and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (diagnosed in 1993), Lemieux retired in 1997. He returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins three years later and led the NHL in points per game from the time of his return until his final retirement in 2006.
8. Lance Armstrong, Cycling: In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, as well as tumors on his brain, and given a 50/50 chance to survive. He came back to win seven consecutive Tour De Frances from 1999 to 2005.
7. George Foreman, Boxing: Foreman won the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. After winning the world heavyweight championship in 1973, he lost the belt a year later to Muhammad Ali. George Foreman’s comeback came 20 years later, when he knocked out Michael Moorer to become boxing’s oldest champion.
6. Monica Seles, Tennis: Monica Seles dominated women’s tennis in the early 1990s, before being literally stabbed in the back by a fan on the court in 1993. A career winner of nine grand slam titles, Seles returned to professional tennis in 1995 and went on to win the 1996 Australian Open.
5. Tommy John, Baseball: Conventional wisdom said John’s pitching career was over when he injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his arm in 1974. However, after a radical surgery was performed (now known as Tommy John surgery), he returned in 1976 to win 163 more games, including three 20-win seasons, in a major league career that lasted until 1989.
4. Tony Conigliaro, Baseball: In 1967, Tony Conigliaro was hit in the face with a pitch, suffering facial fractures and damage to his left eye. Anyone who saw this, in person or on television, would have been convinced he would never play again. He returned to the Boston Red Sox two years later to hit 20 home runs and drive in 81 runs in the 1969 season.
3. Bethany Hamilton, Surfing: Halloween morning of 2003, up-and-coming surfer Bethany Hamilton had her left arm bit off by a shark just below the shoulder. She came back to win numerous competitions and, as of March 31, 2012, continues to compete in the Association of Surfing Professionals.
2. Nikki Lauda, Auto Racing: In the 1976 German Grand Prix, Nikki Lauda was trapped in his Ferrari when it burst into flames. Amazingly, he survived but suffered severe burns to his head, damaged lungs, and slipped into a coma. Even more amazingly, he returned just two races later and finished fourth in the Italian Gran Prix, and in the following year won the world championship
1. Ben Hogan, Golf: Hogan suffered fractures to his pelvis, collar bone and ankle, a chipped rib, and several blood clots in an automobile accident in 1949. Doctors considered him lucky to be alive, and warned he may never walk again. Sixteen months later Ben Hogan won the 1950 U.S. Open, and another five major championships after that.
Harold Andrews has been a life-long fan of sports and the human achievement.
Sources:
newsday.com
biography.com
cnn.com
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-11180610
Share and Enjoy
Top 10 Athletes Who Resurrected Their Careers: A Fan's Choice
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
People tend to love a story about someone who overcomes great adversity to achieve success. In this article, we look at previously successful athletes who, after being given up for dead athletically, resurrected their careers.
These are my top 10 favorites:
10. Chris Weinke, Baseball/Football: A multi-sport star in high school, Weinke was a second-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990. After a failed baseball career, he won the starting quarterback job at Florida State University, as a 25-year-old, in 1997. He led the Seminoles to a national championship in 1999, and in 2000 became the oldest Heisman Trophy winner of all time.
9. Mario Lemieux, Hockey: Following two back surgeries and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (diagnosed in 1993), Lemieux retired in 1997. He returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins three years later and led the NHL in points per game from the time of his return until his final retirement in 2006.
8. Lance Armstrong, Cycling: In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, as well as tumors on his brain, and given a 50/50 chance to survive. He came back to win seven consecutive Tour De Frances from 1999 to 2005.
7. George Foreman, Boxing: Foreman won the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. After winning the world heavyweight championship in 1973, he lost the belt a year later to Muhammad Ali. George Foreman’s comeback came 20 years later, when he knocked out Michael Moorer to become boxing’s oldest champion.
6. Monica Seles, Tennis:
Monica Seles dominated women’s tennis in the early 1990s, before being literally stabbed in the back by a fan on the court in 1993. A career winner of nine grand slam titles, Seles returned to professional tennis in 1995 and went on to win the 1996 Australian Open.
5. Tommy John, Baseball: Conventional wisdom said John’s pitching career was over when he injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his arm in 1974. However, after a radical surgery was performed (now known as Tommy John surgery), he returned in 1976 to win 163 more games, including three 20-win seasons, in a major league career that lasted until 1989.
4. Tony Conigliaro, Baseball: In 1967, Tony Conigliaro was hit in the face with a pitch, suffering facial fractures and damage to his left eye. Anyone who saw this, in person or on television, would have been convinced he would never play again. He returned to the Boston Red Sox two years later to hit 20 home runs and drive in 81 runs in the 1969 season.
3. Bethany Hamilton, Surfing: Halloween morning of 2003, up-and-coming surfer Bethany Hamilton had her left arm bit off by a shark just below the shoulder. She came back to win numerous competitions and, as of March 31, 2012, continues to compete in the Association of Surfing Professionals.
2. Nikki Lauda, Auto Racing: In the 1976 German Grand Prix, Nikki Lauda was trapped in his Ferrari when it burst into flames. Amazingly, he survived but suffered severe burns to his head, damaged lungs, and slipped into a coma. Even more amazingly, he returned just two races later and finished fourth in the Italian Gran Prix, and in the following year won the world championship
1. Ben Hogan, Golf: Hogan suffered fractures to his pelvis, collar bone and ankle, a chipped rib, and several blood clots in an automobile accident in 1949. Doctors considered him lucky to be alive, and warned he may never walk again. Sixteen months later Ben Hogan won the 1950 U.S. Open, and another five major championships after that.
Harold Andrews has been a life-long fan of sports and the human achievement.
newsday.com
biography.com
cnn.com
Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/top-10-athletes-resurrected-careers-fans-choice-204400327--spt.html
Share and Enjoy
Teens interested in law enforcement careers are encouraged to apply for Youth …
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
PIERRE, S.D. — Students interested in law enforcement careers are invited to apply to participate in the Highway Patrol’s Youth Trooper Academy at the South Dakota Law Enforcement Training Center in Pierre this summer.
The Highway Patrol and the American Legion of South Dakota are sponsoring the June 25-29 academy.
It is open to students who are 16 or 17 and entering their senior year of high school. Each student must be in good academic standing and have a valid driver’s license. The application deadline is April 20.
Space is limited to 16 students from across the state. The students are sponsored by their local American Legion Post to attend the academy free of charge.
____
Online: http://www.sdlegion.org/trooperinfo.htm
Article source: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/98baa032bd91416d826e0ef1d7be8192/SD--Youth-Training-Academy/
Share and Enjoy
Students Get Unique Opportunities At Discovering Careers Expo
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Students in Santa Clarita Valley junior high schools are probably thinking about what they want to do after high school…and ultimately when they grow up.
Parents can help nurture those dreams by bringing them to the fifth annual Discovering Careers Expo from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at College of the Canyons. There, students will be able to talk with people from a variety of career areas and get some hands-on experience to explore different jobs.
Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox
Presenters confirmed include Jet Propulsion Laboratory, film and TV costumer Karen Hudson, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, COC’s Welding Technology program, Los Angeles Mission College Forensics, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Hart ROP Interior Design instructor Kenneth Dean and VIA Promotions, Inc.
Discovering Careers is a free career exploration fair for middle school students, their siblings, and their parents will also feature interactive presentations and demonstrations by local industry professionals. There will be activities and the priceless opportunity to explore, at a young age, what people really do beyond school. Everything will be provided. You just have to get there.
Career professionals and community leaders interested in participating may contact Adriana Estrada at 661.362.3653,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Share and Enjoy
Why Women Don’t Pursue Physics Careers
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Talking to girls about the lack of females in physics fields may be the best way to nudge them in that direction, research suggests.
CREDIT: Monkey Business Images | Shutterstock
ATLANTA — Many of the strategies teachers have been using to encourage girls to pursue careers in physics aren’t working, according to new research.
A new study examined the effectiveness of five ways high-school science teachers have tried to nudge female students toward physics careers, and found that four of them had no effect. Only one — an actual discussion in class about women’s underrepresentation in physics — proved successful, researchers reported Monday (April 2) here at the April 2012 meeting of the American Physics Society.
Women receive only about 19 percent of the U.S. physics doctorate degrees awarded every year, and make up an even smaller proportion of all physics faculty members.
In an effort to understand how to increase the representation of women, Zahra Hazari, a professor of engineering and science education at Clemson University in South Carolina, decided to test popular hypotheses about what works.
‘;
}
s += ”
if (google_ads[0].bidtype == “CPC”) {
google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length;
}
document.write(s);
return;
}
google_ad_client = ‘pub-1894578950532504′;
google_ad_output = ‘js’;
google_max_num_ads = ’3′;
google_ad_type = ‘text_html’;
google_feedback = ‘on’;
google_skip = google_adnum;
“There’s a general disempowerment in physics,” Hazari said during a presentation of her findings. “Students perceive physics to be difficult. They have perceptions of it being close-ended. They perceive it as being unpleasant, and they perceive it to be masculine. It probably affects the level of gender participation.” [5 Myths About Girls, Math and Science]
Discussing gender
Hazari and her colleagues usedsurveys collected from 7,505 students at 40 colleges and universities around the country as part of the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project. The scientists examined five possible factors, including whether girls took physics in single-sex classes, whether they had a female physics teacher, whether female scientist guest speakers visited their physics classes, and whether their classes included discussions of the work of female scientists or discussions of women’s underrepresentation in physics.
“There are lots of causes and hypothesized solutions for these causes that are prevalent in our mythology,” Hazari said. “Basically our mythology around what helps girls is not necessarily true, and we have to be a little bit smarter finding evidence. The one factor we did find was that explicitly discussing underrepresentation had a significant positive effect on females’ choice of a physical science career.”
Hazai said it wasn’t clear why that one strategy proved to be effective, but she guessed that it might be because such a conversation made the issue personal for girls.
“Showing them a picture of somebody doesn’t make them want to do it themselves,” Hazari said. “But this process of discussing underrepresentation may prompt female students to reassess their own biases, thereby influencing a change. It’s really about having more meaningful discussions with them about these issues.”
Salary gap
One of Hazari’s colleagues at Clemson University, Geoff Potvin, presented related research on physics careers, which found that for men, completing their doctoral degrees more quickly correlated with higher salaries. No such relationship existed for women physicists, who generally make less money than male physicists.
The researchers have no data to explain the discrepancy, and Potvin said it was an open question.
“What I think happens, is men who finish fast believe [in] themselves, and get told and get viewed as being hotshots,” Potvin said. “And so then potential employers get excited, the advisers of those students get excited and think, ‘Well, I’ve got this hotshot, I’m going to find him the best job I can.’ And all that just doesn’t happen for women. That’s my feeling.”
Ultimately, he said the lack of women in physics has consequences both for the individuals, and for society.
“From the point of view of social good, I think that it’s a real missed opportunity to broaden and diversify the idea pool in science,” Potvin told LiveScience.”If you’re systematically missing a group of people, then you’re not getting their voices and their ideas. I strongly feel it weakens the quality of science.”
The underrepresentation issue also extends to race, he added, saying that African American, Hispanic and Native American students represent only about 10 percent of people receiving physics bachelor’s degrees, and only about 6 percent of physics Ph.D.s.
“There’s a systematic loss of people who are a growing fraction of the U.S. population, and that has got to translate, in ways that are difficult to measure, into fewer ideas and ultimately less science,” Potvin said.
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
Article source: http://www.livescience.com/19439-women-physics-representation.html
Share and Enjoy
Why aren’t there more women in science and math careers?
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
If the gender gap has narrowed and girls outperform boys in math and science courses, why are females still underrepresented in science and math programs and careers?
Karen Panetta, founder of Nerd Girls and director of the Simulation Research Lab at Tufts University, will join The Daily Circuit Tuesday to talk about women in science, technology, engineering and math careers.
During her 2011 Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Award for Social Impact acceptance speech, Panetta told a story about taking a career assessment test in high school.
“My best friend, who happened to be a male, scored slightly lower than I did in math and science but we fully expected our career assessment reports would be identical,” she said. “His highest scoring profession came out to be a university or college professor. My first career ranking came out to be a schoolteacher… Second on my friend’s list was an engineer. Second on my list was to sell cosmetics. His last career choice was to be a politician. Mine said I could be a cook.”
Panetta’s Nerd Girls organization encourages girls to enter science and technology fields typically dominated by males.
Lana Flakes, director of membership for the Society of Women Engineers, will also join the discussion.
VIDEO: Karen Panetta award acceptance speech
<!– Listen to call-in show audio –>
Article source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/04/03/daily-circuit-girls-science-careers/
Share and Enjoy
Vancouver Giants playoff run ends minor careers for Manning
April 3, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
SPOKANE — Neil Manning was being lauded for longevity with the Vancouver Giants. And then he was finished.
The Giants’ campaign came to an sudden stop here Sunday, as they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Spokane Chiefs to lose the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference quarterfinal in six games.
Vancouver had looked like contenders to go on a lengthy run at points this year, including when they won the opening two of the set against the Chiefs. Things unravelled quickly, and they lost four straight.
Sunday’s tilt marked the final junior game for Manning, 20, a thinking-man’s defenceman originally from Nanaimo who had become Vancouver’s all-time leader in regular season games played this season. The only Giant to suit up for five full seasons under coach Don Hay, Manning winds up with 310 regular season games, where he put up 45 goals and 183 points, along with 38 playoff encounters, where he had three goals and 16 points.
He was the last on-ice tie to the magical 2007 Memorial Cup season. He played three regular season and one playoff game that year as a 15-year-old call-up.
“It’s sad to see Neil Manning end his career,” Hay said after Sunday’s tilt. “I told him he had a lot of good things to remember. He’s a very valuable member of the Vancouver Giants organization.”
The contest also likely marked the end of Brendan Gallagher’s career with Vancouver. The right winger has a contract with the Montreal Canadiens and could skip his overage season next to play in their farm system at the very least. He was a late cut from the big club already this fall.
Gallagher finished this year as Vancouver’s all-time leader in goals (136) and points (280).
“I just want everyone to know how grateful I am to the Vancouver Giants organization for treating me the way they did,” said Gallagher, who calls Delta home. “They gave me every opportunity I needed to get better every day. I can’t thank them enough. I can’t thank my teammates enough. I can’t thank the Giants fans enough.”
Also definitely not returning to the Giants are goaltender Adam Morrison and left winger Austin Fyten, who, like Manning, just completed their 20-year-old eligibility. Both were picked up in deals this season, Morrison coming over in October in a trade with the Saskatoon Blades and Fyten getting snapped up at the Jan. 10 trade deadline off from waivers from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Centre Jordan Martinook, 19, is a question mark to be back after his breakout 40-goal regular season. He’s bound to get selected in the NHL draft; Giants general manager Scott Bonner says it will depend on that team’s philosophy on whether he skips his overage season and plays in the minors or he returns to the Giants.
If he doesn’t return, that will leave the brunt of the scoring load to left wingers Marek Tvrdon and Cain Franson, who will both be 19 year olds next season. Tvrdon, a Slovak, had 31 goals this season while Franson was one of the most improved players in the league, piling up 27 goals after scoring just three in 2010-11 with Vancouver.
If Martinook is back, he’ll have one of the three overage spots. Defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen will have another, and likely the captain’s C. Blueliner Tyler Vanscourt and forward Taylor Makin could be in the mix as 20-year-olds, or the team might go a different route.
With talk of the Giants making a bid for the 2016 Memorial Cup host, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go younger overall and start building for that. Scouts in the organization have been raving about their bantam draft class from last spring since the preseason.
One of the players from that group is goaltender Payton Lee, 15. Vancouver went young with Morrison’s back-up this year, opting for Jackson Whistle, 16. It would be unusual to go with two young goalies, and Bonner has been trying to ink Matt Tomkins 17, a ballyhooed netminder from the Alberta Junior A league.
Article source: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Vancouver+Giants+playoff+ends+minor+careers+Manning/6399086/story.html