Biography:Shelia Nash-Stevenson
Shelia Nash-Stevenson | |
|---|---|
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| Alma mater | Alabama A&M University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Marshall Space Flight Center Hughes Aircraft Company |
Shelia Nash-Stevenson is an integration engineer for the Planetary Programs Missions Office at Marshall Space Flight Center. She was the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in physics at the Alabama A&M University.
Early life and education
Nash-Stevenson was born and raised in Lawrence County, Alabama.[1] She graduated from Austin High School at the age of sixteen.[2] She studied science and electronic and electrical engineering at Alabama A&M University in 1981.[3][4] She was the first person to graduate from the Alabama A&M University physics masters program, where she was a NASA Fellow.[2] She worked at Marshall Space Flight Center. Her professor, M. C. George, encouraged her to enter a PhD program.[2] She was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in physics at the Alabama A&M University in 1994.[1] During her postgraduate studies she had two children.[2] She is three-times Magna cum Laude.[1] At the time she was one of fewer than twenty African-American women with a physics PhD in the United States .[1][5] She was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.[4] She worked on photon avalanche upconversion.[6]
Career
Nash-Stevenson joined the United States Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command.[1] She holds a patent for an optical fiber holder.[1] She joined Nichols Research Corporation as a scientist, then Hughes Aircraft Company as a technical researcher.[3] She joined the instrumentation group in Marshall Space Flight Center's avionics lab, where she worked for nearly ten years.[2] She was awarded a NASA Fellowship in 1998, and eventually joined the space craft and vehicle systems group.[2][7] During her fellowship she returned to Alabama A&M University as a professor. She was at Kennedy Space Center to watch the STS-95 launch.[7] She spoke at the 2013 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.[8]
In 2013 Huntsville, Alabama recognised her efforts for the community. She is the only African-American to serve on the Madison City School Board[1][9] and she's a member of the Madison Rotary Club.[3][10]
She won the Modern Figure award of NASA and was selected to attend the premiere of Hidden Figures.[1][11] She took part in several panel discussions and interviews after the film was released.[2][12][13][14][15][16] She gave the convocation talk at Elms College in 2017.[17] In 2018 she was honoured by the WEDC Foundation Women Honoring Women program.[18] She was featured in the AT&T Alabama African-American calendar.[19]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson" (in en-US). 2018 Alabama African American History Calendar. 2017-07-30. http://alafricanamerican.com/2017/07/30/dr-sheila-nash-stevenson/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (2017-03-02), Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkL7pcl-UAw, retrieved 2018-09-10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Convocation Speaker 2017: NASA Engineer and STEM Pioneer Shelia Nash-Stevenson, Ph.D. - Elms College" (in en-US). Elms College. 2017-09-11. https://www.elms.edu/convocation-speaker-2017-nasa-engineer-stem-pioneer-shelia-nash-stevenson-ph-d/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Madison, AL - Official Website" (in en). https://www.madisonal.gov/directory.aspx?EID=398.
- ↑ "The Women of Alabama A&M University". 2011. http://www.aamu.edu/news/2011/Documents/BHMWomen.pdf.
- ↑ Patel, Darayas N.; Reddy, B. Rami; Nash-Stevenson, Shelia K. (1999-05-20). "Photon-avalanche upconversion in thulium-doped lutetium aluminum garnet" (in EN). Applied Optics 38 (15): 3271–3274. doi:10.1364/AO.38.003271. ISSN 2155-3165. https://www.osapublishing.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-38-15-3271.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "NASA Educational Fellowship Program Lets Marshall Engineer" (in en). https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/1998-11/NSFC-NEFP-131198.php.
- ↑ "Speakers and Panelists – Southeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at UCF" (in en-US). https://sciences.ucf.edu/physics/scuwp/speakers-and-panelists/.
- ↑ "Tech-savvy teachers put skills to the test in citywide competition - eCampus News" (in en-US). eCampus News. 2009-02-11. https://www.ecampusnews.com/2009/02/11/tech-savvy-teachers-put-skills-to-the-test-in-citywide-competition/.
- ↑ "Madison City Employees of the Year Awards 2016 – Rotary Club of Madison" (in en-US). https://www.madisonalrotary.org/2016/05/12/madison-city-employees-of-the-year-2016/.
- ↑ "NASA engineer to deliver Elms College convocation address" (in en-US). masslive.com. https://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2017/09/nasa_engineer_to_deliver_elms_college_convocation_address.html.
- ↑ "Hidden Figures screening & panel discussion". https://www.intrepidmuseum.org/HiddenFigures.
- ↑ Crocker, Steve. "Modern 'Figures': NASA engineers hope to inspire other women of color in science" (in en-US). http://www.wbrc.com. http://www.wbrc.com/story/34342443/modern-figures-nasa-engineers-hope-to-inspire-other-women-of-color-in-science.
- ↑ FOX. "Go Backstage - 'Hidden Figures' (Stephanie Wilson, Bill Barry, Shelia Nash-Stevenson)" (in en-US). http://www.fox26houston.com/news/226855309-video.
- ↑ "Not So Hidden Figures" (in en-US). https://www.newyorkminutemag.com/not-so-hidden-figures/.
- ↑ "A NASA Historian Talks HIDDEN FIGURES and John Glenn’s Legacy | Nerdist" (in en). Nerdist. 2016-12-24. https://nerdist.com/a-nasa-historian-talks-hidden-figures-and-john-glenns-legacy/.
- ↑ "http://iobserve.org/2018/07/18/president-harry-e-dumay-celebrates-first-year-of-leadership-at-elms-college/" (in en-US). http://iobserve.org/2018/07/18/president-harry-e-dumay-celebrates-first-year-of-leadership-at-elms-college/.
- ↑ "Honorees | WEDC Foundation" (in en). https://www.wedcfoundation.org/honorees.
- ↑ Davenport, Fred (2017-11-10). "AT&T unveils 2018 Alabama African-American calendar" (in en). WVTM. https://www.wvtm13.com/article/atandt-unveils-2018-alabama-african-american-calendar/13517787.
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