STEM Gems Book Intro: An Excerpt

This book that you hold in your hands might change your life. At least, that’s my goal. 

I’ve been you. I’ve sat in middle and high school classrooms, listening to career day presentations and pondering my future. I’ve filled out questionnaires about my interests and wondered how high scores in cognitive reasoning or an unquenchable love of the outdoors or an affinity for colorful metaphors could ever translate into a future that seemed real. Imagining ourselves ten or fifteen years in the future is tough. The present always seems to capture our attention with more passion, more intensity. 

I’ll let you in on a secret: You don’t have to figure it all out now. You don’t even have to figure it all out this week or this year. The 44 inspiring women in this book — STEM Gems who shine in their respective fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — collectively changed career courses over a hundred times. They might change careers a hundred more. So what sets them apart from others who pursue dreams and miss the mark?

My best answer is in this book. 

Back in high school, I loved chemistry and all things math. I appreciated amazing teachers who challenged me to dig deeply into the material and to ask questions. In chemistry, the hands-on experiments were memorable and exciting. Testing changes in pH and discovering interactions between molecules? Awesome! And in math, I grew to appreciate the beauty in patterns, in logic and in real-world applications. Math builds on itself, and my teachers taught me the necessary pieces to get to each next level. I found that instant gratification when you “get it” exhilarating. 

Beyond school, my family gatherings could just as easily have been STEM conventions. My father was an electrical engineer with degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Stanford University. Many uncles, aunts and cousins became mathematicians, scientists and engineers. (You’ll find one in this book.) Eventually, my brother Matthew majored in applied math and economics at Harvard University, and my older sister Jennifer rocked electrical engineering at Georgia Tech. My most influential role model was my mother. She was a shining example of what women can accomplish in STEM. An environmental engineer with a math degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, my mother made sure that I was always engaged in challenging activities and programs to strengthen my STEM foundation. 

You might conclude that being in STEM is in my DNA — that somehow I had a genetic predisposition to STEM. Despite being born into the same family, my younger sister Leslie pursued a passion that wasn’t STEM-related. And like Leslie with her chosen career, many of the women in this book were the first in their families to enter into a STEM career. I’ll tell you and they will too: STEM isn’t a special brain. STEM doesn’t come from a life of privilege. STEM is simply an exposure to what is possible and an internal belief that anyone can be a STEM Gem. 

Truly, anyone — including you! 

The 44 unique stories contained in this book are possible destinations on your map, but they are certainly not the only ones. Think of them as way-stations to even more possibilities beyond. You will frown at the challenges and injustices these women faced and smile at what the human spirit can overcome. You will journey to outer space, dig deep into ancient Peruvian soil and root for those women on the front-lines, fighting the most critical and impactful diseases on the planet. You will witness the cool-factor you only thought possible in a Hollywood movie. And in the end you will have 44 women in your army of inspirational role models whose stories will endure in your mind and heart for the exciting ride ahead. 

This book began as a crusade, but it became so much more. When I assembled the biographies, the story had yet to be finished. There were commonalities, threads, beautiful patterns that illuminate when brought to the surface. That’s when I realized all these amazing STEM Gems needed to share this book, these answers, with the most important person of all: you. 

I call this section Crystals because all gemstones take the form of crystals in the formative stages of growth. The Crystals portion is about you — about dreaming when STEM isn’t already in your blood, about celebrating your gender in the face of adversity, about sketching that route between this moment and your dreams. You will learn what you can do this school year, this summer, next week, tomorrow and even today to start on your dream path to be a STEM Gem. The action checklist at the conclusion of each chapter will guide you beyond a mere reading experience. This critical portion gives you immediate, actionable steps to tackle your STEM dreams. 

The advice I give you in his book is exactly what I did myself. No one’s STEM road is ever easy, and I am no exception. I worked hard. I took advantage of opportunities that came my way, and I never lost a sense of curiosity about the world. Inspiration was all around me; and with this book, inspiration surrounds you, too. 

Someday, you will pick up a magazine in a doctor’s office or catch a story on the evening news or see an internet headline about one of our 44 STEM Gems, continuing to inspire. It has happened to me more than once in the creation of this book, and I know it will happen for you, too. These hard-working, gifted women are just beginning to come into their full potential, and the world will never be the same. They are 44 in number, but they represent so many more. They represent countless women in STEM every day, all over the world. They represent my mother, me and, yes, even you. 

?? Stephanie Espy

Web: www.STEMGemsBook.com // Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @STEMGemsBook #GiveGirlsRoleModels