Women in Stem Take the Virtual Stage at City of STEM: LA's Largest Science Initiative on March 27

Los Angeles, CA – March 8, 2021 – INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – City of STEM, Los Angeles’ largest annual science initiative, kicks off this year’s virtual festival on Saturday, March 27th with over 21 hours of programming from Los Angeles’ vast and diverse STEM community -- including everything from science rock bands to NASA engineers piloting the Mars Perseverance Rover. This year’s festival will highlight programming focused on Women in STEM and feature content created by the City of Downey’s Columbia Memorial Space Center Girls in STEM Club in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education and sponsored by Financial Partners Credit Union.

“City of STEM is a platform to unite the diversity of Greater Los Angeles, rallying the public around science and drawing attention to the region’s continued national importance in research, education and industry, from aerospace to biotech,” said Ben Dickow, City of STEM organizer, and President of the Columbia Memorial Space Center. “We are proud to honor and celebrate the vast contributions of Women in STEM during National Women’s Month and throughout the year.”

Among the Women in STEM slated to speak at the festival are:

• Jenny Krusoe, Founding Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles’  AltaSea - an innovative ocean sustainability and marine science campus who will be receiving the 2021 City of STEM Icon Award
• Diana Trujillo, NASA Engineer and Flight Director for the current Mars Perseverance Rover

While additional presenters and topics will be added, Women in STEM streams confirmed include:

"Female Star Sailors: Past, Present and Future"

Evelyn E Perkins Education Foundation in collaboration with DoV Club and Kids That Code. The show will introduce Viewers to Space and the Female Trailblazers that have visited including Dr. Mae Jemison, Dr. Sally Reid, Sunita Williams and Ellen Ochoa.

Live Science Experiment with Boundless Brilliance

Boundless Brilliance brings free, empowering STEM workshops to local elementary schools. They aim to educate, empower, and engage students in order to close the gender gap in STEM, envisioning a future of STEM leadership that is as diverse as the world in which we live.

"Who Wants to Be a Robotics Engineer?"

Presented by the founder of SoLA (South LA) Robotics, Jennifer Lashley. Robotics Teams will join forces to answer some wacky questions with your help! Join us for this engineering and robotics challenge. Be there when we “Ask the Audience” or “Phone a Friend” as we lock in the final answers.

"The La Brea Tar Pits: Hildegarde Howard and Giving a Hoot About Fossil Birds"

Presentation about the woman who was instrumental to early Archaeology and is presented by Laura Tewksbury, paleontologist at the La Brea Tar Pits

A spotlight on pioneer paleornithologist Hildegarde Howard (1901-1998), often referred to as the "Mother of Paleornithology," whose 150 papers not only set the standard for the research of fossil birds, but also pushed the envelope of what was considered an appropriate career for a woman. In addition, we introduce an activity teaching viewers how we record the positional data of our fossils, using simple methods and materials to graph anything from bird bones, to coins, to a pile of leaves. Feel free to stick around for Q&A with our Museum paleontologist, Laura Tewksbury!

"Nature en mi Comunidad"

Sustainability and conservation efforts among women leaders and communities of color in the San Gabriel Valley.

And, the Girls in STEM Club at the Columbia Memorial Space Center will debut short films of themselves portraying their favorite female scientists and highlighting their achievements. These shorts will play throughout the day.

“Financial Partners was founded more than 80 years ago on the very site of the Columbia Memorial Space Center by employees of North American Aviation -- some of our members were those who took Neil Armstrong to the moon. We proudly support STEM education as a nod to this rich heritage and believe STEM jobs will build strong communities,” said Nader Moghaddam, President and CEO of Financial Partners Credit Union and Chairman of the Columbia Memorial Space Center. “The contributions of women to Los Angeles’ rich history and present-day innovation have been significant and we’re proud to celebrate Women and Girls in STEM.”

“Los Angeles is an innovation incubator — a place where the world comes to develop new ideas and pioneer groundbreaking technologies,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “City of STEM is an opportunity for L.A. to showcase a science, technology, and engineering ecosystem that is creating new opportunities every day and putting L.A. at the center of a global movement to envision tomorrow and build it today.”