STEM trailblazer bios

"Have you ever stared into the night sky, full of stars and planets? As a kid, Neil deGrasse Tyson was star-struck when he first visited a planetarium. The universe was calling him. Tyson pursued his interest in astronomy and studied to be an astrophysicist. In 1996, he became the director of New York's Hayden Planetarium. He is passionate about teaching people about the universe. Known for making science fun and easy to understand, he has hosted...

Describes the early life and education of the engineer as well as her work at NASA, where she has helped build spacecraft that can map the moon and monitor climate change, and designed missions to bring soil and rocks back from Mars.

Have you ever solved a tricky puzzle? As kids, Joanna Kelley and her siblings had fun solving the math and science challenges their parents invented at the dinner table. Later, Kelly's love of science puzzles inspired her to investigate the building blocks of life. Kelley became a geneticist, a scientist who studies DNA. DNA is the set of instructions inside every living thing-a code that shapes appearance and behavior. Kelley set out to better understand...

When Diana Trujillo was little, working for NASA was her greatest dream. She loved to gaze at the stars in the sky. She also enjoyed math and art. Then she learned that engineers use math and art in their work. So Trujillo decided to be a NASA engineer. Although she didn't speak English, she was determined to live her dream. Trujillo believed in herself enough to move from Colombia to the United States to learn English. After years of hard work, she...

Have you ever wondered how the universe began? Growing up, Brian Greene's father taught him to think about the world in different ways. Greene was curious about how it all worked. He set out to find answers to big science questions. At Harvard University, Greene studied physics and was named a Rhodes Scholar, an honor only the most gifted students receive. He was fascinated by the new theories explaining the universe, but he wanted to share his fascination...

Do you play video games? If you do, you've probably played a game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto pioneered a new kind of game based on story and characters, rather than competition with other players. As a child, Miyamoto was fascinated by animated movies. He drew his own cartoons and designed children's toys. In college, Miyamoto studied art and design. He was hired as an artist at Nintendo, a toy company that was just starting to make video...

Ada Lovelace loved math and dreaming about new machines. She became friends with inventor and engineer Charles Babbage and realized the full potential of his calculating machines. Find out how Lovelace's determination helped her become the first computer programmer.

After earning degrees studying animal behavior, Danielle Lee wanted to share her love of science with young people. Through urban outreach she has brought budding scientists into professional labs. She's walked them through the steps of the scientific method. And she's shown them that science doesn't have to be intimidating. In her popular Urban Scientist blog, Lee shares backyard science and outreach work. She also writes about her own research and...

Jean Bartik started her career doing mathematical calculations for top-secret weapons systems projects during World War II. Later, she helped build and program the first all-electronic computer. Find out how she went from gifted mathematics student to software pioneer.

As a kid, Lonnie Johnson liked to invent things. He often faced prejudice as an African American growing up in the segregated southern United States, but he eventually became an engineer for the US Air Force and NASA. He was working on a different invention when he came up with the idea for a new type of water gun. Johnson knew his toy was more powerful than other squirt guns, he just needed to find a way to make the Super Soaker available to kids...