Women's History Month Events at Embry-Riddle

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NASA Engineer Aprille Ericsson Launches Women’s History Month at Embry-Riddle

Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 26, 2008 -- Aprille Ericsson, the first African-American woman with an engineering doctorate to work at NASA’s Goddard Flight and Space Center, will be the keynote speaker for the Women’s History Month celebration at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held Monday, March 3, from 7-8 p.m. in the auditorium of the Miller Instructional Center on the university’s Daytona Beach campus.

Ericsson’s multimedia presentation, “Women Who Dared: The History of Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics,” will have an aviation/aerospace focus. She will also discuss how she chose a career in aerospace engineering. At Goddard, she leads proposals, as well as designing and managing the development of Earth and space-science instruments and satellites.

“I feel obligated to help spur the interest of minorities and women in math, science, and engineering,” Ericsson says. “Without diversity in all fields, the United States won’t remain technically competitive.”

To educate and motivate young people, Ericsson serves as a mentor, outreach speaker, and sports coach. At her alma mater, Howard University, she is an adjunct professor in the mechanical engineering department and a director of the university’s new Public Charter Middle School of Math and Science.

Ericsson has received many honors, including the prestigious Women in Science and Engineering Award, presented annually by the federal government to its best female engineer. She is often spotlighted in the news and is profiled in two history books.

She earned a master of engineering and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with an aerospace concentration from Howard. She also holds a B.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from MIT. Medgar Evers College presented her with an honorary doctor of science degree.

Ericsson’s lecture and the Women’s History Month events at Embry-Riddle are coordinated by the university’s Diversity Lecture Series.

Other Women’s History Month events:

March 3: Dr. Ericsson visits with female students at Embry-Riddle at a Women-Only Luncheon; 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the College of Aviation Building atrium.

March 4: Dr. Ericsson visits Campbell Middle School in Daytona Beach and helps sixth-grade science classes with an engineering experiment: designing egg carriers that can survive a one-floor drop; at 10:15 a.m. For more information, contact Joanne Detore-Nakamura, coordinator of Embry-Riddle’s partnership with Campbell, at (386) 226-4914 or detoree@erau.edu.

March 5: Women on the Page, Stage, and Screen, a thought-provoking, at times hilarious, presentation including music, film clips, and live performance directed by Libbie Searcy, assistant professor of humanities; at 7 p.m. in the Miller Instructional Center auditorium. For mature audiences only. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Linda Straubel, assistant professor of humanities, at straue75@erau.edu. The event is part of the Arts and Letters Series.

March 12: Helen Thayer, whom National Geographic called “one of the greatest explorers of our time,” will give a lecture about her travels to the North Pole, across the Gobi Desert, and much more; from 7-8 p.m. in the Miller Instructional Center. A book signing will follow. For more information, contact Jennifer Carney, instructor of humanities, at carne9c7@erau.edu.

March 25: Lunch-N-Learn about gender and identity, using examples from popular culture, with Margaret Mishoe, assistant professor of humanities; from 1-2 p.m. in the Miller Instructional Center, room 104. RSVP to Cindy Oakley-Paulik at oaklece3@erau.edu, as seating is limited.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through its Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.erau.edu.