My acceptance speech for the Petit Family Foundation Women's Leadership in Science award

First of all, I would like to thank the Petit Family Foundation and the selection committee for bestowing this honor upon me. I am sincerely humbled, especially in light of the accomplishments of my fellow finalists. All of us here are working toward the same vital goal – to ensure that every young woman has the chance to reach her full potential in learning, and more importantly doing, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

There is an old saying in science that the plural of anecdote is not “data.” But people are not data – they are individuals. In a very real sense mentoring is all about anecdotes. It is, by its very nature, personal, and accomplished one human connection at a time. You never know until afterwards when something you say, or something you do, makes all the difference in the life of a young woman.

That young woman is in your university freshman science seminar, an English major who loves science but doesn’t have confidence in her ability to do mathematics.  Three years later she is a Geology major with minors in mathematics and astronomy, and has presented scientific research at three professional conferences. 

That young woman is an African American high school student whose SAT scores would lead others to recommend against her admission into the University Honors Program. But you see beyond the numbers to the person, to her potential, and nurture it. She not only graduated from the CCSU Honors Program, but now has a Masters Degree in Mathematics Education from an Ivy League University.

That woman is in her twenties, someone you meet for the first and only time in a pub in England, of all places. As you discuss your job with her, she becomes visibly saddened. She has always loved astrophysics, but was steered toward a more “practical” accounting career by her advisors. You tell her that it’s never too late, that she can always take astrophysics classes, just for the sake of learning, or to eventually complete a degree in her first love. Three years later, an unexpected email reaches your inbox, saying:

“You won’t remember me, but we met in 2005 in Birmingham, England. At the time, I was an accountant by profession. Talking to you in the bar I was reminded that I had always wanted to study Astrophysics, though the career advisors told me accounting was a more sensible choice. Two weeks after that conversation, I quit my job and moved to London to do a degree in Astrophysics. Three years later, I graduated this summer with first class honors. I just wanted to write to let you know that that brief conversation, which I’m sure didn’t register on your radar at all, completely changed my life. Thank you so much.”

Words matter – encouragement matters. How many other talented young women have fallen victim to the stereotypes of society, to their own self-doubt, to the voices around them that tell them that they can’t, or shouldn’t, do math or science. Let’s raise our voices, loudly, and drown out those naysayers. Let’s extend our hand and lead these young women into the laboratory, the planetarium, the engineering testing facility. Let us be the breath that fans the flames of their own innate curiosity.

A Chinese proverb notes that women hold up half the dome of the sky. Until women truly represent equal numbers with men in exploring the cosmos in observatory domes, engineering fusion reactor domes, searching for oil in salt domes, and making science and technology policy in the Capitol dome, we must all, men and women alike, work tirelessly to mentor each and every young woman in this country to understand that a piece of the sky awaits her – if she just reaches her mind upward.

Thank you.