Black teen girl scientists in NASA competition targeted by hackers for their race

Hackers tried to sway a NASA challenge in order to attack grade school students based on their race, the administration confirmed.

The challenge from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center encourages students to find "spinoff" technology in their everyday world and involves public voting via social media to signal support

However, NASA said on April 29 it had to shut down the voting portion after learning hackers attempted to alter the final vote totals.

"It was brought to NASA’s attention ... that some members of the public used social media, not to encourage students and support STEM, but to attack a particular student team based on their race and encouraged others to disrupt the contest and manipulate the vote, and the attempt to manipulate the vote occurred shortly after those posts," NASA said in a statement.

The Washington Post reports the attempt to compromise voting focused on a team from Washington, D.C.'s Banneker High School. The students — Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell — created a product that could purify school systems' water by checking for chemicals such as chlorine.

The Banneker team was among eight finalists to win the challenge. NASA said winners will be announced this month.

The attempted hacking arrives at a time when more programs aim to encourage underrepresented groups such as women and minorities to become more involved in science and engineering.

According to a report from the National Science Foundation, nearly half of scientists and engineers are white men. Meanwhile, black men and women make up a combined 5%, while Hispanic men and women comprise a combined 6%.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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