Women Superstars in Today’s STEM-Oriented World
Tiera Fletcher is a current Aerospace Engineer working on NASA’s Space Launch System with its goal to power humans to Mars and beyond. She and her co-author, Ginger Rue, have compiled short biographies of a dozen women STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals whose accomplishments are having innumerable positive impacts on Earth and beyond both today and for optimistic futures. Fletcher’s self-profile provides a “baker’s dozen” insights into the extraordinary lives of today’s rockstars of STEM research. There are several plusses to cheer about in this highly readable and entertaining volume of collective biography. Not the least of these virtues is the inclusion of six women of color.
The work of these STEM superstars is very diverse. Their career fields include clinical neurology and neurosurgery, wildlife ecology, computer game design, aeronautics and astronautics, paleoclimatology, microbiology, nuclear physics, rocket structural design and analysis engineering, astrophysics, immunoengineering, and endocrinology.
The 12 short biographies open with artistic portraits of the STEM superstars painted by Sally Wern Comport that are complemented with introductory notes listing their hometowns, curriculum vitae, current positions, and notable accomplishments. Candid photographs of the subjects as children and K-12 students further personalize the profiles. The fact-filled introductions of these super scientists and their research is enhanced with generous autobiographical quotations. The subjects reveal serendipitous events or experiences that motivated them to pursue their current STEM pathways. Interviews with the subjects allow them to share pivotal life experiences, including the exemplary contributions of parents, teachers, and mentors, valuable activities such as space or mathematics camps, and other highlights of their young lives including active participation in sports. The mini-biographies end with motivational self talks these woman have used throughout their educational preparedness, careers, and personal lives.
One of the most fascinating profiles is that of Dr. Sara Seager, a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). Born in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Seager earned her Ph. D. in astronomy at Harvard University. In her chaired position at M.I.T., her life work may initially appear to resemble science fiction. Using data from such remarkable tools as the Hubble Telescope, Dr. Seager searches for alien life in the great enormity of the universe. Specifically, she studies exoplanets, a term used by astronomers to label planets that orbit a star other than the sun. She does not sit on top of a mountain at night studying the stars. She primarily works from computers in the search for exoplanets, among billions of galaxies filled with billions of stars, that might have atmospheres to support even a single living plant. Dr. Seager’s germinal research was once considered a flight of fancy. Today, the study of exoplanet atmospheres is a respected field of scientific inquiry.
Despite the fact that her father was a physician, Sara Seager’s childhood was socially difficult due to an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Her disability made it difficult for her to fit in or play with other children. Ironically, the autism spectrum disorder did have at least one benefit. She was and remains capable of intense focus that aids her in the complexity of her highly sophisticated research in the advanced fields of physics and chemistry.
The magnitude of Dr. Seager’s investigations has necessitated that she also become an inventor. Some far distant planets are positioned in front of their stars in such a way that starlight makes it impossible to examine the potential they may have for the presence of life-giving gases such as oxygen. Dr. Seager is developing a star shade that will enhance incoming telescopic data of exoplanets.
Dr. Seager advises today’s children to learn computer programming because it is so essential to STEM professions and the research they involve. However, she also believes that children today are over- programmed. They need to take time to discover their life passions. She also suggests that children learn to accept and embrace failures because they are merely detours on the pathway to eventual successes. She urges youths to always keep their eyes on the prize; there is always a finish line.
All of the profiles are followed up by further explorations of absorbing aspects of the work that engages these remarkable scientists and engineers. Davina Durgana is a world-class statistician who uses mathematics to fight slavery and the human trafficking of children around the globe for Statistics without Borders. The essay that follows her profile explains quantitative and qualitative research, the two major tools of scientific endeavors in STEM fields.
Back matter to be found in this collective biography of exceptional STEM women is scholarly. A glossary includes words related to the investigations of the subjects including such terms as diffraction, microgravity, and sediment cores. The authors additionally suggest 16 further STEM-awareness pursuits such as finding a mentor, taking care of the planet, accepting free money (e.g., scholarships and stipends), and inventing something. Suggestions for further STEM-related readings plus an extensive index complete the final segment of the book.
The depth and array of STEM knowledge to be found in Wonder Women of Science professions is awe-inspiring. The autobiographical statements about their formative years and their current projects and research are invaluable. Parents, educators, and mentors will learn valuable insights into the kinds of guidance that proved especially useful in the formative years of these geniuses. Students will profit from the shared wisdom of the subjects about how to best learn, work, and pursue career dreams.
The first-person statements of the current women superstars of science represented in Women Wonders of Science emphasize the importance of immersion in such additional disciplines as art, literature, music, and social studies. Such broadening explorations have the added benefit of reducing stress. Participation in sports enables children to learn life lessons about winning and losing plus teamwork that transfer into adult work with research and project co-workers. These remarkable scientists and engineers also advise children not to be afraid of being labeled a “nerd.” Their advice: make friends with others in school, at summer camps and weekend classes at universities, or even youths with similar interests via Internet connections.
If there is a fault with this collection of STEM biographies it may be the presumable use of humor to enhance the conversational tone of the text. In their attempt to make the often highly technical information as accessible as possible for young readers, the authors sometimes skirt the edge of frivolity. Parenthetical remarks of levity may serve to put off serious student scholars rather than amuse them.
Home Activities
Invite children to choose one superwomen scientist featured in Wonder Women of Science and use online research tools to investigate her current fast-track research results and STEM work more thoroughly. Such sites include search engines, library data bases, educational podcasts, virtual laboratories, blogs, and videos. Technology and scientific breakthroughs occur so rapidly today that even the information found in a book published in 2021 may already have been eclipsed by yet newer breakthroughs that can only be found online. Children may add new information to their chosen heroine’s profile.
Similarly, ask readers to use at-home technology to investigate the features about STEM topics that follow each profile. For example, what are the most recent developments in 3-D printers? What are tapirs and why is their existence so crucial to saving the rainforests of Brazil?
After reading the fact features that follow each profile, encourage students to summarize the information learned in their own words. For example, after reading about the general structural color research of Minjuan Zhang and her particular interest in the morpho butterfly, challenge STEM learners to write and illustrate a short essay about why blue is a color that living plants and animals can replicate only very rarely.
Fletcher, Tiera & Rue, Ginger. Wonder Women of Science: Twelve Geniuses Who Are Currently Rocking Science, Technology, and the World. Illus. by Sally Wern Comport. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2021.
