Ainissa G. Ramirez, a widely respected author and speaker described as a “science evangelist” for spreading her passion for science to the general public, will present a lecture and book signing at Case Western Reserve University as part of Black History Month.
Her talk, “Bold STEM Innovators of the Past and Future,” will focus on the important contributions of underrepresented minorities in science.
The free public event is Monday, Feb. 15, on the second floor of Sears think[ box ] in the Richey Mixon Building. The lecture is from 4 to 5:30 p.m., followed by the book signing.
Ramirez co-authored Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game (Random House) and wrote Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists (TED Books).
Ramirez, a former associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale University before taking on the call to improve the public’s understanding of science, has long served as a public advocate for the importance of building a pipeline of talented underrepresented minorities and women in science fields.
S
he now focuses her energies on making science fun, and gave an impassioned called to action at a TED Talk on the importance of understanding science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). At Yale, she directed the award-winning science lecture series for children called Science Saturdays and hosted two popular-science video series called Material Marvels and Science Xplained.
Ramirez speaks internationally on the importance of making science fun, and has served as a science advisor to the American Film Institute, WGBH/NOVA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and several science museums. Currently, she is writing a book on the role of materials in history and co-hosts a popular science podcast called Science Underground.
Technology Review, the magazine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), named her as one of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators for her contributions to transforming technology.
She has been profiled in The New York Times, Fortune magazine, CBS News, Inside Edition, Fox News, CNN, NPR, ESPN, Time magazine, Scientific American and Discover magazine.
Ramirez studied materials science and engineering at Brown University (Sc.B.) and Stanford University (PhD). Before serving on the faculty at Yale, she was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, in Murray Hill, N.J., where she conducted award-winning research. She has written more than 50 technical papers, holds six patents and has presented her work worldwide.
Her visit is sponsored by: the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, Office for Inclusion Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Office of Minority Affairs, Office of Research and Technology Management, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, President’s Advisory Council on Minorities, Office of the Provost, Greek Life and WISER (Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable).