Ex-astronaut to lead environment workshop
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Mae Jemison, the first female African-American astronaut in space, is in Pittsburgh to participate in World Environment Day events.
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Given the choice of providing a classroom of middle school science students with laptop computers or potatoes, former astronaut Mae Jemison would opt for the potatoes.
She'd let the class conduct hands-on experiments to learn how the spuds grow rather than researching the lesson on the Internet because, "Doing lab work is what kids like to do."
Dr. Jemison, who left the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1993 after earning wide recognition as the first female African-American to fly on a space mission, is in Pittsburgh this week to participate in student activities for World Environment Day.
Today she is scheduled to lead a workshop at the Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore, where 70 middle school students from the region will work in teams to address environmental issues including a global water shortage. Last night she was headed off to see Bayer Corp. officials unveil an exhibition of paintings at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. The artwork, with a biodiversity theme, was submitted by students throughout North America for a World Environment Day competition.
Dr. Jemison's connection with Pittsburgh transcends the World Environment Day for which the city is acting as North American host site this year. Since 1995, she has been Bayer's national spokeswoman for science education programs.
The German-based drug and chemicals company, with its U.S. headquarters in Robinson, also has tapped Dr. Jemison, 53, as an expert analyst for research and surveys it has sponsored about the lack of women and minorities in science and technology fields.
In a study the company conducted in March, in which it polled female and minority chemists and chemical engineers, 77 percent of those surveyed said they were not encouraged to pursue science and technology careers when they were students.
First Published June 4, 2010 12:00 am
