Celebration of Current African American STEM history makers.

I truly admire our EPA administrator, Ms. Lisa P. Jackson even though I hadn't heard of her until she became current job. What I like about her is that she is a chemical engineer just like me that has utilized her training as an engineer to make a difference in the world. She proves my theory that if you get your training as a scientist or engineer, you will learn skills that are transferable and will allow you to be successful in any career path.

I am a fan of Ms. Jackson's facebook page and she was honored as the The Grio's Top 100 history makers (http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/thegrios-100/). As I reviewed this article, I noticed that there were several African-American STEM professionals on this list and I become excited. One of the things I noticed is that whenever there is talk about famous STEM professionals, most of them are dead. I know that there are African Americans that are alive that are making their contribution to the field. So thank you grio.com for sharing their stories, you should check it out.

Finally, be sure to share this story with the children that you know, especially African American children. I truly believe students that are typically underrepresented in these career paths aren't pursuing this fields not because they don't have the ability, but because they don't see people like them who can serve as role models and mentors. So I encourage you this month and every month to ensure that children get an opportunity to see people like themselves, even if it is in a magazine or a website like this pursuing a diversity of careers. It is my vision that all children believe the words of the hook, which I may be paraphrasing, to one of my favorite rapper NAS's song where he has children singing "I know I can, be what I want to be, if I work hard at it, I can do anything"