2010 Starr Symposium
Work and Life
An Intergenerational Conversation with Gloria Feldt, Courtney E. Martin, Deborah Siegel, and Kristal Brent Zook
Tuesday, Sep. 28
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: University Academy – 6801 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO
Tickets are required and are free for students, $5 for non-students (tickets purchased online will also incur a $2 service charge per ticket).
About Mae Jemison
Mae C. Jemison, Ph.D., blasted into orbit aboard the shuttle Endeavour on Sept. 12, 1992 as the first woman of color to go into space. Now the founder and president of two technology companies, the space flight was just one in a series of accomplishments for this dynamic woman.
Born in Decatur, Ala., and raised in Chicago, she entered Stanford University at the age of 16 on a scholarship, graduating with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and fulfilled the requirements for an A.B. in African and Afro-American studies. She earned her doctorate in medicine at Cornell University Medical College.
Prior to joining NASA in 1987, Jemison worked in both engineering and medicine. She was a General Practitioner in Los Angeles with the INA/Ross Loos Medical Group, and then spent two and a half years (1983-1985) as Area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. On her return to Los Angeles, she worked as a General Practitioner with CIGNA Health Plans of California.
Jemison served as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut for six years. She resigned from NASA in March 1993 and founded The Jemison Group, Inc. The company was established to focus on the beneficial integration of science and technology into our everyday lives. Most recently, Jemison developed a new business, BioSentient Corporation, a medical technology company that creates and markets mobile equipment worn to monitor the body’s vital signs and train people to respond favorably in stressful situations.
In 1994, Dr. Jemison founded and currently chairs The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. She also serves as Bayer Corporation's national science literacy advocate, and is an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. Jemison was elected into the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in 2001. She serves on the Board of Directors for Scholastic, Inc. and Valspar Corporation and the Texas Governor’s State Council for Science and BioTechnology Development. Jemison has received numerous awards and honors including: induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In January 1999, she was selected as one of the top seven women leaders in a Presidential Ballot national straw poll conducted by The White House Project.
Her first book, Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments From My Life, autobiographical anecdotes about growing up, was written for teenagers and was published in Spring 2001.
