Girls are more likely to lose interest in science than boys, and that’s contributing to the nation’s weakening pool of college graduates with science degrees. The Science Cheerleaders are trying to do something about that.

The cheerleaders wear short skirts and carry pom-poms, but they aren’t cheering sports athletes. They are former NFL and NBA cheerleaders, but they’re also engineers, dentists, and other science specialists. Their job is to get more young girls into science.

They performed for more than 100,000 people at the recent USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. The latest cheerleader to be featured on the group’s site, identified only by her first name, Allison, is a former cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles who has degrees in biology and chemistry and works for a biotech company in Philadelphia. The group, founded by Darlene Cavalier, has 175 former cheerleaders in the group.

They have a big job to tackle. The shortage of girls in computer science and other areas is worse than ever.

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