Women in Science You Should Be Following On Social Media
Your Guide To #WomeninSTEM on Social
By Erin Winick — CEO Sci Chic
As a girl growing up a fan of science, most of my role models were men. I looked up to people like Bill Nye, the Mythbusters, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. While they served as excellent inspirations, I didn’t have any people to look up to that looked like me. I was hardly aware of any women in the STEM fields.
However, with the rise of social media, today’s kids shouldn’t have to experience this. Therefore, we at Sci Chic would like to provide a list of women in a variety of STEM fields.* These 35 women have a wide variety of experience and degree levels, but are all are actively engaged on social media and excellent examples of the opportunities STEM provides.
Have an area of STEM you don’t see covered here that you want to or a woman that should be added? Let us know here or email scichiccontact@gmail.com!
*All areas of STEM are listed in alphabetical order
Aerospace Engineering:
Jenn Gustetic
Assistant Director for Open Innovation for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Growing up a huge fan of space, Jenn graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. She went on to MIT to earn a master’s degree in Technology Policy. Now at the White House, she leads federal-wide open innovation strategy and channels the energy of thousands of Federal employees to transform the culture of government problem solving and engagement.
Marielle Pellegrino
Miss Aerospace
Marielle graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida and is currently a PhD student at The University of Colorado Boulder. She is dedicated to helping people develop a deeper understanding of exactly what they are seeing in the night sky through her Miss Aerospace blog and social media.
Astronaut:
Sandy Magnus
Astronaut
Selected to the NASA Astronaut Corps in April, 1996, Dr. Magnus flew in space on the STS- 112 shuttle mission in 2002, and on the final shuttle flight, STS-135, in 2011. In addition, she flew to the International Space Station on STS-126 in November 2008, served as flight engineer and science officer on Expedition 18, and returned home on STS-119 after four and a half months on board. Dr. Magnus is now the Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Nicole Stott
Astronaut
Nicole has been to space on two separate shuttle missions. She began her career in 1987 as a structural design engineer with Pratt and Whitney Government Engines in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is also a huge proponent of SciArt (Science Art) and sent the first ever live tweet from space! She is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association, Silver Wings Foundation, and the 99’s.
Astronomy:
Summer Ash
Astronomer and Fashion Blogger
Summer is a co-founder of Startorialist, a space fashion blog, showing off the best in space and science inspired fashion. She is also the Director of Outreach for Columbia University’s Department of Astronomy, and can commonly be found out in the community bringing science to the public. She has a background in both astrophysics and mechanical engineering.
Startorialist Twitter Instagram
Emily Rice
Astronomer and Fashion Blogger
Emily is the co-founder of Startorialist, a space fashion blog. She is also an assistant professor in the Dept. of Engineering Science & Physics at the College of Staten Island (City University of New York), and a research associate in the Dept. of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History where she studies low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets by analyzing their spectra and modeling their atmospheres. Additionally, she is one of the new hosts of StarTalk All-Stars, a spin-off of StarTalk radio!
Startorialist Twitter Instagram
Biologist:
Imogene Davis
Wildlife Biologist
Imogene Davis is a wildlife biologist and science communicator with a passion for wildlife conservation. She has a master’s degree in wildlife biology and a background in landscape genetics, carnivore and amphibian ecology, and wildlife management.
Chemical Engineer:
Stacey M. DelVecchio
Additive Manufacturing Product Manager at Caterpillar
Stacey served as the president of the Society of Women Engineers from 2013 to 2014 and is an advocate for women in engineering. She is a longtime employee of Caterpillar and is currently a proponent of additive manufacturing, serving as the Additive Manufacturing Product Manager in Illinois.
Vanessa Nadal
Lawyer
Vanessa graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. After working at Johnson and Johnson in an engineering role, she decided to go back to school to get her law degree. She now works as an associate at Jones Day in New York.
Chemistry:
Carolyn Bertozzi
Professor of Chemistry and Researcher
Carolyn is a Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology at Stanford University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1993. Prof. Bertozzi’s research interests span the disciplines of chemistry and biology.
Civil Engineering:
Heather Doty
Structural Engineer
Heather has 15 years experience as a structural engineer in the aerospace industry with specialties in finite element analysis, opto-mechanical design and analysis, optical bonding, and cryogenic systems. She earned both her bachelor’s and master degree is civil engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. Heather also has a bachelors in music! She is deeply involved in the Society of Women Engineers.
Katherine Quigg
Steel Solutions Center Staff Engineer
Katherine is a Staff Engineer in the Steel Solutions Center at the American Institute of Steel Construction. She is the first point of contact for all technical questions entering the steel solutions center, where about 200 questions are answered every week.. Katherine also writes the fashion and lifestyle blog Engineering In Style. As a lifelong lover of fashion, she hopes to change the stereotype that women must be “sciencey” to have a career in STEM.
Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat Pinterest
Jennifer Vilbig
Civil Engineer
Jennifer has experience working on commercial, retail, industrial, and federal site design projects, as well as natural gas permitting in municipalities and utility and energy pipelines. She is also actively involved in the Society of Women Engineers and encouraging younger women within the organization.
Computer Science:
Isis Anchalee
Originator of the #ilooklikeanengineer campaign
Isis is a platform engineer at OneLogin and an advisory board member of WomenWhoCode. She started the #ilooklikeanengineer campaign with a post on social media and was the face of the movement from there on out. The campaign sparked women engineers from around the country to post their pictures and stories with the hashtag #ilooklikeanengineer.
Sage Franch
Founder of Trendy Techie
Sage lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, studies Computer Science at Dalhousie University, and is a Content Developer on the Learning Experiences team at Microsoft, all while running her own fashion blog. She is an advocate for equality in geekdom, and is launching her own fashion line in the coming months as well! Fun fact, she was recently featured by Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, on his Instagram!
Website Twitter Instagram Snapchat
Dona Sarkar
Software Engineer at Microsoft
Dona is an engineer of many talents and excellent time management. She is a hologram maker at Microsoft, the co-founder of STEM fashion blog Fibonacci Sequins, a fashion designer, STEM advocate, and published author.
She says, “ Stay creative. Stay a dreamer. Stay a multi-hyphenate. It will help you.” She has published both nonfiction and young adult novels. She also has a new fashion collection coming out soon!
Website Twitter Instagram Fashion Blog
Poornima Vijayashanker
Founder
Poornima Vijayashanker is an entrepreneur, engineer, author, and speaker who has made her mark on the tech world. A graduate of Duke University, Poornima was the founding engineer at Mint where she helped build, launch, and scale the product until it was acquired by Intuit. Following the acquisition, Poornima went on to launch Femgineer, an education company for tech professionals and entrepreneurs who want to learn how to build software products and companies.
Ecologist:
Abby Lawson
Alligator Population Ecologist
Abby is a Ph.D. candidate in the Dept. of Forestry and Environmental Conservation and the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University. Her area of research lies in population ecology of vertebrate species. You can regularly find her sharing pictures of her experience working with alligators.
Electrical Engineer:
Kaitlyn Bunker
Electrical Engineer
Kaitlyn is a senior associate at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit that aims to transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure future. She is primarily involved with the Electricity Innovation Lab (e-Lab) and RMI’s initiatives to transform energy in the Caribbean islands. She has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University.
Stephanie Loete
Flight Test Engineer
Stephanie Loete is the electro optics lead engineer for F-35 flight test at the Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base. She supervises a team of government engineers responsible for developmental test and evaluation of the electro-optical targeting system and distributed aperture system on the Joint Strike Fighter. Stephanie earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Southern California and currently lives in Lancaster, California.
Renetta Tull
Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs at UMBC
Dr. Tull presents across the U.S. and Puerto Rico on topics ranging from graduate school recruitment, retention, and dissertation completion, to faculty development. She serves as a national coach and mentor for prospective and current graduate students at universities outside of Maryland through STEM conferences. Dr. Tull earned her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Howard University, and both a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Speech Science from Northwestern University.
Geology:
Emily Lakdawalla
Planetary Evangelist
Emily Lakdawalla is a passionate advocate for the exploration of all of the worlds of our solar system. Through blogs, photos, videos, podcasts, print articles, Twitter, and any other medium she can put her hand to, Emily shares the adventure of space exploration with the world. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Amherst College and a Master of Science degree in planetary geology from Brown University. She is now writing her first book, tentatively titled Curiosity Rover: Design, Planning, and Field Geology on Mars, due out from Springer-Praxis in 2017.
Industrial Engineering:
Linda Hudson
First Female CEO in Defense
Linda served as President and CEO of BAE Systems, Inc. until Jan. 2014, where she led a global, U.S.-based defense, aerospace, and security company with approximately 40,000 employees and $12.75 billion in annual revenue. A graduate of the University of Florida, Linda earned her bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering and is active on Twitter and Instagram.
Marine Biology:
Ashleigh Palinkas
Scientific Diver
Ashleigh is a scientific diver, marine biologist, and dive historian. She is a field research assistant at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and a scientific diver for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She studied anthropology in school. Her Instagram is full of awesome underwater and coastal pictures!
Materials Science:
Ainissa G. Ramirez
Science Evangelist
Ainissa is a science evangelist who is passionate about getting the public excited about science. She co-authored Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game; and authored Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists. Ainissa received her training in materials science and engineering from Brown University and Stanford University.
Jessica Schiffman
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Jessica has a B.S., from Rutgers University in Ceramic & Materials Engineering. She went on to Cornell University and Drexel University to study Materials Science & Engineering and receive her masters and Ph. D. respectively.
Mathematics:
Nalini Joshi
Mathematician and Professor at the University of Sydney
Nalini’s research interests lie in non-linear differential and difference equations, with a particular focus on asymptotic methods. She obtained her Ph. D. from Princeton University and has held the Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney since 2002. She currently lives in Australia.
Mechanical Engineering:
Mary Perkinson
Engineering Manager
Mary is responsible for the crane procurement and crane overhaul processes for Newport News Shipbuilding. She developed and implemented numerous crane project process improvements that include a crane endurance testing process, a crane quality database, and standardized the crane procurement specification. She also serves as the Society of Women Engineers Director of Advocacy.
Debbie Sterling
Founder of GoldieBlox
Debbie Sterling is the founder and CEO of GoldieBlox. She gave engineering a try during her freshman year at Stanford. Four years later, she graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering / Product Design. Bothered by how few women there were in her program, Debbie became obsessed with the notion of “disrupting the pink aisle” with a toy that would introduce girls to the joy of engineering at a young age.
Erin Winick
Founder of Sci Chic
Erin is a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Florida and the CEO of Sci Chic, a company that makes 3D printed science and engineering inspired jewelry. She has interned at Caterpillar, John Deere, Keysight and Bracken Engineering. She is a passionate science communicator and member of the Society of Women Engineers.
Website Twitter Instagram Snapchat
Medicine:
Daisy Bennett
Chief Medical Advisor for L’Oreal.
Daisy is a practicing NHS and private GP. She qualified from the world-renowned Guys and St. Thomas’s Hospitals, London. She has been practicing medicine for over 15 years and has a degree in medicine and surgery, as well as Membership in the Royal College of General Practitioners. She is passionate about producing the next generation of top doctors in her role as Lead GP Tutor and Examiner for medical students at Imperial College, London.
Meteorology:
Jen Carfagno
Meteorologist at the Weather Channel
Jen interned with The Weather Channel while in school at Penn State and joined as a full-time forecaster not long after. She participated in The Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist apprentice program, earning time in front of the camera every weekend. Jen enjoys speaking to students about her passion — science. Her favorite weather measurement is dew points and is often referred to as the “Dewpoint Diva.”
Neuroscience:
Heather Berlin
Cognitive Neuroscientist and TV Host
Dr. Berlin is a cognitive neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York. Passionate about science communication, Dr. Berlin is a committee member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange, host of the PBS series Science Goes to the Movies, and the Discovery Channel series Superhuman Showdown.
Paleontology:
Hanneke Meijer
Bird Paleontologist
Hanneke is vertebrate paleontologist with a background in functional anatomy and an interest in insular evolution, biogeography, paleoecology and extinction. She uses fossil bird assemblages to study how past events and processes have shaped modern avian diversity and to address questions regarding climatic change, palaeoecology, and human evolution.
Physics:
Lisa Randall
Physicist and Author
Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is a Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Professor Randall was included in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2007” and was among Esquire magazine’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century.”
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Know any other #womeninSTEM who are active on social media spreading awareness of science? Let us know! Email us at scichiccontact@gmail.com or reach out to us on any of our social accounts.
