Astronaut and Champion of Science Education to Speak

Dr. Mae Jemison — whose many career titles have included astronaut, chemical engineer, physician, entrepreneur and teacher — will speak Wednesday in the final installment of the inaugural ATEC Distinguished Lecture Series.

Her presentation begins at 7 p.m. in the Edith O’Donnell ATEC Building’s lecture hall.

Jemison, the first minority woman to go into space, served six years as a NASA astronaut. She flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-47 Spacelab J mission in 1992. She was NASA’s first science mission specialist, and performed experiments in materials science, life science and human adaptation to weightlessness.

Jemison is currently leading 100 Year Starship (100YSS), an initiative funded by the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to ensure that space travel to another star is possible within the next 100 years.

She also is founder of The Jemison Group Inc., a  technology consulting firm that integrates the impact of socio-cultural issues in technology designs, such as projects using satellite technology for health care delivery in West Africa.

The Jemison Group also explores and develops stand-alone science and technology programs and companies, like BioSentient Corp, a medical technology device and service company focused on improving health and human performance through physiologic awareness and self-regulation.

A voice for science literacy, Jemison founded the international science camp The Earth We Share for students ages 12-16. She also developed Reality Leads Fantasy — Celebrating Women of Color in Flight to highlight women in aviation and space from around the world.

As an environmental studies professor at Dartmouth College, Jemison taught sustainable development and technology design and ran The Jemison Institute for Advancing Technologies in Developing Countries. She was an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.

Jemison is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine and the Board of National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

She is an inductee of the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Medical Association Hall of Fame and the Texas Science Hall of Fame. She also received the National Organization for Women’s Intrepid Award and the Kilby International Award.

Jemison was an Area Peace Corps Medical Officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia for more than two years. Jemison has worked internationally, including in a Cambodian refugee camp and with the Flying Doctors of East Africa.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and met the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in African and Afro-American Studies at Stanford University. Her M.D. is from Cornell University.

Jemison is a speaker on issues of health care, social responsibility, technology and motivation, and has provided commentary for the BBC, McNeil Lehrer Report, ABC Nightline, NPR and CNN.

In her autobiography, Find Where the Wind Goes, she writes for teenagers about growing up on the south side of Chicago, cultivating her aspiration to be a scientist, her experiences as a medical student in Africa and her history-making journey into space.

Jemison appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, hosted the Discovery Channel series World of Wonder and was chosen one of People magazine’s “World’s 50 Most Beautiful People” in 1993.