Expanding Your Horizons at Berkeley

SUPPORT THE ANNUAL EYH STEM CONFERENCE

APRIL 4TH, 2026 | UC BERKELEY 

Who Are We 

Expanding Your Horizons at Berkeley is a group of graduate students, post-docs and undergraduate women from a broad range of STEM departments (chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, biophysics, etc), experiences, and backgrounds at UC Berkeley. We want to share our passion for STEM subjects with younger women and girls, to encourage them to pursue STEM subjects in their future studies and careers. In the United States, cultural gender stereotypes dictate that women are less capable of excelling in STEM fields than men. This stereotype manifests in both an achievement gap for girls at the K-12 level in STEM subjects, as well as in the underrepresentation of women in STEM professions. Research has shown that particularly middle school represents a critical period in which young women first begin to question whether STEM subjects are “for them” and lose interest in STEM fields. 

EYH at Berkeley aims to encourage middle school girls to explore and participate in STEM activities by giving them access to education and mentorship from women in STEM fields, reducing the attrition of young women from science and mathematics fields. Founded in 2012, EYH at Berkeley hosts an annual conference where over 300 middle school girls from the East Bay Area community have the opportunity to visit the UC Berkeley campus and explore STEM subjects through hands-on workshops led by female mentors that are experts in their fields. The EYH conference offers an exciting keynote speaker, a full day of hands-on workshops, and opportunities for the girls to closely interact with undergraduate and graduate student mentors working in STEM related fields. 

2016 – 466 registered

2017 – 461 registered

2018 – 390 registered

2019 – 428 registered

2020 – 450 registered

2021 – 236 registered

2022 – 275 registered

2023 – 439 registered

2024 -- 450 registered 

2025 – 450 registered

Our conferences feature unique and engaging workshops that were prepared and supervised throughout the day by volunteers from a wide range of STEM departments of the UC Berkeley campus including:

• Code for Life: Let’s talk about DNA – what actually is DNA? Why do genetic differences matter? Most importantly, how do your genes make you YOU? In this workshop, we’ll use hands-on activities to learn about these questions and more.
• Science of Slime: We all love to play with slime, but how do you make it? In this workshop you will become an engineer at a toy company! We will conduct a series of stretchiness and bounciness experiments to make the perfect slime.
• Edible Water Capsules, Replacing Single-Use Plastics: Disposable plastics – we use them once, then we throw them away! How can we replace these plastics with similar but more sustainable materials? This workshop will let you make your own edible water capsules, learn about green chemistry, and explore solutions to the single-use plastics problem.

2025 Conference 

In April of 2025, the UC Berkeley Chapter of Expanding Your Horizons hosted our thirteenth annual conference. We had the opportunity to reach around 450 young science enthusiasts from various schools around the Bay Area.  

This past couple of years we have been piloting a transportation program that provided buses for students to and from the conference. As transportation can be a significant barrier to participation, we started this program in hopes of increasing accessibility and it was a great success! 

Once at the conference, the participants had the chance to immerse themselves in a full day of hands-on exploration, ranging from introductions to food science and animal behavioral studies to the basics of computer science. The thirty workshops were prepared and supervised throughout the day by volunteers from a wide range of STEM departments of the UC Berkeley campus.

(Above) EYH provides students with the materials to make slime, a popular toy, while teaching them the science behind polymers

(Above) Graduate student volunteers lead hands-on workshops, like this one about CRIPSR. The students learn how scientists apply CRISPR technology to help people and they participate in activities such as “DNA puzzles” and brainstorming a future where the girls can rewrite the story of life. 

The day was topped off by our keynote speaker, Dr. Eve Martinez, a chemist at Mosaic Inc. Dr. Martinez gave a keynote talk describing her academic and scientific journey—she currently studies metal organic frameworks for use in capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. Martinez ended her talk in a Q&A, answering earnestly and stressing the importance of having support circles you can lean on when challenges arise. Hearing encouragement and a strong scientific talk from Dr. Martinez gave these young girls a role model in STEM. This is crucial as having a STEM role model plays a role in a child’s desire to pursue future STEM education and careers. 

Additionally, many of our participants’ parents registered to attend the parents’ workshop aiming to provide information and guidance in encouraging their children to further their STEM education.

Importantly, our organization is committed to making the conference accessible and fair to those from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds. For the second time, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we were able to offer the conference free of charge to all participants who applied to waive the registration fee.

How Your Support Helps 

Despite the hundreds of volunteers that will donate their time to the EYH 2026 conference, it still costs over $25,000 to provide a day of interactive learning for all the students. We are committed to ensuring the conference remains accessible for all young women and, therefore, we are aim to honoring every single fee waiver. Your donation to the EYH conference at Berkeley will have a significant impact on our ability to inspire the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. We are seeking $5,000 to sponsor over 300 students to participate in the conference. With your support, we hope to be able to offer fee waivers to 300 young girls across the Bay Area, ensuring that our STEM education program is accessible regardless of socioeconomic status.

The cost for each student to attend the conference is $20. This covers an EYH at Berkeley T-shirt, all the necessary materials for workshops, and mentorship from UC Berkeley graduate students, post-docs, and undergraduates in STEM. Additionally, all parents will have the opportunity to participate in a parents’ workshop to learn how to support and prepare their child for a college education and explore ways to foster their interest in STEM fields. Your support for the EYH conference at Berkeley will have a significant impact on our ability to inspire the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. If we are unable to achieve our goal, we will require registrants to pay a fee to attend the conference. This may limit participation, especially for those from different backgrounds. Please consider donating and sharing our page with your friends and family! Thank you!

All estimates are rough only, and actual expenditures may vary.

Questions? Email us at eyhberkeleyinfo@gmail.com or contact Ama Luthens, chair of the Finance team, directly at ama_luthens@berkeley.edu.

THANK YOU! As of February 18, an anonymous donor and a Cal alum have generously matched $1,150 in gifts to Expanding Your Horizons. Thank you for doubling your impact and supporting young women in STEM!