Woman Crush Wednesday: Mae Jemison

On November 17, I had the chance to see astronaut Mae Jemison give a speech at my alma mater, Lafayette College. Once she walked into the room I had this weird moment where I realized wow, this person who is in this room with me right now, has physically left this planet that we fight about so much. Really puts everything into perspective! I had a friend tell me that this phenomenon is called the "Overview effect": "It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, 'hanging in the void', shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this 'pale blue dot' becomes both obvious and imperative." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect)

I'd like to give a brief summary of Mae Jemison's life and also reflect on the speech she gave, which primarily focused on her current endeavor, 100 Year Starship (https://100yss.org/).

Mae Carol Jemison was born October 17, 1956 in Alabama, but grew up in the southside of Chicago. As a young girl, she always assumed she would get into space. Her parents were supportive of her interests, but when learning that she wanted to be a scientist, her kindergarten teacher said "Don't you mean a nurse?" But no, she wanted to become a scientist and a scientist she became.

Jemison entered Stanford University at the age of 16, and graduated in 1977 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and the requirements for a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies. She had issues being a black woman majoring in engineering, with some professors just ignoring her completely, but credits her "I'm going to do this and I don't give a damn" attitude.

She obtained her Doctorate Degree in Medicine from Cornell in 1981 and worked as a general practitioner in Los Angeles. Then, in 1983, she joined the Peace Corps and served as the Medical Officer until 1985, serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

After Sally Ride's flight in 1983, Jemison decided to apply to NASA. She was also inspired by African-American actress Nichelle Nichols who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. In 1987, she was selected as one of fifteen candidates out of 2,000 applicants. Prior to her shuttle launch, she worked on launch support activities and verified the Shuttle computer software.

From September 12 to 20, 1992, Jemison flew her only space mission on Endeavour as a Mission Specialist on the 50th shuttle mission. She was the co-investigator on a bone cell research experiment and conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness. With this flight, she became the first African-American woman in space.

She resigned from NASA in 1993 to pursue her interest in how social sciences interact with technologies.She has been a professor at both Dartmouth College and Cornell University. In 1993, she founded the Jemison Group that researches, markets, and develops science and technology for daily life. In 1999, she founded BioSentient Corp to develop a portable device to allow mobile monitoring of the involuntary nervous system. And then, in 2012, she became the principal for the 100 Year Starship organization.

One last thing before I discuss her lecture: in 1993 she became the first real astronaut to ever appear on Star Trek, as Lieutenant Palmer on Star Trek: The Next Generation.


The main thing Mae talked about was how we need to get people from more varied backgrounds into the sciences, because perspective really matters. For instance, she remembers hearing doctors say "you can't just go cutting stuff off" when they discussed treatment for testicular cancer, yet the most common treatment for breast cancer at the time was a mastectomy. So we need lots of different people at the table to interpret the data differently.

This is reflected in her team at the 100 Year Starship project, which has the goal of making the capability of human travel beyond our solar system a reality within the next 100 years. There is a need to not only have people from different races, genders, and places across the globe, but also to have people from various different disciplines working on these ideas. For instance, someone who is going to figure out the key to getting enough energy to go interstellar (whether fission, fusion, or antimatter) may not be the best person to determine what clothes the voyagers should be wearing or what food they can grow on their trip that will last years and years if it ever ends at all. And currently some of the better people to work on data compression issues are those who work in the video game industry. So it won't just be scientists and astronauts who will figure this out, but everyone who has something to bring to the table.

Another interesting point was that the technology needed to go interstellar will greatly benefit our own world. Figuring out how the astronauts can be self-sufficient will help humanity stay self-sufficient. This has already happened; a lot of the technology we use today was originally developed for space travel. So we should be putting money and effort into both developing the technology for space travel, and just learning about space, as this will only benefit life on earth.

Mae said that one thing we need to come to terms with is that we are all Earthlings, first and foremost. And we are already all in space. So a lot can be learned about our own planet and sun and solar system by studying other planets and suns and solar systems. Perhaps we can learn more about where we came from, and, more importantly in my opinion, where we are going. At the end of the day, MOST of us are going to be staying on this planet for the rest of our lives. So we need to be better about working together so that we can do something bigger as a whole.

Finally, one last quote from Mae's talk that made me laugh: "[Going interstellar] is not impossible in terms of the physics... but the engineering is rough."

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison
https://100yss.org/mission/team
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/jemison-mc.html
http://www.biography.com/people/mae-c-jemison-9542378
http://www.makers.com/mae-jemison

Woman Crush Wednesday: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Today I would like to pay a final tribute to a woman that I think I know a lot about, but probably know nothing about at all. This biography will be strictly the life story and accomplishments of a trailblazing lady. Are there a plethora of scandals that we can delve into? Sure. But the election is over; she's not going to be our first Madame President. For my purposes here, there's no point in rehashing all the conspiracies.

I just want to learn about a woman who, over this past year or so, has inspired me to get involved more so that I have before, to find the causes I deeply care about and fight for them, and perhaps to eventually start my own political journey

SO without further ado, may I present Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton:

Hillary Rodham was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947. Her father, Hugh, managed a small business where he designed, printed, and sold draperies. He was a World War II Navy veteran and a lifelong Republican. Her mother, Dorothy, was a homemaker. Hillary also has two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony. Hugh is a lawyer and Tony a businessman. The family lived in Park Ridge, Illinois as a middle-class family, and were part of the the Methodist church.

During her school years, Hillary was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. She attended a public high school and was part of the student council, school newspaper, and the National Honor Society. In her junior year, she was the class vice president, but she lost the election for class president her senior year. As a senior, she graduated in the top five percent of her class and was voted "most likely to succeed."

Hillary was raised in a politically conservative household, which led to her volunteering for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. In 1965, she enrolled in Wellesley College as a political science major, and served as the president of the Young Republicans club as a freshman. However, as the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War became forefront, Hillary, who described herself as "a mind conservative and a heart liberal", started to shift her political views to the left. She became president of the Wellesley College Government Association, and worked with Wellesley's black students to recruit more black students and faculty following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of her fellow students believed that she might one day become the first female President of the United States.

When she graduated from Wellesley in 1969, she became the first student commencement speaker in the history of the college. Her speech received a seven minute long standing ovation, and she was featured in Life magazine.

After college, Hillary attended Yale Law School, where she met and began dating fellow student Bill Clinton. She interned at the law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Brunstein who supported constitutional rights and civil liberties causes, with Bill cancelling his summer plans to live with her during her internship. The following summer, Hillary and Bill campaigned in Texas for George McGovern's presidency. After receiving her Juris Doctor degree in 1973, Bill first proposed marriage, but Hillary declined.

Post graduation, Hillary served as staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund. She was also a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington, D.C. She was viewed in Washington as someone with a bright political future, especially by Democratic political organizer and consultant Betsey Wright who thought she had the potential to become President. But then she failed the District of Columbia bar exam while passing the Arkansas exam, so she "chose to follow [her] heart instead of [her] head" and followed Bill Clinton to Arkansas, becoming one of only two female faculty members in the School of Law at the University of Arkansas.

At the university, Hillary gave classes in criminal law and became the first director of a legal aid clinic at the school. Meanwhile, Bill kept proposing marriage but she was concerned that her separate identity would be lost and her accomplishments viewed in the light of someone else's. Hillary finally agreed to marry Bill in 1975, but she kept her maiden name, Hillary Rodham, to keep their professional lives separate.

In 1976, Bill was elected Arkansas Attorney General and the couple moved to Little Rock. Here she joined the Rose Law Firm, specializing in patent infringement and intellectual property law, while also working pro bono in child advocacy. In 1978, Bill became Governor and Hillary became First Lady of Arkansas. She also became the first woman to be made a full partner of Rose Law Firm this year. Then on February 27, 1980, Hillary and Bill became parents to Chelsea.

While campaigning for Bill's re-election in 1982, Hillary began calling herself Hillary Clinton or Mrs. Bill Clinton due to the concerns of Arkansas voters, and took a leave of absence from Rose Law to campaign for him full-time. As First Lady of Arkansas, she was named chair of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee and successfully established mandatory state standards for curriculum. She then introduced Arkansas's Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth to help parents prepare their children for preschool.

During this time, she was the first chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession to address gender bias, she was twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, she served on the boards of the Arkansas Children' Hospital Legal Services and the Children's Defense Fund, and held positions on the corporate board of directory of TCBY, Lafarge, and Wal-Mart. She was the first female member on Wal-Mart's board and pushed successfully for Wal-Mart to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.

Then, in 1992, despite the beginning of the controversies surrounding Bill's affairs, and Hillary's comments on pursuing a career and not staying home baking cookies, William Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States, with Hillary as First Lady.

She was the first First Lady to have earned a postgraduate degree and have her own professional career. Critics found it inappropriate for the first lady to play such a central role in matters of public policy, but supporters pointed out that voters were aware that she would play an active role. Bill Clinton even gave a campaign promise of "two for the price of one".

In 1997, Hillary along with Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch, passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which provided state support for children whose parents could not provide them with health coverage. Along with Attorney General Janet Reno, Hillary helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Deportment of Justice. She also initiated the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the Foster Care Independence Act, and hosted White House conferences on Child Care, Early Childhood Development, Children and Adolescents, Teenagers, and Philanthropy.

As First Lady, Hillary traveled to 79 countries, including her famous trip to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing where she declared "it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights," despite pressure from the administration to soften her remarks. This speech became a key moment in the empowerment of women around the world. She later spoke out against the treatment of Afghan women by the Taliban and helped to create Vital Voices, and organization to promote the participation of women in the political processes of their countries.

In 2000, at the urging of several prominent Democratic figures, Hillary ran and became the Democratic candidate for the New York Senate seat. After visiting all 62 counties in New York on a listening tour, she easily defeated opponent Rick Lazio and was sworn in as U.S. Senator on January 3, 2001 WHILE STILL SERVING AS FIRST LADY (albeit for only a few weeks longer).

As a Senator, she built relationships with senators from both parties and served on five Senate committees. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, she fought to obtain funding for the recovery efforts and security improvements, and later took a leading role in investigating the health issues faced by the first responders.

In 2008, Hillary finally ran for President of the United States, but Senator Barack Obama, despite a close race, ended up with enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party. Hillary stayed in the race until this point because, according to one advisor, "She could accept losing. She could not accept quitting." Hillary conceded on June 7, 2008 and gave a speech supporting Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

After Obama won the presidency, he appointed Hillary as U.S. Secretary of State, making her first former First Lady to serve in the United States Cabinet. As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary visited 112 countries making her the most widely traveled secretary of state. She brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that averted a war, and made advancing the status of women and girls around the world a core part of U.S. foreign policy. In a speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council, she recalled her prior speech and declared that "gay rights are human rights", and that the U.S. would advocate for gay rights and legal protection of the LGBT community abroad.

Finally, in 2015, Hillary ran for President again, becoming the first women to be nominated for President by a major U.S. political party as the Democratic nominee. I think we all know how that went.

In 2014, Hillary became grandmother to Chelsea's daughter Charlotte. And, in 2016, she became a grandmother again to Chelsea's son Aidan.

It's unknown what is next for Hillary Rodham Clinton, but if she decides to retire from public life and enjoy her grandchildren, I hope she does so knowing that she has accomplished so much more than most!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/about/hillary/
http://www.biography.com/people/hillary-clinton-9251306#related-video-gallery
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/10/opinions/hillary-clinton-biography-carl-bernstein/

Throwback Thursday: Sally Ride

I don't recall why or where I read it this week, but I once again heard the statement (unsure if proven fact) that, before her one week long space mission, NASA engineers asked Sally Ride if 100 tampons were the right number. So now I got Sally Ride on my mind and decided to learn more about her for this week's Throwback Thursday!

Also of note, when verifying the above I found the following link and I really enjoyed the quote from Ann Friedman while talking about Sally Ride: "to be first is to relinquish the complicated specifics of your story and become a caricature, a stand-in for the ideals of a movement or for the hope and pain of a moment in history." I'm sure many of my Throwback Thursday ladies could relate to that statement!

Sally Ride was born May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles, California. She was fascinated by science, and credited her parents for encouraging her interests. She attended the private Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles and was a nationally ranked tennis player. After high school, Ride attended Swarthmore College for three semesters, then took physics courses as UCLA, and finally entered Standford University as a junior. While at Stanford, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in English, and a Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D in Physics.

In 1977, while Sally was earning her Ph.D at Stanford, NASA began looking for women astronauts. She saw an ad in the school newspaper inviting scientists and engineers, including women, to apply to the astronaut program and decided to apply... along with 8,000 other people. 35 new astronauts were chosen, including Ride and 5 other women. In 1979, Ride became eligible for assignment as an astronaut on a space shuttle flight crew after a yearlong training and evaluation period. And then on June 18, 1983, Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the shuttle Challenger. (Preceded only by two Soviet women, the first all the way back in 1963!)

Aboard the Challenger, Ride's job was to work the robotic arm, which she used to help put satellites into space. Prior to the mission, Ride was asked questions such as "Do you weep when things go wrong on the job" at a press conference, yet she insisted that, despite the historical significance of her presence on the mission, she only saw herself as a fellow astronaut.

Her second space flight, also on board the Challenger, was in 1984. Ride had completed eight months of training for her third flight when the space shuttle Challenger disaster occurred, halting the mission. Ride served on the Presidential Commission to investigate the tragedy and, according to General Donald Kutyna after Ride's death, provided Kutyna with key information about O-rings which led to the identification of the cause of the explosion. Ride retired from NASA in 1987 with 343 hours in space.

After NASA, Ride first worked at Standford University Center for International Security and Arms Control, and then became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the California Space Institute. Ride was a long time advocate for improved science education, and co-wrote seven science books for children. She also led two public-outreach programs for NASA, the ISS EarthKAM and GRAIL MoonKAM projects, which allowed middle school students to request images of the Earth and moon.

In 2001, she co-founded Sally Ride Science, a company that creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on girls. She served as the president and CEO until her passing.

Sally Ride died on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61, seventeen months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After her death, her obituary revealed that her partner of 27 years was Tam O'Shaughnessy who co-founded Sally Ride Science and currently serves as the CEO. O'Shaughnessy was also the co-author of six of the previously mentioned book. Sally chose to keep her relationship and other details of her life private during her lifetime, but with this revelation she also becomes the first known LGBT astronaut.

Among many other tributes, Sally Ride was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. On November 20, 2013, Ride received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. The medal was presented to her life partner Tam O'Shaughnessy, in the presence of Sally's mother and sister. In 2014, Ride was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBT history and people.

Finally, I found some quotes attributed to Sally Ride that I would like to leave you with:

"I never went into physics or the astronaut corps to become a role model. But after my first flight, it became clear to me that I was one. And I began to understand the importance of that to people. Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can't be what you can't see."

"If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys."

"I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job."

"I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals."

I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sally_ride.html

I felt very honored, and I knew that people would be watching very closely, and I felt it was very, very important that I do a good job.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sally_ride.html

References:

http://gizmodo.com/nasa-engineers-offered-sally-ride-100-tampons-for-a-7-d-1594243379
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/who-was-sally-ride-k4.html
https://sallyridescience.com/about/dr-sally-ride
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-secret-life-of-sally-ride-the-first-american-woman-1586255004

Woman Crush Wednesday: My Story

In addition to Throwback Thursday, I would like to start featuring more modern women who are actively doing things. And first and foremost, every woman should have a woman crush on herself, right? This week I shared my story with BSGU's Let Girls Learn initiative.

BSGU (Bowling Green State University) Let Girls Learn (link here) is "a theatre class project aimed at raising awareness about girls' education around the world. As part of our 'take action' campaign, we hope to share the stories of young women from around the world who have experienced successes and/or barriers to their education. We are looking for women willing to tell of their experience through video and written forms."

And Let Girls Learn (link here) is a United States government initiative to ensure adolescent girls around the world get the education they deserve. Launched by the President and First Lady in March 2015, Let Girls Learn "brings together the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), as well as other agencies and programs like the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential. Let Girls Learn combines the necessary political will, diplomacy, grassroots organizing, and development expertise to create lasting change."

This is my face. I took this picture while visiting my college campus recently for a weekend event, and joked about there finally being more women than men on the Electrical and Computer Engineering floor... because no one else was there.

The story I provided to BSGU Let Girls Learn:

My name is Lauren, and I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Fairly conservative area, but despite that no one in my family or in my school fed me any of the stereotypes associated with being a woman in engineering. I just knew I liked math better than English, so I took the AP math and AP physics courses. For AP Physics in particular, I did notice that there were more boys in the class than girls, but didn't really think about it. In my junior year, the AP Physics teacher had the opportunity to send some students for free to an engineering camp at Widener University. Some male and some female students were selected, myself included, and I have no memory of the camp putting any focus on gender. There were definitely male and female students in all of my classes, there wasn't any special seminar for the girls, and everyone had fun and learned things and made friends.

At that camp I had the most fun building circuits, so I decided to go to college for Electrical Engineering (which, at Lafayette College, ended up being Electrical and Computer Engineering). The ONLY inkling I had before starting college that my chosen path was abnormal was my father saying "this is what you want to do?" while taking a tour.

But then I got to college and oh man, was I an anomaly. I was the only female ECE student in my year, and there were no females the year above me and no females the year below me. For someone who is very shy and likes to fade into the background, this was a bit uncomfortable. It's kind of hard to hide when you are the only person on the entire floor with boobs. I definitely got discouraged while at school (and still do at my web developer job) when I couldn't figure something out, because I felt like (and feel like) I'm proving a point about my gender. Whereas if one of the guys struggles, it only reflects him.

Me being the only girl on the floor (and even today, one of the few females in my company) definitely forced me to develop a thick skin. Not that anyone was mean, but more that they didn't realize how an easy joke could make me second guess myself. Like joking that I didn't belong in Computer Engineering because I didn't play video games like the rest of them. It's true. I don't fit the stereotype. The few females that were Computer Science majors blended in more. They played video games, they wore jeans and t-shirts, they watched shows like Archer and Adventure Time... I wear dresses. My laptop is pink. My favorite shows are New Girl and The Mindy Project. I haven't played a video or computer game since middle school. But none of that has anything to do with my ability to code.

If I had known going into it that my very existence in this computer science world would be such an event, I'm not sure I would have done it. I didn't want to be the center of attention. I didn't want to have to make sure to be in the lab during Saturday tours so they could show people I existed. But if I could do it all over again, I still would. I've had to grow a lot as a person, which was good for me.

But I fear that other girls are discouraged from even entering this coding world because they don't fit the part. So I'm trying to do MY part to change the narrative. Still figuring out the details of the "how", but I did start my Facebook and Instagram: it's Had Me @ Hello World (@hadmeathelloworld). To show that you can watch romantic comedies by night and develop software by day!

Fierce Friday: Scars To Your Beautiful

I heard this song by Alessia Cara on the radio a few weeks ago, and actually sat in my car until it was finished because I was like "yaaaaas". (Not really, I don't say that. But I feel it!) I still don't understand "scars to your beautiful", but mostly due to the grammar/sentence structure (is 'beautiful' a noun?)! But I love the underlying message and so it's a nice chill yet empowering song for a nice chill Friday!

Empowering Lyrics: "And you don't have to change a thing, The world could change its heart"



Full Lyrics:

She just wants to be beautiful
She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits,
She craves attention, she praises an image,
She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor
Oh she don't see the light that's shining
Deeper than the eyes can find it
Maybe we have made her blind
So she tries to cover up her pain, and cut her woes away
'Cause covergirls don't cry after their face is made

But there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful

She has dreams to be an envy, so she's starving
You know, "Covergirls eat nothing."
She says, "Beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything."
"What's a little bit of hunger?"
"I could go a little while longer," she fades away
She don't see her perfect, she don't understand she's worth it
Or that beauty goes deeper than the surface
Ah oh, ah ah oh,
So to all the girls that's hurting
Let me be your mirror, help you see a little bit clearer
The light that shines within

There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful

No better you than the you that you are
(no better you than the you that you are)
No better life than the life we're living
(no better life than the life we're living)
No better time for your shine, you're a star
(no better time for your shine, you're a star)
Oh, you're beautiful, oh, you're beautiful

There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful

~ http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alessiacara/scarstoyourbeautiful.html

Throwback Thursday: Edith Clarke

For this week's Throwback Thursday I am honoring Edith Clarke! I couldn't find anyone inspiring to talk about last week (it's not that they don't exist, it's that they are hard to find! Which is why I'm doing this), but Edith certainly turned that around this week!

Edith Clarke was born in 1883 in a small farming community in Maryland as one of nine children. Unfortunately by age 12 she was an orphan. However, despite living in a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to acquire a college degree, she was able to use her small inheritance to enroll in Vassar College at age 18. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and graduated in 1908 with Phi Beta Kappa honors.

After college, Clarke taught mathematics and physics at a private girls' school in San Francisco and then at Marshall College in West Virginia. "Wanting to be an engineer, however, Clarke enrolled in the civil engineering program at the University of Wisconsin in 1911. A summer job as a mathematical computing assistant at AT&T changed those plans, though, as she decided to remain full-time at AT&T... Clarke eventually became the manager of a group of women 'computers' who made calculations for the Transmission and Protection Engineering Department during World War I. During that time she also studied radio at Hunter College and electrical engineering at Columbia University". (www.agnesscott.edu)

In 1918, Clarke left AT&T to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in their EE program, and in 1919 became the first woman to earn her master's degree in electrical engineering from MIT. Upon graduation, however, she found the the opportunities for women in the engineering field to be very limited, so she went to work as a "computer" again, this time for General Electric (http://msa.maryland.gov).

During this time, she filed a patent application describing her invention of a graphical calculator to be used in the solution of electric power transmission problems. In 1921, frustrated with her inability to obtain a position as an engineer at GE and wishing to see more of the world, she left GE to teach physics at the Constantinople Women's College in Turkey. But then in 1922 she was re-hired by GE as an officially recognized salaried electrical engineer in the Central Station Engineering Department, making her the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the United States.

She worked at GE for 26 years until 1945, at which point she retired to join the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Texas-Austin. This made her (you guessed it!) the first female professor of Electrical Engineering in the country. She retired from teaching in 1956, and Edith Clarke died in October 1959 at the age of 76.

Additional accomplishments among her long list of "firsts" include being the first woman to present a paper before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (later to become IEEE) in 1926. Her paper had critical national importance, as she applied a mathematical technique called the method of symmetrical components to model a large power system and its behavior. (http://www.edisontechcenter.org)

Additionally, she became the first woman to be elected a fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1948, and then, in 1954, she received a lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers "in recognition of her many original contributions to stability theory and circuit analysis." (http://www.engineergirl.org) Her two volume work, Circuit Analysis of A-C Power Systems, was published in 1943 and 1950. Edith Clarke was also the first female engineer to achieve professional standing in Tau Beta Pi. In 2015, Clarke was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

After that exhausting list of "firsts", I'll leave you with an Edith Clarke quote:

"There is no demand for women engineers, as such, as there are for women doctors; but there's always a demand for anyone who can do a good piece of work."




As always, if you have suggestions for future "Throwback Thursday" women, you can email hadmeathelloworld@gmail.com, comment below, or comment on the Facebook page!

References:

http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Clarke.html
http://www.engineergirl.org/Engineers/HistoricalEngineers/4399.aspx
http://ethw.org/Edith_Clarke
http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/clarke.html
https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/clarke.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Clarke

Fierce Friday: Rise

Ellen DeGeneres had Tony Marrero, a survivor from the Pulse attacks in Orlando on her show this week, and he talked about Katy Perry's song "Rise" and how inspirational he found it, keeping him going during his darkest moments. Then Katy Perry walked out on stage, and after everyone cried, Marrero told Perry, "I just want to say thank you for everything you do. Your lyrics to that song helped me from the day I was in the hospital all the way to now. Thank you."

I had not yet heard the song, so I listened to it. It's a bit slow for my taste, but I'm still making it my Fierce Friday song!

Empowering Line(s): "I won’t just survive. Oh, you will see me thrive... I won’t just conform. No matter how you shake my core".



Lyrics:

I won’t just survive
Oh, you will see me thrive
Can’t write my story
I’m beyond the archetype

I won’t just conform
No matter how you shake my core
‘Cause my roots they run deep, oh

Oh, ye of so little faith
Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Victory is in my veins
I know it, I know it
And I will not negotiate
I’ll fight it, I’ll fight it
I will transform

When, when the fire’s at my feet again
And the vultures all start circling
They’re whispering, "You’re out of time”
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident
When you think the final nail is in
Think again
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

I must stay conscious
Through the madness and chaos
So I call on my angels
They say

Oh, ye of so little faith
Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Victory is in your veins
You know it, you know it
And you will not negotiate
Just fight it, just fight it
And be transformed

‘Cause when, when the fire’s at my feet again
And the vultures all start circling
They’re whispering, "You’re out of time”
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident
When you think the final nail is in
Think again
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Oh, oh, oh, oh
You know it, you know it
Still rise
Just fight it, just fight it
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

Throwback Thursday: Ada Lovelace

For this week's Throwback Thursday, I'm taking a look at Ada Lovelace. This is a name I've been hearing for a while, and always mentioned when discussion Women in STEM, but I realized I actually know nothing about who this mysterious "Ada Lovelace" is! Time to change that.

Ada Lovelace was actually born Augusta Ada Byron on December 10, 1815. She was the only legitimate child of famed poet Lord Byron, though Ada never had a relationship with him. Ada went on to marry William King, who became the Earl of Lovelace. This then gave Ada the title Countess of Lovelace. Ada Lovelace died November 27, 1852, at the age of 37, from cancer.

Ada's mother, who had mathematical training herself, insisted that her daughter receive tutoring in mathematics and music, "as disciplines to counter dangerous poetic tendencies" from her father. (www.sdsc.edu) This was a most unusual education for a woman at this time as the participation of noblewomen in intellectual pursuits was not widely encouraged. (Not that it's particularly encouraged 200 years later!) However, Ada and her mother were part of the elite London society, which gave Ada the opportunity to meet Charles Babbage at a party when she was 17.

(And here is where I start directly quoting other sources as I can't say it better!)

Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge, was the "inventor of the Difference Engine, an elaborate calculating machine that operated by the method of finite differences".(www.sdsc.edu)

"Ada got a chance to look at the (Difference Engine) before it was finished, and was captivated by it. Babbage also created plans for another device known as the analytical engine, designed to handle more complex calculations.

"Ada was later asked to translate an article on Babbage's analytical engine that had been written by Italian engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea for a Swiss journal. She not only translated the original French text in English, but also added her own thoughts and ideas on the machine. Her notes ended up being three times longer than the original article. Her work was published in 1843, in an English science journal...

"In her notes, Ada described how codes could be created for the device to handle letters and symbols along with numbers. She also theorized a method for the engine to repeat a series of instructions, a process known as looping that computer programs use today." (www.biography.com)

"The Notes included the first published description of a stepwise sequence of operations for solving certain mathematical problems and Ada is often referred to as 'the first programmer'" (http://www.computerhistory.org)

"Perhaps more importantly, the article contained statements by Ada that from a modern perspective are visionary. She speculated that the Engine 'might act upon other things besides number... the Engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent'. The idea of a machine that could manipulate symbols in accordance with rules and that number could represent entities other than quantity mark the fundamental transition from calculation to computation. Ada was the first to explicitly articulate this notion and in this she appears to have seen further than Babbage. She has been referred to as 'prophet of the computer age'. Certainly she was the first to express the potential for computers outside mathematics." (http://www.computerhistory.org)

Overall, Ada "understood the plans for the device as well as Babbage but was better at articulating its promise." (www.sdsc.edu)

Truly amazing how a woman in the mid-1800s could already visualize all of the amazing things humans went on to do with computers, aside from just calculating mathematical equations. Especially considering that when I saw the commercial for the first iPhone, I thought it was as joke! There was no way you could do all that with a cell phone. Yet here we are.

Ada Lovelace has a computer language named after her (Ada), that was created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense. Also, "Ada Lovelace Day" is an annual event celebrated in mid-October whose goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. I've never before heard of Ada Lovelace Day (we have all these events to inspire women, but they aren't well advertised!!) , but look forward to celebrating this year on October 11!

References:

http://www.biography.com/people/ada-lovelace-20825323
https://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html
http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

Fierce Friday: Girl in a Country Song

I remember hearing Maddie & Tae's "Girl in a Country Song" a few years ago, and just loved how they called out how girls are treated in many country songs! It takes some guts to do that! Also the gender reversal of the video is hilarious.

Empowering line: "'Cause I got a name, And to you it ain't 'pretty little thing', 'honey' or 'baby'"



Lyrics:

("No country music was harmed in the making of this song, this is only a test-t-t.")

Well, I wish I had some shoes on my two bare feet
And it's gettin' kinda cold in these painted on cut-off jeans
I hate the way this bikini top chafes
Do I really have to wear it all day? (Yeah, baby)

I hear you over there on your tailgate whistlin' [whistle]
Sayin', "Hey girl." ("Hey, girl.")
But you know I ain't listenin'
'Cause I got a name
And to you it ain't "pretty little thing", "honey" or "baby"
Yeah it's drivin' me red-red-red-red-red-red-redneck crazy

[Chorus:]
Bein' the girl in a country song
How in the world did it go so wrong?
Like all we're good for
Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend
Nothing more
We used to get a little respect
Now we're lucky if we even get
To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along
And be the girl in a country song

Well, shakin' my moneymaker ain't ever made me a dime
And there ain't no sugar for you in this shaker of mine
Tell me one more time, "you gotta get you some of that"
Sure I'll slide on over, but you're gonna get slapped (Hah!)
These days it ain't easy being that

[Chorus:]
Girl in a country song
How in the world did it go so wrong?
Like all we're good for
Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend
Nothing more
We used to get a little respect
Now we're lucky if we even get
To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along
And be the girl in a country song (Yeah, yeah, yeah, baby)

Aww no, Conway and George Strait
Never did it this way
Back in the old days
Aww y'all, we ain't a cliché
That ain't no way
To treat a lady...

[Chorus:]
... like a girl in a country song
How in the world did it go so wrong?
Like all we're good for
Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend
Nothing more
(Woo)
We used to get a little respect
Now we're lucky if we even get
To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along
Down some old dirt road we don't even wanna be on
And be the girl in a country song

("Yeah, baby, I ain't your tan legged Juliet. Can I put on some real clothes now? ")

Aww, no
(Ha-ha-ha...) 

 

 

~ http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/maddietae/girlinacountrysong.html

Throwback Thursday: Katherine Johnson

Today's #ThrowbackThursday is in honor of Katherine Johnson, an African American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician whose work helped the US land a man on the moon.

Unlike Margaret Hamilton and Grace Hopper, who I had heard about previously albeit super briefly, I had never heard of Katherine Johnson until last week while searching the #womensequalityday hashtag on Instagram to see all the inspirational messages. One of the posts was from @blackgirlscode, who honored both Women's Equality Day AND Katherine Johnson, as last Friday, August 26, she turned 98 years old!

(Same, Katherine. Same. I've always said I prefer math because you are either right or wrong. Unlike English where a teacher can give you a bad grade just for not liking your style! Not that I'm still bitter or anything...).

Katherine Johnson was born August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At an early age, Johnson showed a passion and talent for math, however the county she lived in did not offer schooling for black students past the eighth grade. Her father understood the importance of education and wanted his daughter to meet her potential, so he drove his family 120 miles to Institute, West Virginia so she could go to high school. Katherine ended up skipping through grades quickly and graduated from high school at age 14, and then from West Virginia State College at age 18.

After years as a teacher and a stay-at-home mother, Johnson began working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor for NASA, in 1953. NACA began hiring women for the tedious work of measuring and calculating the results of wind tunnel tests in 1935. During the war, they expanded this effort to include African-American women as well. These women had the job title of "computer" before the time of electronic computers. NACA was so pleased with the results that they kept women employed as "computers" even after the war was over, and a spot opened up for Katherine Johnson.

Johnson calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She also calculated the launch window for Shepard's 1961 Mercury mission and the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. NASA began using electronic computers in 1962 for John Glenn's orbit around Earth, but Glenn refused to fly unless Katherine verified the computer's calculations.

On Tuesday, November 24, 2015, Katherine Johnson received the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack Obama, for being a pioneering example of African American women in STEM.

Note to self: do more research on these early women computers. I love the fact that computers used to be women!!

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson
http://www.makers.com/blog/women-behind-hidden-figures-movie
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count

Reading Corner: Bossypants - Tina Fey

I've been meaning to get back into reading since I stopped reading pretty much the first day of college. Or maybe the day I got a smartphone. Though I guess you need to clarify in this day and age... I READ all the time. But they are all just online articles: some click-bait, some news sources, some a combo of the two (looking at you, Cracked and Buzzfeed). But I need to take more breaks from the screen (sometimes I feel like my eyes are burning!). I need something printed, in my hand, that I can read on car trips without worrying about the battery dying, or to read at night when my eyes declare no more screens.

So I got a library card! Ooooo. I went to the local library, marveled at the people doing research on the library computers, gasped at people doing research WITH BOOKS, and picked up Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.

But that seems like it could be a bit heavy for my first foray back into reading, so I also grabbed Bossypants by Tina Fey.

Overall, Bossypants was fine. I'm personally not able to connect to Tina Fey as much as I am to, say, Mindy Kaling in "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" But Mindy is more my generation (sorry, Tina, if that's offensive!) and her voice is more similar to my voice. Tina Fey has a drive that I admire, if unable to emulate. I learned a lot about the life and career of a woman that I just take for granted at this point. But she broke more barriers than I realized!

(Also, Tina Fey grew up about 7 miles from where I grew up in eastern PA, so there were some references that I appreciated, which made me feel cool!!)

Throughout her narrative, there were definitely a few sections that stood out, with some hidden nuggets of wisdom that I feel could be applied to women in the workforce. I'd like to highlight them here:

The first was preceded by a short SNL story, when Lorne Michaels was considering adding another woman to the cast and one of the actresses worried that this girl was too similar to her, and there wouldn't be enough to go around. But as Tina pointed out, if they were literally making up the show, how could there not be enough roles to go around? As Fey writes:

"This is what I tell young women who ask me for career advice. People are going to trick you. To make you feel that you are in competition with one another. 'You're up for a promotion. If they go with a woman, it'll be between you and Barbara.' Don't be fooled. You're not in competition with other women. You're in competition with everyone." (88)

This is a good thing to remember. Logically, of COURSE you are in competition with everyone for every promotion. But there does seem to be this underlying understanding that if, for instance, the boss needs three people to lead this team, gender is going to come into play. If they pick three women, people might scrutinize their work a little more and have less faith in the team. If they pick three men, well, people will cry "sexism!" (or, at least, the boss will fear that they will). So instead of everyone being evaluated equally, there's this feeling that maybe only one woman will be on the team to "round it out", so all the women are only competing with each other, rather than with everyone. And because of that, they will be less likely to help other women succeed because they view someone else's success as a threat.

That's based on no facts or anything, so don't hold me to it. Just a feeling that I can see some people having! Personally I want all my coworkers to succeed. I was on an all-female team at one point and I don't think anyone thought of us differently. Although it was pointed out that it was an all-female team, which I don't believe happens on any of the all-male teams!

Another nugget of wisdom was on pages 84 and 85, under the fancy heading "Rules of Improvisation".  These rules helped me understand how Tina Fey has been able to accomplish so much. So much of the "Rules of Improvisation", which Tina would have needed to follow when she started out as a member of The Second City, the famous Chicago-based improvisation group, can be applied to interacting with others in the workforce. I would almost go so far as to say that everyone should take an improv class to learn to just not be afraid to speak up! An excerpt reads:

"The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES... The second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but YES, AND... to me YES, AND means don't be afraid to contribute. Always make sure you're adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile. The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying "Don't ask questions all the time"... In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don't just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles... MAKE STATEMENTS also applies to us women. Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions... Make statements, with your actions and your voice... THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities... In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents."

See what I mean? That's some golden life advice there!

(If interested, the whole excerpt can be found here).

For some more direct advice (albeit unsolicited) to women in the workplace, Tina recalled an interaction between Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. I apologize in advance for the language:

"Amy made it clear that she wasn't there to be cute. She wasn't there to play wives and girlfriends in the boy's scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you like it." (144)

Which lead to the aforementioned advice:

"So my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: 'Is this person in between me and what I want to do?' If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you're in charge, don't hire the people who were jerky to you... If the answer is yes, you have a more difficult road ahead of you. I suggest you model your strategy after the old Sesame Street film piece 'Over! Under! Through!'... If your boss is a jerk, try to find someone above or around your boss who is not a jerk.

"Again, don't waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions. Go 'Over! Under! Through!' and opinions will change organically when you're the boss. Or they won't. Who cares? Do your thing and don't care if they like it." (145)

This was advice that I needed, both personally and professionally. If we are doing something that others perceive as abnormal, whether that be our political opinions, our love lives, or our career paths, as long as what we are doing is legal, who cares what others think? Obviously there will continue to be people who see certain careers as a man's job, but unless these people are physically blocking you from advancing in that career, who cares? It's no use wasting time and energy convincing them that you can do it. Just DO IT, and they'll come to the correct conclusion on their own. Or they won't, and they'll live a sad life.

So thank you Tina Fey, for your small nuggets of wisdom!

If you'd like to read it for yourself, the book can be found here, or in your local bookstore or library! I even returned it on time.

If you have any book suggestions for me with my brand-spanking-new library card, let me know!

Thanks for reading :)

Fierce Friday: Sit Still, Look Pretty

I actually had a different song in mind for today's Fierce Friday, but in honor of Women's Equality Day, I gotta rock out to some Daya! True story, I sing this song loudly when frustrated. I cry throughout but by the end, I'm PUMPED.



Lyrics:

Could dress up
To get love
But guess what?
I'm never gonna be that girl
Who's living in a Barbie world

Could wake up
In make up,
And play dumb
Pretending that I need a boy
Who's gonna treat me like a toy

I know the other girlies wanna wear expensive things
Like diamond rings
But I don't wanna be the puppet that you're playing on a string
This queen don't need a king

Oh, I don't know what you've been told
But this gal right here's gonna rule the world
Yeah, that is where I'm gonna be because I wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still, look pretty
You get off on your 9 to 5
Dream of picket fences and trophy wives
But no, I'm never gonna be 'cause I don't wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still look pretty

Mr. Right could be nice for one night
But then he wanna take control
And I would rather fly solo

That Snow White
She did right
In her life
Had 7 men to do the chores
'Cause that's not what a lady's for

The only thing a boy's gonna give a girl for free's captivity
And I might love me some vanilla but I'm not that sugar sweet
Call me HBIC

Oh, I don't know what you've been told
But this gal right here's gonna rule the world
Yeah, that is where I'm gonna be, because I wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still, look pretty
You get off on your 9 to 5
Dream of picket fences and trophy wives
But no, I'm never gonna be, 'cause I don't wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still look pretty

[2x]
Sure, I'm a pretty girl
Up in a pretty world
But they say pretty hurts
And I don't wanna sit still
I'm a pretty girl
Up in a pretty world
But no, I won't sit still, look pretty

Oh, I don't know what you've been told
But this gal right here's gonna rule the world
Yeah, that is where I'm gonna be because I wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still, look pretty
You get off on your 9 to 5
Dream of picket fences and trophy wives
But no, I'm never gonna be 'cause I don't wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still look pretty

Oh, I don't know what you've been told
But this gal right here's gonna rule the world
Yeah, that is where I'm gonna be because I wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still, look pretty
You get off on your 9 to 5
Dream of picket fences and trophy wives
But no, I'm never gonna be 'cause I don't wanna be
No, I don't wanna sit still, look pretty

Sit still, look pretty [4x]
- http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/daya/sitstilllookpretty.html

Throwback Thursday: Margaret Hamilton

Today's #ThrowbackThursday brought to you by Margaret Hamilton, the director of the team responsible for implementing the on-board guidance software required to navigate and land on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission (the first spaceflight that landed humans on the Moon, aka Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin).

The picture below shows her standing besides the Apollo Guidance Computer code listing, contained in code sheet binders.

I've always liked this picture, mostly due to the expression on her face. A combination of relief, confidence, and pride in a job well done!

Margaret Hamilton was born August 17, 1936, and is still alive today. She was the Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed the Apollo Guidance Computer, the on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. Since 1986, she has been the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc.

With a B.A. in mathematics from Earlham College, Hamilton took an interim position at MIT to work on the SAGE Project. The goal of SAGE was to create a computer system that could predict weather systems and track their movements through simulators. She eventually joined the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at MIT and became the director and supervisor of software programming for the Apollo space mission. At that time, Hamilton noted, computer science courses were uncommon and software engineering courses did not exist, so the programmers had to learn on the job.

A topic of interest to Hamilton is error detection and recovery. The Apollo team learned first-hand that, just because you have a note saying "Do not select PO1 (pre-launch) mid course", does not prevent human error from selecting PO1 mid course. So she became very interested in why errors took place, whether they could be avoided, and how to recover from them. She credits her work on the Apollo Guidance Computer and its asynchronous executive as a foundation that provided the means for her to design systems software that include error detection and recovery mechanisms.

Hamilton described for MIT News in 2009 her contributions to the Apollo software:

"From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. ... There was no second chance. We knew that. We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. We had to find a way and we did. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers."

Sounds exciting! I personally like nothing better than a project where the desired result is known, but the method of doing so is entirely up to me to figure out. There's no better feeling than when it eventually works!

Finally, Margaret Hamilton is actually credited with coining the term "software engineering", as she describes:

"I began to use the term 'software engineering' to distinguish it from hardware and other kinds of engineering. When I first started using this phrase, it was considered to be quite amusing. It was an ongoing joke for a long time. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline."

References / Further Reading:

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/30/8689481/margaret-hamilton-apollo-software

http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817

http://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/1/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/apollo/public/conference1/hamilton-intro.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_%28scientist%29#Apollo_11

Throwback Thursday: Grace Hopper

#‎ThrowbackThursday‬ to the Queen of Code: Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper, 1906 - 1992.

"Hopper worked on the first computer, the Harvard Mark 1. And she headed the team that created the first compiler, which led to the creation of COBOL, a programming language that by the year 2000 accounted for 70 percent of all actively used code. Passing away in 1992, she left behind an inimitable legacy as a brilliant programmer and pioneering woman in male-dominated fields." (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-queen-of-code/)

"The oldest of three children, she was intensely curious at an early age. Even at age seven, she showed a particular love for gadgets, disassembling seven alarm clocks in the attempt to determine how they worked. Hopper's parents provided a strong foundation for her inquisitiveness. She shared her love of math with her mother, who studied geometry by special arrangement when serious study of math was still thought improper for a woman. Her father, a successful insurance broker despite the double amputation of his legs, encouraged all his children, through his speech and example, that they could do anything if they put their minds to it. He inspired Hopper to pursue higher education and to avoid being limited to typical feminine roles.... Never forgetting her father's example, she took on the established system and won. A true pioneer, she helped to pave the way for modern computing, as well as professional women everywhere. Hopper truly lived up to her motto 'Dare and Do.'" (https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/hopper.htm)

In honor of Grace Hopper, in 1994, Anita Borg and Telle Whitney founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, with the idea of creating a conference by and for women computer scientists. (http://ghc.anitaborg.org/)

For further information, you can watch the short video “The Queen of Code,” directed by actress Gillian Jacobs, and part of FiveThirtyEight’s “Signals” series. It's very interesting! Not just about Grace Hopper, but also about the early days of computing.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-queen-of-code/

Welcome to a Women in Tech Adventure

Soft launch is now complete!

Official Launch coming August 17.

Look forward to Throwback Thursdays highlighting women of the past (if there's a lot to say about them, a blog entry may be written, otherwise follow on Facebook/Instagram), Fierce Fridays with some female empowerment songs to kick off the weekend (on the Facebook page), and then as-often-as-possible blog entries pertaining to thoughts on interesting, inspirational, and relevant books and articles.

Suggestions always welcome!