Editor’s note: This commentary is by Elayne Clift, who writes about women, culture and social issues from Saxtons River.
[A]sk any number of people to name a woman who has made a difference in science, technology, engineering or math, now known as STEM, and they are likely to say Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in both physics and chemistry for discovering radium and polonium and for researching treating tumors with radiation.
They might know that 1940s movie star Hedy Lamarr did something important during World War II, although they probably couldn’t say she invented a remote-controlled communications system that now serves as the basis for modern communication technology like Bluetooth and WiFi connections.
Thanks to the popular film “Hidden Women,” some will likely mention “the women” who worked at NASA, but few are likely to have the name Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson on the tip of their tongues. She was the African-American physicist and mathematician featured in the movie whose early application of digital electronic computers at NASA allowed for accuracy in computerized celestial navigation.
But who knows about 18th century mathematician Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, or 19th century Augusta Ada King-Noel, a British mathematician whose work on a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer revealed that the forerunner to today’s computers had applications beyond calculation? Ever heard of Mary Anderson or Emily Roebling? Anderson invented the windshield wiper in 1903 and Roebling was the first woman field engineer to work on the Brooklyn Bridge.
In more modern times, Shu Lam, who received her Ph.D. in Australia, is an engineer whose post-graduate work is poised to make a real difference. Lam successfully destroyed superbugs in lab tests by using a star-shaped polymer that rips antibiotic-resistant bacteria to shreds without damaging healthy cells, thereby eliminating the need for developing stronger antibiotic drugs. Her cutting-edge research could put an end to proliferating superbugs.
Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz works with NASA to study stars that host planets outside of our solar system and explores how stellar radiation influences whether life could thrive on those planets. Sheila Ochugboju Kaka, a Nigerian genetic virologist, investigates genetic engineering as a way to produce commercially viable biopesticides. And glaciologist Michele Koppes travels to the coldest places on Earth to study how glaciers move and respond to the warming atmosphere, exploring how changes affect water resources and biodiversity.
Astrophysicist Jedidah Isler, who studies supermassive, hyperactive black holes, spoke for STEM women attending a 2015 TED Fellows program when she said, “I see the opportunity to add my voice to the chorus of women redefining what it means to be a scientist, or to do scientific work. It’s an honor and a privilege to stand with these women, but even more, to stand as an example for the next generation.”
That next generation includes young women like Kassandra Salazar, Paulina Martinez, and Paola Valtierra, who attend San Fernando High School in California. Together, they invented a solar-powered tent that folds up into a rollaway backpack in the hope that their tent will improve the lives of homeless people in their community.
Recruited by DIY Girls, a nonprofit organization that teaches girls from low-income communities about engineering, math and science, the three students applied for a grant with the help of Evelyn Gomez, 29, executive director of DIY Girls. They won $10,000 to develop their invention. “I needed a team,” says Gomez. Since 2012, DIY Girls has reached more than 1,200 girls in the Los Angeles area.
Then there’s 16-year-old Claudia Beltran who spent last summer participating in Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization started in New York by Reshma Saujani, a former attorney who surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress in 2010. Her mission? “To close the gender gap in technology.”
Girls Who Code has grown from 20 girls in New York to 40,000 girls in 50 states. “That’s the same number of girls who graduate each year with a degree in computer science,” Saujani says. “That’s progress! I’m proud to say we’re not just aiming to close the gender gap in tech, we’re actually doing it.”
Beltran says she didn’t know much about coding when she started the program but she found herself intrigued by its problem-solving possibilities and its application to different careers. Working in the Goldman-Sachs building in Manhattan, she was able to experience the corporate world and found she really liked it. She also improved her public speaking skills by giving presentations to CEOs, boosting her confidence.
“It can be frustrating if you don’t know how to do something,” Beltran says, “but you have to struggle to learn new things. Now I want to study computer science in college.”
Beltran realizes that the number of women in computer science and other STEM fields remains low, a problem many advocates point to, given continuing gender discrimination and pervasive sexual harassment. But she hopes other young women won’t be discouraged. “We have to keep moving forward,” she says.
With women like these, that’s clearly the direction STEM women are choosing.
