A new scientific web page designed by a group of high school girls will be joining the Internet this summer.

Internet Explorer, a program organized by ISU’s College of Engineering, provides an opportunity for high school girls from inner cities and rural areas to learn how to construct web pages.

A total of 20 high school girls, with more than half coming from minority and rural backgrounds, are participating in this eight-week program held in Marston Hall from June 9 until Aug. 1.

Larry Genalo, associate professor of materials science and engineering and organizer of the program, said since many rural schools cannot afford computers, the Internet Explorer program can offer the students an opportunity they would not otherwise have.

Genalo said the web page designed by the students was geared specifically for girls in the sixth and seventh grades.

“Girls usually lose interest in science and math when they are in middle school, and the web page can prove that they have an interest in science,” Genalo said. “They’ll start thinking, ‘if other girls can do it, why can’t I?’ after reading the web page.”

Each web page will contain interesting scientific facts and a brief biography introducing the designer of the page will appear at the top.

“I hope they can create their first home page with minimal instruction,” Genalo said.

The participants are also divided into eight groups and each group has to write a research paper for their high school teachers. The paper requires searching for information in the library and interviewing people in the community. They have chosen various topics for the papers, including weather, health and animal science.

Several Iowa State students take part in the program as mentors, Genalo said, doing the job of supervising participants.

Julie Sandberg, a sophomore in chemical engineering and one of the mentors, said the program was an excellent opportunity for high school girls to learn more about computers.

“Though they encounter problems while using the computer, such as writing the computer language and using a video phone for the web page, they learn everything very quickly,” Sandberg said. “Teaching them is really a lot of fun.”

Sandberg took part in a prototype program initiated by ISU professors during the summer of 1995 when she was still a high school student. The program was aimed at proving to the National Science Foundation that high school girls with no computer backgrounds could learn and design a web page within eight weeks. The home page she designed was to explain how an airplane could fly.

The National Science Foundation contributed nearly $100,000 to the program this year, Genalo said. The ISU’s College of Engineering also grants $15,000 to the program, which subsidizes the expenses of travel and room and board services of the participants.