Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 12-8-15 Edition

Local Dr. Mae Jemison Says Being Productive Is Not Reserved For A Few
Local Sports
Coach Willie Taggart And USF Bulls Travel To Miami For Beach Bowl
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Science literacy –under- standing of scientific concepts and processes required for per- sonal decision making, partici- pation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic produc- tivity – is not reserved for just a select few, but is available for everyone to engage in.
That’s the message that for- mer NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison delivered Thursday in a speech that mixed talk of STEM education, Star Trek, and space travel with humor and candor at the opening ses- sion of the National Associa- tion of Independent Schools’ 28th annual People of Color Conference.
Dr. Jemison, the first African American woman to travel in space, shared her per- sonal experiences and insight with an audience of thousands of educators, parents, and stu- dents at the Tampa Conven- tion Center.
It’s the scientists – and those who fund them and those who set policy – who select the problems to solve, the technol- ogy to assist in finding resolu- tions, and other variables for research, she said.
MAE JEMISON
So it’s important that every- one – especially underrepre- sented groups in the fields of science and technology such as women and minorities – be in- volved in science literacy, Dr. Jemison said.
“It’s important because (sci- ence literacy) changes our lives,” she said. “It’s about our everyday lives.”
Born in Decatur, Ala., but raised in Chicago, Dr. Jemi- son is the youngest of three children born to a school teacher and a maintenance worker. Growing up in the 1960s “during the era of
Apollo”, Dr. Jemison said she remembers it being a time of wonder and excitement thanks to the Space Race. It was then that she made experi- encing space exploration among her goals, she said.
Dr. Jemison, who served as a mission specialist aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992, said she de- veloped an early interest in sci- ence and easily balanced typical childhood behaviors with her scientific inclinations. For example, she both played with Barbie dolls and owned a chemistry set, she said.
At the same time, the Civil Rights Movement was under- way and Dr. Jemison said she remembered seeing the National Guard marking be- hind her home after the 1968 riots that ripped the city apart. Dr. Jemison, who graduated from high school at 16, earned a chemical engineering degree from Stanford University in 1977. She later obtained a med- ical degree from Cornell Uni- versity Medical College and is currently an adjunct professor of community and family med- icine at Dartmouth College.
Science literacy also is im- portant to the advancement of space travel, Dr. Jemison said.
Alpha Centauri, the star closest to the our Solar System, is more than four million light years away from Earth. It would take astronauts 70,000 years to reach it using today’s technology, she said.
Space travel of the future will “not look like the (Star- ship) Enterprise” and will re- quire that we soon make huge advancements in science and technology, Dr. Jemison said.
“The time it takes to get to 0one place to another is in- credible,” she said. “Chemical propulsion will not get us to the stars.”
Dr. Jemison ended her speech encouraging the audi- ence to be empowered – with some stipulations.
“Empowerment requires that you believe in yourself and that you have the right to be in- volved and that you have something to contribute,” she said. “It’s what you push your- self to do.”
With a record of 8-4, Coach Willie Taggart and the Bulls of the University of South Florida will be traveling to Miami for the Beach Bowl. They will take on the Hilltop- pers of Western Kentucky Uni- versity (11-2) on Monday, December 21st in Marlins Park. WKU is the champion on Conference USA.
Several USF players are Miami natives and lived just a short distance from the Mar- lins Park.
WKU has several players from Florida on its roster. Listed from Tampa is Isaac Tanner, a sophomore Line- backer out of Freedom High School.
Coach Taggart, who guided the Bulls to the pro-
COACH WILLIE TAGGART
gram’s first postseason bid since 2010, was a WKU quar- terback and assistant coach, then served as head coach (2010-12) before accepting the job at USF.
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