Geena Davis is is an American actor, activist, model, and producer. She completed her bachelor's degree in drama from Boston College in 1979 and received honorary doctorate degrees in fine arts from Bosten College in 1999 and Bates College in 2009 for her work with the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media.
In addition to a successful modeling, acting, and production career, Davis is an advocate and activist for a multitude of subject matters and causes including women in sports, gender bias in media, STEM, and other humanitarian and envioronmental social and environmental challenges. Davis also trained and competed for a spot in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the sport of archery.
Davis has been nominated for and received dozens of awards including an Oscar for Best Supporting Acress in The Accidental Tourist and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama in "Commander in Chief". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose her for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Academy Award, for her work to undestand and address gender bias in media.
Shayla Rivera is a Puerto Rican American aerospace engineer, comedian, and STEM advocate. Rivera also wears many other hats including keynote speaker, Professor of Practice at Texas A&M, and producer. Often described as a renaissance woman, she uses humor to share her own story, as well as to inspire others.
Rivera was born and grew up in Puerto Rico. Her interest in science and engineering started at an early age, along with a keen interest in human behavior. Rivera earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M where she also took additional courses in psychology. After graduation, Rivera worked for McDonnell Douglas Space Systems as a rocket scientist, literally, in programs including the NASA Space Shuttle and International Space Station. She left NASA after five years to pursue her interest in psychology that eventually led her to corporate training, executive seminars, and motivational speaking. It was in this role that she also discovered her talent for comedy.
She worked with Debbie Allen to create the hit one woman show “Rocket Science and Salsa,” and was honored with a "Best Lead Actress" nomination by the NAACP Theater Awards. For the same production, Allen also received a nomination for "Best Choreography". She went on to participated in many other comedy events, shows, and series and was honored by Latin 2015 as the Finniest Latina Comedian.
Rivera received the Award for Excellence in Public Speaking by the Latino Speakers Bureau in 2010, LA's “Mario Moreno Cantinflas Award” in 2014, and the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the President’s Council on Service Participation in 2017.
Kára Deidra McCullough is an American physical scientist and emergency preparedness specialist. McCullough is also the winner of the 2017 Miss USA pageant and represented the USA in the 2017 Miss Universe contest where she was a top 10 finalist.
McCullough was born in Naples, Italy to US military family but spent most of her childhood in Virginia Beach. Her mother's role as Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy gave Kára the opportunity to travel and learn about diverse cultures in places like Hawaii, Japan, Sicily, and South Korea.
McCullough often speaks about her interest in science from a very young age. Her interest continued to grow so pursuing a career in sciences was a clear choice for her. McCullough earned her Bachelor of Sciences in Chemistry with a focus on radiochemistry at South Carolina State University where she also first became a member of the American Chemical Society, the Health Physics Society, and the American Nuclear Society. She was also inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society and the National Society of Black Engineers. At the time of the Miss USA pageant, McCullough worked at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response as an emergency preparedness specialist.
McCullough interest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) led her to create an outreach program called Science Exploration for Kids (SE4K) that she funds herself. SE4k creates interactive activities celebrating and cultivate a passion for STEM subjects among children. As Miss USA, McCullough plans to expand her program throughout the country
McCullough is also a great example of the importance of being well-rounded in interests and activities. In addition to her professional career and her work to inspire young minds to study STEM subjects, her personal love and participation in sports led her to coach a girls youth sports program in while she lived and worked in Washington, DC. She loves cooking Italian and soul food and she's making the most out of her new life in New York city by exploring the Big Apple on her bike or rollerblades.
Emily Calandrelli (aka "The Space Gal") is an American aeronautics engineer, television host, and advocate for STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math). She is the host and producer of FOX's Xploration Outer Space and a correspondent on Bill Nye Saves the World in addition to working for Discovery News and TechCrunch.
Calandrelli received Bachelor of Science degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from West Virgina University (WVU). During her undergraduate years, she took time off to work in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World which sparked an interest in themepark ride design. She also took participated in two NASA internship programs while she was an undergraduate. In her 4th year at WVU, Calendrelli received the Truman Scholarshiop and in her 5th year, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Calandrelli then went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to earn a Masters in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Masters in Technology and Policy where she received the Rene H. Miller Prize for her work systems engineering work.
The equation for getting young women interested in math just got simplified. In August 2014, Stanford Math Professor Maryam Mirzakhani won the Fields Medal. Considered the Nobel of prize of mathematics, it is the the first time a female has received the award in it's 80 year history, as well as the first time an Iranian has won the medal.
Ka Hikina O Ka Lā is a new program at the University of Hawai’i Maui College (UHMC) to provide a learning environment that utilizes modern scientific technology and instruction, complemented with cultural knowledge and practices. The program is a collaboration between the native Hawaiian community, UHMC, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the goal of increasing the participation of native Hawaiians in higher education, in particular Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
They are one of our favorite science nonprofits of all time...and they have been around for a LONG time. The Society for Science & the Public (SSP) was established in 1921 by journalist Edward W. Scripps and zoologist William Emerson Ritter as Science Service to keep the public informed of scientific achievements. The organization became the Society for Science & the Public in 2008. Today, they continue their public engagement in science and research through their publications, such as Science News, and multiple science education programs and competitions that inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Just read a great article by in the Seattle City Arts magazine, Creative Class by Jonathan Zwickel. In the article, Zwickel explores one of my favorite subjects, how obsessive focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education is not enough...we need to focus on the arts and humanities as well if we want to have well rounded students in this and the next century. Zwickel does a great job of sharing the story of how a national crisis (in my opinion) plays out in Seattle Public Schools. Adding an "A" for arts into STEM...forming "STEAM" may be one answer but as you might expect, its much more complicated than that.
Seattle's Arcade Magazine has devoted an entire issue to "Putting Art and Design at the Center of STEM", Issue 31.2 Spring 2013: STEM + A = STEAM. This is an issue near and dear to my heart and mind (see STEM is Not Enough and it seems to be getting a lot more attention lately. Thank you Arcade for another great issue!
Ramer started playing piano at five and took an interest in cars and engines about the same time alongside her Father, Kelvin Ramer who owns a auto towing company and drives monster trucks as well. Her own monster truck career started at age 14. What is most impressive is that Ramer plans to use the money she makes from driving the monster trucks to pursue an engineering degree at Stanford. Now at age 15, Ramer is the youngest professional female monster truck driver in the world and with the slogan "Living the Dream and chasing after more", she's out to prove that with a lot of hard work, anything is possible. YOU GO GIRL!
Danica McKellar is an American actress, author and math education ambassador. Many know her from her role as Winnie Cooper in the TV show The Wonder Years and subsequent acting career while others know her best as a New York Times bestselling author of her books promoting math to girls and young women which include Math Doesn't Suck, Kiss My Math, Hot X: Algebra Exposed, and Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape. McKellar's math cred comes from her 1998 degree in mathematics from UCLA, where she graduated summa cum laude. While at university, McKellar co-authored a paper with fellow student, Brandy Winn, and their Professor Lincoln Chayes on the 'Chayes–McKellar–Winn theorem'. McKellar's Erdős number is four and her Bacon number is two giving her an incredibly low Erdős-Bacon number of six.
From The Wonder Years to a becoming a wonder-Mom and role model, we give her an A+ for all her hard work promoting math to girls and young women. You go girl!
I've been seeing quite a few TV ads on the ExxonMobile Let's Solve This campaign. In 2009, the Program for International Students Assessment ranked U.S. students 17th in the world in science and 25th in math. The Let's Solve This aims to address the situation by partnering with multiple programs and organizations aimed promoting science and math among students, teachers, and parents. The primary partnership is with the National Math and Science Initiative which has a special focus on teacher training.
Kudos to ExxonMobile for their support and efforts of these programs. More kudos for placing national ad campaigns and science and math in mainstream, primetime media.
Pop culture and pop science collided in January of 2012 when singer/songwriter Justin Bieber appeared at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to promote TOSY Robotics latest far out product, mRobo Ultra Base, a new concept in portable audio speakers that doubles as a dancing robot. Nothing could take STEM subjects and robotics mainstream faster than some love from the Bieb.
This isn't his first foray into the techno future. In October of 2011, Bieber posted a photo on his Instagram feed sporting a pretty fantastic 'Cy-Bieb' arm.
Focus Maui Nui is just one of several programs of the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) that is engaging the Maui community in shaping their future. Within Focus Maui Nui, the Youth Alliance program brings the energy and creativity of youth into discussions of the future with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) - along with planning and design - being key components of many of the projects. The photo above is form the recent Youth Alliance Art Project. Most importantly, MEDB doesn't just inspire youth to think about and help shape the future, through their Ke Alahele Education Fund they are financially supporting youth in building STEM and planning skills as well.
Image Credit: World Wide Workshop
In her May 2011 seedmagazine.com article, Full Steam Ahead on CS-STEM, Idit Harel Caperton chronicles recent efforts to integrate art and design into computer science and STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math). Given my own thoughts on the matter in my post ,Stem is Not Enough, I was quite pleased to read this article. Surf over, take a moment to read the article, and get inspired by a new wave creativity science and design shaping our future.
Not many folks know that NASCAR has been inspiring young scientists and engineers since the 1990s. The most recent evolution of the effort is the Student Racing Challenge: NASCAR STEM Initiative that in the racing worls is considered the "little league for future engineers, scientists, business, marketing and creative professionals". The project is carried out in partnership with the Ten80 Education group that promotes STEM education across the country. Check them out and make sure to stand back because these wiz kids burn rubber!
