Framingham State University‘s Moon Landing in Context series will host a presentation at its McCarthy Center Forum on March 28, 7-8:30PM: Space Hero or Nazi Villain? The Life of Wernher von Braun. The speaker will be Dr. Michael Neufeld of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The events is free, and registration is required.

Enrollment is now open for fall computer-science classes at CSRecititations in Natick (4 Mechanic Street, Suite 102). Courses include Scratch, Python, JavaScript, HTML, and new for high-school students this fall: Data Science and Statistics Using SAS Studio. Also new are competition classes to help prepare for Math Kangaroo, Continental Mathematics League, and American Computer Science League competitions.

All admission fees at Worcester’s EcoTarium are half-price in March. Exhibits include Animal Corner, The Arctic Next Door: Mount Washington, and City Science: The Science You Live.

MassBay Community College in Wellesley will offer free, one-week STEM Sampler Workshops this summer for eligible high-school students to explore one of the following, July 15-19, 9AM-3PM:

• Science (Biotechnology Lab Work)
• Technology (Robotics and Web Design)
• Engineering (Engineering Design)
• Math (interactive, contextualized in STEM)

Eligible students are those who are eligible for free or reduced lunch, or will be the first in their family to attend college, or are under-represented in college admissions. Preference will be given to juniors and seniors. Here’s the registration form and application. For more information or to register, call 781-239-2582 or email STEMStarter@massbay.edu.

MIT’s Spring HSSP is a six-week academic program for Grades 7-12, held at MIT on Saturdays, February 23 to April 6 (except March 16), 1PM-4PM.  All online registrations completed by February 14 will be considered equally in the course-assignment lottery, and registrations after that will be taken first-come/first-served until February 19.  The cost is $40 per student (regardless of the number of courses taken) and generous, need-based financial aid is available. Email spring-hssp@mit.edu for more information.  The Spring HSSP course catalog covers many academic and non-academic topics, including these STEM offerings:

• Programming Amazon Alexa with MIT App Inventor
• Machine Learning with MIT App Inventor
• Introduction To Python
• Deep Learning from First Principles
• Computer Graphics Programming
• How to Build a Nuclear Bomb
• Being Real about Bioengineering
• A Lot of Meta-Mathematics
• Algorithms that run the world!
• The Science of Nutrition: A Microscopic to Macroscopic Exploration
• Kitchen Chemistry
• Soil Ecosystems from Micro to Global Scales
• Next Generation Biology
• From Neurons to Thoughts: An Introduction to the Human Mind and Brain
• Quantum Mechanics, with Applications in Astrophysics and Computation
• Sensational Neuroscience: How Your Brain Understands the World
• 40 Orders of Magnitude: Selected Problems in Physics
• The Chemistry in Our Lives
• Thermodynamics and Applications
• The Science of Recognizing Good Science
• Introduction to Evolutionary Biology
• Social Psychology and Game Theory
• Economics and Psychology
• Make Your Own Language
• Happiness
• Math and Science Lecture Series

ProjectCSGIRLS is a non-profit run by undergraduate women aiming to close the gender gap in computer science by holding a national competition and regional workshops for girls in Grades 6-8. The 2019 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition is now open for individuals or teams of two to three middle-school girls to build projects to address a social problem or issue. Building can mean anything from physically putting together machine parts for a robot to writing code for a mobile app to prototyping a new prosthetic device. Register by March 1 and submit projects by April 15.

This month, the Museum of Science will debut two new exhibits, just in time for February school vacation. Both are free with Exhibit Halls admission or museum membership.

• Wild Kratts Ocean Adventure immerses kids and adults in whole-body explorations of ocean habitats and the fascinating creatures within them.
• Nature’s Superheros: Life at the Limits explores the extraordinary adaptations that various species have developed in response to challenging environments.

Science Club for Girls has announced that Dr. Bonnie Bertolaet is the club’s new Executive Director. She has been on SCFG’s board for two years, most recently as chair, and has been the major force behind the organization’s current strategic plan, operational restructuring, and reinvigorated focus on development. SCFG offers free STEM programs to connect girls in Grades K-12, especially those from underrepresented groups, with female mentor-scientists in a fun, nurturing, and interactive environment.  Learn how you can volunteer or donate.

• Grades K-5
• Middle-School (STEMinistas)
• Grades 8-12 (Junior Mentors)

Learn2Code offers live online, hands-on coding classes — taught by students from universities such as MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, and Caltech — for students in elementary, middle, and high school. Students learn coding concepts and write, test, and debug code with an instructor in private, semi-private, or group online settings and can access all course material at any time.