Category: STEM Like Me

Christine Darden is a mathematician, data analyst, and aeronautical engineer who worked at NASA for almost 40 years. While working at NASA, she spent much of her time researching supersonic flight and sonic booms. Born in 1942, Darden’s parents encouraged her to pursue opportunities in higher education. In 1958, after graduating as her class valedictorian,…

Maryam Mirzakhani was a mathematician at Stanford University when she passed away in 2017 from breast cancer. Originally from Iran, Mirzakhani was a gold medal winner in the Iranian National Olympiad for mathematics for two years in a row. This allowed her to enter college without completing the national entrance exams. Mirzakhani went on to…

Mildred Dresselhaus was a pioneering woman in electrical engineering, known for her research in graphite and semiconductors. Dresselhaus was raised in the Bronx and attended Hunter College to pursue her bachelors degree before continuing her graduate and post-graduate education at the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and Cornell University. During her…

Rigoberto Hernandez is an American chemist. Born in Cuba, Hernandez moved around the world before settling in Florida when he was a child. His interest in science was sparked while in high school, when the University of Miami offered a research program. This interest then led Hernandez to attend Princeton University for an undergraduate degree…

Karletta Chief is of the Navajo people, and is a hydrologist who at a young age decided to pursue environmental engineering. After attending Stanford University for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering, Chief later returned to school. She obtained a doctorate from the University of Arizona in hydrology and water resources.…