thebrainscoop: Today was amazing for a million reasons. I’m…
Today was amazing for a million reasons.
I’m in Pasadena, CA – a few months ago I was contacted by the Advisory Council of Women at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to be their annual guest speaker for women’s history month. That was a huge deal for me, and it marks the launch of a three month long period of traveling around the States to talk about my work with The Brain Scoop and The Field Museum. It’s humbling, and incredible.
I got to sit in a seat in the room where engineers landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars; I saw the test model and stood in the grounds that they used to simulate that Martian surface; I suited up, endured an air bath, and visited the High Bay to witness firsthand how these teams come together to build spacecraft (in this case a machine for the Soil Moisture Active Passion mission); I met a hero of mind, Bobak Ferdowsi, whose Mohawk made him famous during Curiosity’s landing. And I gave a talk about the importance of science role-models to a fantastic group of passionate people who happily accepted my photos of skinned wolves, even as they ate lunch.
I’m so grateful for these opportunities, and meeting the enthusiastic scientists at JPL was an experience I will never forget. The world needs more unabashedly passionate people. We didn’t get into space because of technology – we made these advancements because of people, and that is so encouraging.
Two of my heroes — correction: THREE of my heroes — are in that last shot.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1g5QmR3.
