Inspiring Minds: Meet Women in Science

The Boston Globe spoke to Brindha Muniappan, a health science educator at Boston's Museum of Science. Muniappan has a PhD in genetic toxicology and taught at the University of Guam before coming to the U.S.

Now, Muniappan's job is to organize lectures and speak to lay audiences about developments in current health science -- subjects like breakthroughs in asthma or cancer research. This month, she has organized a series of public interviews at the museum with women doing exceptional work in technical fields, with the aim of inspiring girls to think about the career options that can come from earning, say, a doctorate in genetic toxicology.

"A lot of girls turn away from science," she says. "So the more young girls we can inspire, the better."

The Inspiring Minds program at the Boston Museum of Science continues through the end of May (almost over, sorry about that). Here is the full schedule:

• Dr. Pauline Barmby (May 6), astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, she studies how galaxies are formed and is a member of the instrument team for the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope.
• Amy Brodeur (May 6), criminalist from the Boston Police Crime Laboratory and faculty member in the Biomedical Forensic Sciences Program at Boston University.
• Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski (May 6), a marine biologist and director of the Dolphin Communication Project at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. Dr. Dudzinski is also one of the lead scientists featured in the large-format film, Dolphins.
• Dr. Michelle Potashman (May 13), medicinal chemist at Amgen who holds four patents through her work there.
• Dr. Rachelle Reisberg (May 20), director of Women in Engineering Programs at Northeastern University and co-founder of a startup company specializing in speech recognition software.
• Erika Ebbel (May 27), MIT chemistry graduate and Miss Massachusetts 2004, who currently is a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University Medical School and CEO of WhizKids Foundation.
• Dr. Eva Schernhammer (May 27), associate professor and epidemiologist at the Harvard Schools of Medicine and Public Health, who studies the relation of circadian rhythms and melatonin to cancer risk.

Visit the Museum of Science web site for more information.

Tags: Boston Museum of Science