International Women’s Day 2022

Greats like Katsuko Saruhashi, Eugenie Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark may come once in a lifetime. If we fail young women in STEM.

If we do a better job at showing them how fantabulous it is to be a STEMmer, then we may have a shot at a better future. Otherwise we may tip our balance to those who desire becoming simply a YouTuber who promotes stuff for big companies. Obviously, one can be a YouTuber or other social climbing influencer who promotes stuff for celebrity or money. But, why not influence through STEM? With the slew of possibilities offered and needed in science, med and tech it is most likely a bad choice not to pursue it as a primary profession. Unless we want to leave it all up to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff “Amazon” Bezos.

Everlasting impact, and sure fame and fortune, is STEM. Take it from the women who dazzled as our March STEMmers.

Katsuko Saruhashi

We can thank Dr. Saruhashi for providing evidence that global warming will not be taken care of naturally. The oceans will not save us from toxic amounts of carbon dioxide due to the lack of trees. How did she get her start? Partly because her parents thought that women should be financially independent. She paid it forward by creating the Saruhashi Prize to support women scientists. Lucky for us she did not keep her job in insurance.

Eugenie Clark

This New Yorker became “The Shark Lady” because she wanted everyone to know that sharks were not scary. She did this as the founder and director of a shark research center. So, please stop killing sharks after “attacks”. How did she get her start? We can’t thank Columbia for her glorious achievements; they denied her a PhD spot thinking she would leave to become a mom. Dear Columbia, she became a mom and a scientist… it’s like walking and chewing gum (one might accidently bite their tongue, but they still get to where they’re going).

Kalpana Chawla

Imagine soaring into space for research. Now imagine doing it as a woman, immigrant, and brown-skinned. Girls who are inspired to do anything like Barbie can aspire to be Dr. Chawala who donned a space suit and corporate suit. She was vice-president of a company. How did she get her start? She was raised in a home where education was important. That and she rooted herself in a country (USA) that supported her dreams of flying.

Laurel Clark

We can thank Dr. Clark for showing us that a woman can be an astronaut, a medical doctor and serve in the US Navy. Part of her 16 days in space was spent gardening. This was to research how well we can sustain ourselves when we have wasted away lovely planet Earth. It was basically the start of what we now know as chili pepper growth on the International Space Station. How did she get her start? She when to school and studied hard. Well, she also aligned her personal- and professional-selves with the goals that she wanted to achieve. Her husband was also in the US Navy and NASA.

Bottom Line:

Anyone can don flashy clothes, name drop designers or gab about their beauty collection. Hardly anyone can have an impactful life and look good doing it. I would definitely take YouTube STEMmer over YouTube Star.

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