World-changing women, how to make tech a force for good, and more top insights

Today’s Daily Rundown was written by special guest editor Priscilla Chan, pediatrician, teacher and co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. This week, Priscilla was a featured speaker at the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world's largest gathering of women technologists. In today’s Rundown, Priscilla shares her favorite recent reads — fresh from meeting with thousands of women tech leaders in Houston, Texas.

Celebrating world-changing women

I was absolutely blown away by the energy and enthusiasm at Grace Hopper! After being with thousands of women technologists and change-makers at the annual celebration this week in Houston, I came away even more hopeful for the future and what’s possible when these women take a crack at changing the world. Here are just a few of the many women doing such work:  

• Yale University biochemist Joan Argetsinger Steitz — a world-renowned expert on RNA who co-authored a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report on bias and other barriers to women in STEM — won a Lasker Award (sometimes known as an “American Nobel”) this year.
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell — an astronomer whose work more than 40 years ago led to confirmation of the existence of stars known as pulsars — got overdue recognition this year as the recipient of the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Her work was acknowledged by the Nobel Committee in 1974, but was credited to her supervisor and another researcher.
• MIT’s Aviv Regev and her research team have set out to built a “Human Cell Atlas,” a map of every single human cell type and subtype. It’s a massive, ambitious project and could lead to major breakthroughs in our understanding of how the body, and diseases, work.

Giving the science fair spelling bee star power: The 2002 documentary “Spellbound” — and, of course, Shonda Rhimes’ live tweets — on the Scripps National Spelling Bee glamorized orthography for the masses. A new documentary aims to do the same for science education. “Science Fair” follows several teens who competed in the 2017 for International Science and Engineering Fair. (My sister was a finalist at this fair, where she won a scholarship that put her on the path to becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner!) Encouraging STEM education is critical, but the challenges are real: A lack of self-confidence and gender stereotypes can discourage many from pursuing an interest in science.

Reading for the next generation: As a mom of two young daughters, I’m excited to see a growing genre of young reader non-fiction dedicated to chronicling the contributions of women scientists, artists, activists and leaders. One of my favorites? Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s gorgeously illustrated “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” — Max’s favorites are Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie.  The “Rebel Girls” profiles are now also the basis of a podcast. You can listen to civil rights activist Tarana Burke narrating Harriet Tubman’s profile here.  

Wedding tech with public service: Harvard Law’s Susan Crawford argues that it’s time for universities to launch programs that support public interest careers in tech. A growing cohort of foundations, think tanks and universities are looking to make sure computer science students receive policy and ethics training that will help them build products and tools that support core democratic principles. Such programs could also help policymakers better understand the tech world.

One last idea:  To have the best chance of success, every child needs and deserves at least one adult who believes in them unequivocally and recognizes their potential.

“My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”  ― Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter, first woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad (Rome 1960), childhood polio survivor

— Priscilla Chan