The Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory hosted a workshop on dendrochronology for 7th-8th grade girls as part of the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conference held at Cornell on April 28th. EYH is a one-day, student-led conference for 7th-9th grade girls that stimulates participants’ interest in math and science through hands-on workshops, provides them with female scientist role models, and fosters awareness of opportunities in science-related careers. Over 200 girls from around New York State came to the EYH conference this year to participate in several workshops around campus.
Leaders of the “Tree-Ring Time Detectives” workshop included Tree-Ring Lab researchers Brita Lorentzen, Carol Griggs, and Cindy Kocik; CIAMS graduate students Rebecca Gerdes (Classics PhD) and Cristina Juarez (Archaeology MA); and undergraduate Abby Bezrutczyk (Environmental Sciences and Sustainability ’20). Workshop participants learned how to use tree-rings to date wooden paintings and musical instruments, reconstruct climate and environment, and collected, recorded, and examined wood charcoal by excavating their own mini archaeological site (“Tel Tupperware”).
