OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Pouring red liquid in a cup and putting salt in a bag. It’s one learning activity seen at the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s three-day Code Crush Tech Seminar.
It’s a way to get girls interested in having a tech-related job one day.
“We have a huge gap between men and women in technology-related programs and very few young women aspire to be computer scientists and computer information technology professionals,” Khazanchi said.
Deepak Khazanchi told 6 News in today’s session girls learned how to extract DNA from fruit.
They did this by pouring salt, dishwasher soap, and alcohol into a bag of strawberries. Then, they extracted the DNA through a coffee filter.
“They’re going to do workshops in AI, they’re going to do workshops in robotics, and do programming workshops,” Khazanchi said.
Khazanchi said the program is now nine years old and it changes every year.
It’s grown, with more and more girls wanting to learn about tech.
“We get about 100 applications a year and we bring it about 60,” Khazanchi said.
Natalie Jacobvich was one of the girls chosen to participate in the program.
“When I was little I really liked coding,” Jacobvich said.
After today’s event, she’s considering a job in tech, but most importantly she wants to inspire other girls to also join the tech world.
“It’s a step up from something I would normally do,” Jacobvich said.
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