Description
“If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.” – Sally Ride, astronaut, physicist, & engineer.
Australia’s space industry is at a turning point. With the Australian Space Agency’s goal to create 20,000 new jobs in space by 2030, it is crucial that we attract, train and retain both men and women in the industry; breaking down the barriers placed so often before girls and women at all levels in education and in the workforce across STEM industries such as space.
Did you know that Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963? That’s only 2 years after Yuri Gagarin, the first man. Women have always been at the forefront of innovation, yet when we look at industries like tech and space exploration, there’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure that our women and young girls have equal opportunities to get involved and shape the world we live in.
Coder Academy is proud to be teaming up with One Giant Leap Australia to host ‘Women In Space’, an all-star event featuring an all-woman panel of scientist, executives, engineers, and educators who are working or have worked in space and other STEM industries to discuss how we can make space for the pioneering women-ovators of tomorrow. After all, one small step for a woman is one giant leap for woman kind.
Join us and be part of the discussion!
Limited spaces available.
Panelists
Christine Fuller – Fmr Robotics Design Engineer, NASA JPL & Product Design Engineer, Amazon Lab126
Christine Fuller is a mechanical engineer specialising in robotics and mechatronics. During five years at JPL she tested gecko adhesive grippers on the zero-g flight, a rock climbing robot in lava tubes, and an underwater robot beneath the sea-ice in Alaska. Now she is working at Amazon’s Lab126 on emerging technologies.
Mechanical engineering is everywhere and it’s amazing! I’ll share my experiences from education, to field testing in Alaska, to injection molding factories in China and answer your questions.
Shannon McConnell – Deep Space Network Public Engagement Manager, NASA JPL
Shannon has been introducing students to the excitement of space exploration since 1998. She has led the Galileo Outreach Team, the Cassini Formal Education Team, and the Deep Space Network Education and Public Outreach Office. Before her work in outreach and education, Shannon worked mission planning and design for the Cassini Spacecraft, Sequence design and execution for the Galileo Mission, and Data Analysis for the Magellan Mission. Shannon also spent 1993-1994 working payload operations for 2 Space Shuttle Flights managed by JPL.
Shannon holds bachelors and master’s degrees in Astronomy and Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California as well as being a Committee Chair for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Her professional affiliations include membership in the National Association of Interpretation, National Science Teachers Association, and National Council for the Teachers of Mathematics. Shannon is also a current member of the Board of Trustees for Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead, California.
Debra Brice – Marine Science Educator, San Marcos Unified School District
Debra Brice has been a Marine Science educator for more than 25 years. She has taught primary through university level classes in STEM sciences in San Diego, California, Alaska and Mexico. She currently instructs 229 students in physics, chemistry, atmospheric and marine science. She has worked with NASA, NOAA (National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration), National Science Foundation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other national science research institutions. She has won awards for science education including Shell Outstanding Science Educator, AMGEN Science Educator, San Diego Teacher of the Year, Toyota Tapestry and Maritime Alliance Marine Educator. With a bachelor’s in biology, a masters in Geophysics and a teaching credential, along with experience working as an environmental scientist before becoming an educator, she brings real world science experience and passion into her teaching.
Mrs. Brice has worked with the San Diego Science Alliance, a non‐ profit consortium of leaders from business, K‐12 education, higher education, and scientific institutions committed to enhancing science literacy in K‐12 education with innovative programs and resources. She wrote and directed a STEM program for the San Diego Natural History Museum and has been working with the Office of Naval Research and Scripps Institution of Oceanography on a STEM program in Marine Science for the last decade. She is on the Board of the San Diego Science Educators Association, a professional association dedicated to improving and promoting science education as affiliates of the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). She has conducted programs and presentations at national and international Science conferences in STEM Education and Science Collaboration between students and researchers.
Rachel Zimmerman Brachman – Outreach Lead for Radioisotope Power Systems, NASA JPL
Rachel Zimmerman Brachman has worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on various Education and Public Outreach projects since 2003. She was a senior outreach specialist for the Cassini mission to Saturn for over a decade and ran NASA’s international Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest for middle and high school students from 2006-2017. Currently she is the outreach lead for Radioisotope Power Systems (the power technology that enables NASA’s spacecraft to explore the outer planets in our solar system) as well as JPL’s project manager for Project PANOPTES, a project in which members of the public build backyard telescopes to observe transiting exoplanets. Rachel has also worked on Education and Public Outreach for two NASA Astrobiology Institutes: The Astrobiology of Icy Worlds project and the Titan as a Prebiotic Chemical System project.
Born in Canada, Rachel has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, and a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Prior to joining JPL, Rachel worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Canadian Space Agency, The Planetary Society, and the California Institute of Technology. She has received international recognition for her innovations in the field of assistive technology for people with disabilities. She is a founding member of the Space Generation Forum, and co-founder of the Women in Science Club at Brandeis University and the Association for the Development of Aerospace Medicine at McGill University in Montreal. She has been a member of the Women Inventors Networking Society and is currently a member of the National Science Teachers Association. She is past president and current conference chair of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.
+ more to be confirmed!
