Crosspost: 120 3D-Printed Statues of Women Redefine What Scientists Look Like

Written by Jack Tamisiea for Smithsonian Magazine

For Women's History Month, the Smithsonian teamed up with Light Hill Partners to create the "#IfThenSheCan" exhibit, a series of 120 orange statues featuring prominent women in STEM. Credit: WTOP News.

Some of the brightest minds in science and technology are visiting the Smithsonian this month. But instead of a one-night lecture circuit, these scientists, who do everything from design rockets to create shark sanctuaries, will be stationed around the National Mall in the form of life-sized, 3D-printed sculptures.

Featuring 120 bright orange statues of contemporary female scientists, “#IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit” is the largest collection of statues of women ever assembled at a single location at one time. To celebrate the Smithsonian’s Women’s Futures Month, the statues will be displayed in the Smithsonian Gardens and in several Smithsonian museums between March 5 and 27.

The exhibit is part of Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ IF/THEN initiative that aims to inspire middle school age girls to pursue STEM careers. The statues portray researchers from all facets of science, technology and engineering. For the advancement of their fields, these women crawl into bear dens in Alaska, excavate artifacts from swamps and scour the desert for cryptic lizards.

Read the rest of the article at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2022/03/08/120-3d-printed-statues-of-women-redefine-what-scientists-look-like/ 

And if you're on the East Coast, be sure to check out the exhibit outside of the Smithsonian Castle at the National Mall!

Becoming a Leader

 

Today's guest blogger is Kelly Korreck. Kelly is an Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory part of the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.  She builds solar instrumentation.  She is the Head of Science Operation for the SWEAP Plasma Instrument Suite aboard NASA’s Solar Probe Plus mission to touch the Sun.  Her research interests include shock physics and space weather. In her spare time, she prefers to be on a beach or a sailboat!

 

As a follow on to Joan Schmelz's August 4, 2014, article “On leadership”, I volunteered to share my experience in a yearlong leadership training program, some advice on how to gain some of the experience without a formal program and some thoughts as to why this type of training matters for scientists**.

 

I had the amazing opportunity to spend a year learning and working with 21 other leaders at the Smithsonian ranging from educators to curators to contract specialists as part of the Russell E. Palmer Leadership Development Program (PLDP) at the Smithsonian Institution. The program was started at the Smithsonian in 2007 with the goal of developing leadership skills such as communication and conflict management while strengthening ties between the 19 museums and 9 research centers that make up the Smithsonian Institution.  The program consisted of leadership skills development, working with a mentor, a rotation project and culminated in a large management project that was pan-Institutional in nature.