First black woman in space speaks to FSC

LAKELAND — She played with Barbie Dolls and chemistry sets as a child. And she loved the stars.

NASA astronaut, engineer, entrepreneur, physician and educator Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first black woman in space, was the featured speaker Friday morning at Florida Southern College's 136th-Year Founders Day Convocation and was named the college's 85th honorary chancellor.

"I was this little girl who assumed she would go into space," Jemison said.

"And I made it," she said, noting that the opportunity came with the help of others.

Jemison, 62, served six years as a NASA astronaut and was the first woman of color to go into space.  eAdmitted to NASA's astronaut training program on June 4, 1987, she joined six other astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour on Sept. 12, 1992. She also has been on television many times, including a guest appearance in an episode of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation."

"Dr. Mae Jemison has found numerous ways to demonstrate how technologic advancements can benefit our society, while inspiring others to pursue their own dreams of improving the world," said FSC President Anne Kerr.

She also is a medical doctor and served as the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia. A professor at Dartmouth College, she focused on technology designs for sustainability for industrialized and developing nations, according to her bio.

"We look at science to solve so many problems," she told those in attendance at the Branscomb Auditorium on the FSC campus.

A child who grew up in the 1960s, she remembers being afraid for her dad on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.

Many changes were taking place in the world at the time, she said. Civil rights, women's liberation, space exploration, science advances.

"All these new things were happening, and I wanted to be a part of it," she said.

She spoke about empowerment and what it means.

"It involves belief," she said, "belief in the right to be involved, belief that you have something to contribute, belief that you can risk making the contribution."

Quoting Mzee Julius Nyerere, she said, "While they were trying to reach the moon, we were trying to reach the village.''

''We were able to reach the village because of space exploration."

A firm believer in "connections" and "inclusiveness across disciplines," she said that when she was considering what to do with her life, she found she had so many options. Her fascination with science was evident as early as kindergarten, she told The Ledger after the convocation.

"I loved space, stars and dinosaurs," she said, and yet she also enjoyed dancing. To be a dancer, or a doctor, she said, "Those are the points when you have to make a decision where are are going to make your main focus."

Pulling from her many experiences has fueled her academic and space interests.

Jemison leads 100 Year Starship, a global initiative that is funded through a competitive grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to ensure the capabilities for human travel to another star within the next 100 years. She also founded The Jemison Group Inc., a technology consulting firm that mixes critical socio-cultural issues into the design of engineering and science projects. This includes things like satellite technology for delivering health care and implementing solar dish Stirling engine electricity in developing countries. Her group researches and develops science and technology companies, such as BioSentient Corp., a medical device and services company.

What was the motivation for Jemison to chase her dreams and ambitions all the way to space and back?

"I have as much right to be in this universe as any speck of stardust," she told The Ledger.

Kathy Leigh Berkowitz can be reached at kberkowitz@theledger.com or at 863-802-7558. Follow her on Twitter @kberkowitzthel1.