As graduate student Lisa Eytel marches into a classroom at the University of Oregon with seven elementary-aged girls following like a row of ducklings, she asks, “Where are the cookies?”

With this question, Eytel launches the hands-on science lessons for the day. She will teach the girls basic forensic science techniques to discover who “stole” the package of cookies in a program called Girls’ Science Adventures.

On this particular Saturday, the fourth-through-sixth grade girls learn how to analyze fingerprints and handwriting samples to eliminate cookie thief suspects. They also perform a process called chromatography, which separates the different components of ink to determine the pen that was used to write the ransom note.

The program is a collaboration between Eugene Science Center and UO Women in Graduate Science, a professional development organization for which Eytel is an outreach coordinator.  ESC Education Director Karyn Knecht said the goal of the six-week program is to “develop confidence and STEM identities with young girls.”