Cornell recently hosted the first Empowering Women in Science and Engineering (EWISE) conference, which included, among other things, a slumber party, a free screening of Mean Girls, and a range of discussions focusing on the "stereotype threat" plaguing female faculty in engineering and science.

All this hot air hearkens back to simpler times, the Grand Ol' Winter of 2005, when women weren’t afraid to suck at math and Harvard’s president wasn't afraid to bare his smarmy teeth. Let us never forget Lawrence Summers' infamous line: "Grarr! I hate cooties."

It's a shame these women need a conference to prove they still have brains behind those beautiful hairdos. You'd think the numerous advancements in science would be enough. I'd like to imagine all the conference needed was to slap up a big poster of Marie Curie, say, "Hey, she was somethin', huh?" and start playing a collective game of M.A.S.H.—science style—on a giant pink chalkboard.