How Jane Poynter Rocks Girls’ Stem Education

I caught Jane Poynter early one morning, in August 2014. We spoke about the importance of STEM education, reaching Mars, Biosphere 2 and how space travel will change our view of the Earth and the universe.

Michael Venables: As one of only seven percent of women in the space technology field, how can you provide the leadership necessary to inspire other women to study STEM subjects and enter this scientific field?

Jane Poynter: I very much believe in leadership by doing. The very fact that I am one of the few women in this field I think, demonstrates to young women and girls that this is something that is possible for them. World View is very involved in education. You may have recently seen an announcement that (in late 2014) we’ll be flying three research and education payloads, so the payloads that we are flying can really demonstrate the capability of our systems.

One of those is an educational experiment and not precisely for women but, certainly, I believe that education is a large part of what World View is about.

And then lastly, I am personally involved in a non-profit called Blue Marble Institute that is directly involved in STEM education. It’s kind of fun. A lot of it is about getting their hands on the right learning tools, so kids can take the concepts that they learned in books…