AGI Launches Geoscience Women in STEM Website
Alexandria, VA — The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Geoscience Women in STEM website, providing Earth science teaching and learning resources inspired by the work of leading women geoscientists. This initiative is made possible with generous support from Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
AGI is unveiling the site, in cooperation with its publishing partner Nautilus, to strengthen geoscience education through stories of women in geoscience. The site offers curriculum connections that focus on the Next Generation Science Earth and Space Science and illuminate ways that STEM topics can be explored across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
The Geoscience Women in STEM website is structured around geoscience education experiences and activities inspired by the careers of four women STEM leaders:
- Geobiologist Hope Jahren, a renowned expert on the chemical composition of plants and trees;
- Particle physicist Jessica Esquivel, a researcher at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory;
- Climate policy expert Shyla Raghav, vice president of climate for Conservation International;
- Entrepreneur Jasmine Sadler, aerospace engineer and CEO of The STEAM Collaborative.
The January 2020 launch of the site focuses on Hope Jahren, who is also the author of the bestselling memoir Lab Girl. Using Nautilus’ interview with Dr. Jahren as a catalyst, the site offers a collection of education activities through which students can explore issues surrounding her career path, the chemistry and biology of trees, and the carbon cycle. Education resources and activities relating to the additional three women geoscientists will be featured on the website in the coming months.
“The storied careers of these women serve as potent inspiration to the next generation of female geoscientists,” said AGI Interim Executive Director Sharon Tahirkheli. “But they also offer more. Through the Geoscience Women in STEM website, young people and others can explore the scientific trails blazed by these innovators, using the women’s work as a starting place for their own journeys in geoscience.”
The Geoscience Women in STEM site is housed within the Earth Science Week website, furthering the theme of AGI’s Earth Science 2019 campaign — “Geoscience Is for Everyone” — which provided information, materials, and activities emphasizing both the inclusive potential and the importance of the geosciences in the lives of all people.
About AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassador
AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors were selected through a rigorous process by IF/THEN® and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society with the mission to advance science and serve society. The full list of women selected as AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors can be found at www.ifthenshecan.org/ambassadors.
About Lyda Hill Philanthropies
Lyda Hill Philanthropies encompasses the charitable giving of founder Lyda Hill who believes that “science is the answer” to life’s most challenging issues and is committed to funding transformational advances in science and nature. To learn more, visit www.lydahillphilanthropies.org.
About Nautilus
Nautilus is a different kind of science magazine. Online, in print, and in the classroom, Nautilus leverages deep, undiluted, narrative storytelling to bring science into the largest and most important conversations we are having today. After all, that is where modern science — which is so personal, pervasive, spiritual, and transformative — deserves to be. Nautilus challenges the reader to consider the deep, mysterious connecting tissue that runs through the sciences and connects them to philosophy, culture, and art. Find out more at nautil.us.