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Women Making STEAM (Online)

Broward Public Library Foundation

Join us for our 2nd annual Women Making STEAM lecture series, fully on Zoom. Partake in the fun while transcending space and time and celebrating the achievements of these special women in STEAM.

Webinars will take place on Tuesday, July 8, July 15, July 22, and July 29. 

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Art, and Math. This year, we are joined by a special group of women who are leaders, educators, researchers, and creators in the STEAM world. Don't miss out on engaging with these brillant thinkers as they share their journey through a traditionally male-dominated industry and how their work has contributed to communities, globally. 

July 8: AdrienneRose Gionta 

AdrienneRose Gionta self identifies as a Pop Culture Consigliere, VJ soothsayer, and Rose Whisperer. She is a Digital Ideation Butterfly, an Extended Reality Evangelist, an Internet of Things Svengali, and 50 Shades of Earl Grey. She is, in short, amazing. 

My work analyzes identity and cultural assumptions about fatness, beauty standards, embodiment, and fulfillment on and offline. I work with avatars to create inclusive environments in imagined digital worlds where fat-bodied women have it all. In doing this, I respond to limiting social standards imposed on me as a fat woman, from beliefs about acceptable norms within pop culture to personal fulfillment. Conversely, I use skinny avatars to learn what it’s like to live in a world where I’m "perfectly" shaped. This process gives me a better understanding of how body image mediates our relationship with pleasure.

Entwined within my practice, I play with text and engage with Marketing Psychology to brand images, colors, words, and my name. Being the last in my lineage, and out of a fear of death, I approach my work as my only legacy. Consequently, I employ conditioning techniques designed to make viewers remember my name and to think of me when they see the color pink or smell roses. 

July 15: Dr. Vicki Sarajedini

Dr. Vicki Sarajedini was raised in Ohio, USA. She received her BS in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Mount Union, an MS in Astronomy from Yale University, and a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Arizona. Currently, she is a professor of Physics at Florida Atlantic University. Her research interests focus on the multiwavelength study of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), the variability properties of AGN, supermassive black hole accretion and accretion disk physics, and host galaxy morphologies. As a woman of Christian faith, Dr. Sarajedini's vision is to serve as an intermediary between the scientific world and the Christian world. 

July 22: Dr. Adeene Denton

Dr. Adeene Denton is a geologist and planetary scientist interested in giant impacts and their influence on the history, evolution and tectonic activity of icy satellites, ocean worlds, and Kuiper Belt Objects. Adeene uses a combination of numerical tools, from shock physics codes to finite element modeling, to explore the effects of giant impacts, which begin in the first few seconds after impact and can extend for hundreds of millions of years. Adeene is passionate about integrating numerical modeling, fieldwork, and everything in between to approach geologic problems. Asteroid 16883 adeenedenton is named for Adeene’s research on impact processes on outer Solar System worlds, including Pluto.

Adeene is trained as a scientist, historian, and dancer, which informs their scientific and artistic research process. They are an avid astrohumanist focused on approaching future planetary exploration from a scientific and humanistic perspective. When Adeene’s not blowing up Pluto, they’re pursuing additional research projects on everything from the history of geology during the Cold War to the social and cultural implications of space travel! You can find some of Adeene’s writing right here under ‘Blog’ as well as on Medium. They are also involved in several projects aimed at building a more supportive environment for underrepresented groups in STEM, including co-founding the Ethics and Human Rights in the Space Sector project group for the Space Generation Advisory Council.

To see what Adeene is about in 20 minutes or less, check out their TEDx talk here, or their Minute Out In It from their time as Astronomer in Residence at the Grand Canyon. Adeene is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

July 29: Dr. Evdokiya Kostadinova

Prof. Kostadinova obtained her B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in Political Science from Furman University in 2014. She received her Ph.D. in Physics in 2017 from Baylor University. Currently, Kostadinova is an assistant professor at Auburn University’s Physics Department. Kostadinova has authored a Springer book on applying spectral theory to transport problems in disordered systems. She is the chair of Coalition of Plasma Science, Vice-President for Plasma Science for the Fusion Power Associates, member of the Science Advisory Board for LaserNetUS, vice-chair of Sherwood executive committee, and a chair and member of several APS DPP committees. 

Kostadinova’s research interests include anomalous diffusion in disordered media with nonlocal interactions, self-organization and stability of dusty plasmas in gravity and microgravity, and the thermodynamics of driven-dissipative systems. Kostadinova applies her analytical models to various real-life problems at the intersection of plasma science, fusion energy, and astro/space physics. Current projects include (i) anisotropic interactions in Plasmakristall-4 dusty plasmas, (ii) energetic electrons in lab devices and in space, (iii) material ablation in extreme plasma conditions, and (iv) production of complex molecules during meteoroid ablation. 

This series is made possible by the generous support of the Broward Public Library Foundation. 

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