Business Spotlight magazine is Europe’s leading magazine for international business communication in English.This month, the magazine includes a feature on “citizen scientists” (folks without science degrees who contribute to real science). The article gives a few nods to Science Cheerleader and our sister-site, SciStarter (the source for citizen science projects).

Here are two excerpts and a link to the full article (PDF). Sorry, the full article is not yet available online.

By taking a look at the world around you, the sky above you, the civilizations that have gone before you, or the molecules inside you, you can become a “citizen scientist.” In “Masters of the universe” (Business Spotlight 1/2012), Carol Scheunemann looks at how people are contributing to scientific understanding — through their hobbies.

And, here’s a shameless, self-promoting excerpt:

Besides folding proteins, hunting galaxies, or watch- ing snails, thousands of other activities for citizen scientists attract huge numbers of volunteers worldwide, says “science cheerleader” and blogger Darlene Cavalier from Philadelphia, co-founder of the Web portal SciStarter. The portal offers a central listing where citizens and projects can find each other. People can search in various categories, such as time, costs, or skills needed, and by specialty, or geographic area. Cavalier says that, while some people want to contribute to research, others “are drawn to citizen science because it connects them to — and helps protect — nature.”
When she’s not busy working on her Web sites, speaking at conferences, or writing for Discover, a U.S. popular-science magazine, you might find Cavalier and her four children adding to scientific understanding by digging in a bag of dirt from the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY, looking for bits of mastodon fossils.

The #1 daily newspaper in center city (Philadelphia, PA) features the Science Cheerleaders on the front page today.

ALEXANDRA WIGGLESWORTH/METRO
PHILADELPHIA
December 15, 2011

Pocket protectors and pom-poms have little in common.

But Science Cheerleaders, a group of former and current NFL and NBA cheerleaders whose high IQs match their high kicks, unites the two.

The organization was created by happy accident, when Darlene Cavalier, a former 76ers cheerleader, posted a public outreach campaign with George Mason University on her website that advocated for reopening a congressional tech office. Featuring video shorts of 76ers cheerleaders rattling off scientific facts, it drew a huge response.

“I started to hear from NFL and NBA cheerleaders with science degrees who said, ‘I want to get involved.’ I never imagined it would turn into what it turned into,” she said, which includes the site, as well as traveling performances, community service and science education and outreach events. Many members are motivated by the chance to be role models for girls, who are underrepresented in the fields of math, science and technology.
Read full article.

The Bleacher Report is the 4th largest sports media site with 20 million monthly readers. This week, the Bleacher Report features the Top 40 Buzzworthy Cheerleaders of the NFL and….drumroll….the Science Cheerleaders are #32, #30 and, by way of our talented creative director, #15 on the list! And they’re all cited as positive examples. Congrats ladies!

#32 The Science Cheerleaders.

“The Science Cheerleaders are a group of more than 100 past and present NFL and NBA cheerleaders who are pursuing science-based careers. The Arizona Cardinals have six current members. Their goal is the challenge stereotypes of both cheerleaders and scientists, and the Cardinals cheerleaders have been featured in a number of publications, including local newspapers and the Discovery channel blog.”

#30 Science Cheerleader Dana; Baltimore Ravens; Bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering.

“Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Dana is in her second years with the Ravens is and a graduate of Virginia Tech, where she cheered on the Hokies. Like the Cardinals cheerleaders mentioned earlier on the list, Dana is a member of the Science Cheerleaders, having earned her Bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
In November 2011, she explained her day job in an interview with ScienceCheerleader.com:

“The project that I work on develops commercial-off-the-shelf based software and hardware upgrades to assimilate improved tactical control capabilities for various United States and Australian submarine classes.”

The fact that anyone can do that job is buzzworthy to me!

#15 Laura Eilers, Science Cheerleader’s Creative Director, Ms United States 2011, Going Pro Entertainment founder.

“In June 2011, former St. Louis Rams (and Kansas City Chiefs ) Cheerleader Laura Eilers was crowned Ms. United States. Eilers, who was also a choreographer for the Kansas City Chiefs, is the creator of Going Pro Entertainment, LLC, which is a networking group for cheerleading and dance professional alumni.”

Congratulations Science Cheerleaders and Pop Warner Little Scholars Cheerleaders for bringing the Guinness World Record for the Largest Cheerleading Cheer back to the USA (from China!). And we cheered for SCIENCE!

Check out the video. Promise, it’ll make you smile.

Click here to learn more about this record-setting event.

Here are some of our favorite photos. Great work, ladies!

Read official press release, below:

“SCIENCE CHEERLEADERS” AND POP WARNER OFFICIALLY BREAK WORLD RECORD FOR LARGEST CHEER
Former NFL and NBA cheerleaders led 1,278 Pop Warner youth cheerleaders to break the record

LANGHORNE, Penn. (Dec. 5, 2011) – Guinness World Record™ officially notified Science Cheerleader and Pop Warner today that they broke the “World’s Largest Cheering Team” record. The Pop Warner cheerleaders involved were notified today during the 2011 Pop Warner National Cheer & Dance Championships at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

The official record for “the greatest number of cheerleaders simultaneously performing a cheer at a single venue” was achieved by 1,278 cheerleaders that are members of the Science Cheerleader organization and Pop Warner cheer teams. The record was broken at the Pop Warner Eastern Regional Cheer Championships at the Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, on November 12, 2011.

The previous Guinness World Record™ was set in China during the 2008 Olympics with a cheer team of 1,200 people.

“We are very proud of the great job our Eastern Region Pop Warner cheerleaders, coaches and volunteers did to break this record,” said Mary FitzGerald, Chief Operating Officer, Pop Warner Little Scholars. “Being part of an official Guinness world record is something these girls will remember for the rest of their lives along with the positive experiences they have learned as Pop Warner cheerleaders.”

“One of our goals at Science Cheerleader is to show kids that they can have fun cheering and dancing and still pursue fulfilling careers in science and technology at the same time,” said Darlene Cavalier, Founder of Science Cheerleader. “At this World Record-breaking event, more than 1,200 youngsters were led by former pro cheerleaders who now work in varying science fields. What a great way to learn how to set a goal and work towards it!”

Science Cheerleader members are current and former professional cheerleaders for the NBA, NFL and UFL who are also pursuing careers in science and technology. The organization’s mission is to challenge science and cheerleading stereotypes and inspire the nation’s 3-4 million cheerleaders to consider a career in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). SciStarter.com, Science Cheerleader’s sister site, connects millions of “regular” people to hundreds of opportunities to do real research as Citizen Scientists.

Pop Warner Little Scholars, the nation’s largest and oldest youth football, cheer and dance organization, is the only youth sports organization that requires scholastic aptitude in order to participate. Pop Warner is committed to developing its young scholar athletes both on and off the field and annually awards its participants over $110,000 in total scholarships.

Stats on the World Record
1,278 cheerleaders from Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., ranging in age from 5-16
For photos and videos of the World Record effort, see http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2011/12/video-of-guinness-world-record-cheer-for-science/
Led by local Science Cheerleaders including Erin Donnelly (former St. Louis Rams cheerleader working on her PhD), Allison Grosso (former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader-turned-biochemist) and Sammi Jo Cooper (former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader who now teaches 8th grade science)
The cheer was choreographed by 2011 Ms. United States Laura Eilers and Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance Commissioner Lisa Moroski
Location: Sun National Bank Center, Trenton, NJ during the Pop Warner Eastern Regional Cheer Championships
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2011

This just in from Guinness to Science Cheerleader and Pop Warner Little Scholars:

“We are pleased to confirm that you have successfully set the new Guinness World Records title for the Largest Cheerleading Cheer. The greatest number of cheerleaders simultaneously performing a cheer was achieved by Science Cheerleaders & Pop Warner (both USA) at the Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, USA, on 12 November 2011. Guinness World Records congratulates you on your achievement.”

View pictures here.

Best part? We cheered for SCIENCE! (Ok, and we beat China, previous record holders.)

Video to follow! Here’s a little more information about our attempt to set a new world record. This is just the beginning. We’ll be sharing more cheerleading AND science with those awesome Pop Warner cheerleaders in the coming months.

THE WEATHER CHANNEL TO AIR “CHANGING PLANET” TOWN HALL FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE OF WATER—
Tonight, 5 PM ET and Saturday, 2 PM ET.

NEW YORK, NY— In celebration of NBC Universal’s “Green Is Universal” week, The Weather Channel announced that it will air “Changing Planet: Adapting to Our Water Future” on Thursday, Nov.17th at 5 PM/ET. NBC News Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson moderated the event, which was hosted by Arizona State University. The town hall is the last in a three-part series produced under a partnership between NBC Learn (the educational arm of NBC News), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Discover magazine and SciStarter (formerly known as ScienceForCitizens.net).

“We face great challenges now, and in the years and decades ahead when it comes to water—including its scarcity and its purity,” said Thompson. “It is important that we have these kinds of discussions about how we can work together to protect and conserve one of our world’s most important resources.”

This edition of “Changing Planet” brings together over 400 students and features four leading experts from science, academia and politics: Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico; Grady Gammage Jr., senior sustainability scholar with the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability and senior research fellow with the ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy; Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority; and Heidi Cullen, former climate expert for The Weather Channel and current research scientist and correspondent with “Climate Central.”

The “Changing Planet” town hall series is intended to encourage student learning and to open a dialogue about climate change by gathering scientists, thought leaders, business people, and university students to discuss the facts of climate science, the dynamics of its impact and to brainstorm solutions.

A special print adaptation of “Changing Planet: Adapting to Our Water Future” will appear in the December 2011 issue of Discover magazine, available on November 15. The “Changing Planet” series is taped before a live audience at each university, produced by NBC Learn, and underwritten by NSF, in cooperation with Discover magazine. It is available for viewing on nsf.gov, nbclearn.com/climate and discovermagazine.com.

Viewers and readers are invited to get involved through a series of citizen science projects developed to help researchers monitor ecological and environmental changes to the planet. Visit www.scistarter.com for more information.

In addition to the town halls, NBC Learn and NSF recently added five new “Changing Planet” reports to its 17 part series, which looks at the impact of climate change in various locations around the world. New titles include:

1) Disappearing Lizards
2) Survival of Trees
3) Bark Beetle Outbreaks
4) Grapevines and Drought
5) Changing Mosquito Genes

Designed for use in the classroom, each report is correlated to state standards and includes a lesson plan with activities created by the “Windows to the Universe” project team at the National Earth Science Teachers Association. The videos are available on nbclearn.com/climate, nsf.gov, and Windows2Universe.org, and are available for widespread broadcast and digital distribution.

Credit: Alma Radocaj

Here’s an audio interview conducted by Michael Doornbos, founder of Evadot (a collaborative site exploring promising opportunities for the future). Explains how SciCheer and its sister site, Science For Citizens, got started and where we’re going.

Today, Amanda Adeleye, a medical student and Science Cheerleader, has a guest post on Nature News Network. She was invited to discuss how the glamorous world of cheerleading can mix with science.

Without burdening you with statistics, there does exist a persistent gender gap in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The question is “why?”. Some would argue that women are discouraged from these fields throughout elementary school and secondary school and that there several negative reinforcing messages to young women regarding these careers. Specifically, there are those out there who feel that activities like cheerleading focus on looks, dancing and popularity at the expense of “being smart.” There are some who wonder how can you be smart and a cheerleader. I think the subliminal question is “how can you be smart and a woman?” While you would be hard pressed to find a politically correct individual who would admit to these prejudices, they exist and are often perceived by our young women. However, my feeling is that these prejudices do not come from a place of malice but rather ignorance.

Science Cheerleader is a wonderful and multifaceted way to spread knowledge and battle some of the ignorance that exists about women in science. First, it brings to the forefront this contrast between cheerleaders and scientists (that really should not be a contrast at all). In my time as a science cheerleader, I have met incredible women who are NASA engineers, or women attaining PhDs in chemistry and psychology, or science teachers themselves. Importantly, the guests that interact with Science Cheerleaders have the opportunity to meet these amazing women as well. Second, and very close to my heart, is the way that Science Cheerleaders are able to reach out to girls and young women at such an impressionable time in their lives. They may initially be attracted by the shiny pom-poms, big smiles, big boots and fun music, but they stay because they learn and they get excited about science.

Read the full post.

The Science Cheerleaders!

This appeared in the launch issue of Philly’s JUMP magazine back in, gulp, April. Sorry, just getting around to publishing this.  The Burroughs Wellcome fund paid for this ad to help promote science in non-traditional media outlets. In this case,  a hip, music magazine. How cool is that?

This particular ad previewed an appearance by the Science Cheerleaders and promoted upcoming citizen science activities at the rockin’ Philadelphia Science Festival.

What’s JUMP magazine all about? Glad you asked!

From JUMP’s website:

We love Philly, pure and simple. And we love music. We’re tired of watching our local talent run off to New York or London to be appreciated.

We’re here to blow up the music scene and shed light on all the amazing things that are happening here.

In our quarterly print magazine, we cover Philly bands, venues, studios, history, bouncers, stylists, producers, clubs, boutiques, restaurants, deejays, music shops, record stores, labels, promoters, artists and anything else that has a connection to music in the city.

We document all genres, from hip-hop and indie rock to classical, folk, jam bands, reggae, electronic, jazz and hardcore. We report on everything from street performers to the Philadelphia Orchestra.

We are musicians, journalists, students, photographers, artists and Philadelphians.

And…you’ve all been SCIENCED!

The following interview is part of a week-long STEM Matters series produced by Ashoka Changemakers, “the world’s fast track for social change.” Thought-leaders, social innovators, and experts from around the country are sharing how and why science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are critical to our abilities to solve complex problems across a wide range of fields, from climate change, medicine, economic development, space exploration, to the movies!

From Ashoka:

Cheerleaders don’t always get the credit they deserve. So it might surprise you to hear that there’s a cheerleader out there pursuing a professional career in science engineering.

You read that right. Darlene Cavalier embraces her identity as a cheerleader to advocate for STEM education. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and prior to that, spent part of her tenure at Temple University as a pom-pom shaker for three-time NBA champions, the Philadelphia 76ers. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Cavalier pursued her first degree in communications at Temple University, took on cheerleading to supplement her income, and ended up at Discover Magazine, where she would eventually serve as a senior advisor. She is also the founder of Science Cheerleader, featuring NBA and NFL cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers who challenge stereotypes and inspire more people to consider STEM careers. The site has also spawned the popular science portal ScienceForCitizens.net. To add even more dramatic flair to an already fascinating story, she started out in the mail room.

In this exclusive interview with Cavalier, she tells Changemakers about her ascent in the sciences and why she’s chosen STEM education as her new reason to rah-rah.

Read the interview here.