Supercomputer center aims to inspire girls to do tech subjects

In Catalan universities, more than half of the students are women. But when it comes to degrees in engineering and architecture, their presence is much more diminutive. They make up only 24% of the classrooms in these types of studies. In fact, only 7% of women choose engineering and architecture degrees for their further studies, while 40.1% do courses in social and legal sciences.

For this reason, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC,) home to the city’s only supercomputer, has launched a project to boost the female presence in technological degrees. 6,000 primary school students from the Catalan capital will visit the supercomputer, as part of an initiative entitled 'We Are Young Women Researchers' designed to attract girls to the world of technology.

Deficit of women

Diverse studies highlight that the lesser presence of girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees has its roots in beliefs developed at very young ages. Girls might perceive, for example, that these types of vocations are more typical for men and do not present a professional career path for them.

The BSC, therefore, has designed tours in order to emphasize that women can also work with supercomputers. Incidentally, the Marenostrum supercomputer at the center is one of the most powerful in Europe.

BSC director, Mateo Valero, explained the importance of attracting girls to science, highlighting that there is a global deficit of women worldwide in STEM type jobs. “The percentage of women at BSC, that could be around 27%, not only works as well as us, but rather they work better,” Valero added. The center employs more than 500 people.

Inspiring the youth

The center has also joined forces with Catalan kids pop group Les Macedònia for the project. The band, made up of five girls, has released a song video filmed at the BSC, and designed to inspire young girls to take interest in technology.

“Female investigators from around the world make amazing, brilliant discoveries, from Barcelona to all around the world, with a spectacular computer,” is the first line of the song. The group was formed in 2001, and every five years the band members change in order to maintain its youthful image and not distant itself from its target public.