MTSU alumna whose careers have carried them to valuable positions with Vanderbilt in Nashville will be the keynote and featured speakers during the 18th annual Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Conference.

Freneka Minter, program coordinator in the Center for Health Services Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will provide thekeynote for the nearly 325 middle school and high school girls attending the conference from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, in various facilities on campus including the new Science Building.

Katrina Smith, research assistant in the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, will make a presentation to the 84 registered high school girls. She is a December 2013 MTSU graduate.

Expanding Your Horizons, or EYH, is an event for girls in grades 5 through 12. The conference informs attendees about career possibilities in math- and science-related fields. Approximately 300 girls will attend the workshops and hear the guest speakers.

Minter, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the university, will discuss "Expand Your Horizons ... Expand Your Opportunities."

"I will share with the girls tips on how to expand their perspectives in learning and doing new things and how this expansion can lead to new opportunities. I will also share the way I expanded my horizons and how it opened up new opportunities for me."

Smith's presentation will be about the drug discovery process and how each step correlates to a characteristic each woman must possess to have a successful career in STEM.

"I needed to find the 'D.R.U.G.' (Determined, Resilient,Unwavering, Girl) in me to overcome many obstacles in my life, like being asingle mother," Smith said. "I plan to enlighten the girls about my journey, how a drug becomes a drug and how that all parallels being a woman in science."

The knowledge and skills obtained from MTSU from high school to undergraduate to graduate have prepared Minter for her current career as a research study coordinator. She credits chemistry professor and EYH Director Judith Iriarte-Gross and Andrienne Friedli, assistant to the vice provost for research and director of the Center for Advancement of Research and Scholarship, with steering her into a research pathway.

Every experience Smith had at MTSU "makes me a better person, student, scientist and more." She lauds her thesis adviser, professor Norma Dunlap, and other faculty for encouragement during graduate school.

MTSU faculty members and outside experts conduct the workshops.

Registration for the event closed Sept. 1. For more information about EYH and attending in 2015, contact Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253, email Judith.Iriarte-Gross@mtsu.edu or visit http://mtsu.edu/wistem/eyh/index.php.