Julie Kuhlman wants to expand elementary girls’ opportunities to play with science.

Kuhlman, an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, helps fourth- and fifth-grade girls experience the fun of science at an after-school outreach program at Edwards Elementary School in Ames.

"I thought the kids just needed to do something fun," she said.

Kuhlman, along with two Edwards teachers and additional school and community volunteers, find experiments for the kids to do — anything that feels “wow-worthy.” Recently, the girls extracted DNA from bananas.

"It's almost exclusively hands on," Kuhlman said.

Kuhlman was part of an after-school science program for second- through sixth-graders as a post-doctoral researcher in New York City. Wanting to do something similar here, she approached Mark Royer, who was already facilitating an after school science club for girls at Sawyer Elementary School.

Read College of LAS News article.