Mae Jamison - Doctor / Engineer / Astronaut

Born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama, Mae Carol Jemison is an American physician and the first black American woman to become an astronaut. In 1992 she spent more than a week orbiting Earth in the space shuttle Endeavour.

At three years old, her family moved to Chicago where she was introduced to science by her uncle. Her interests grew throughout her childhood in anthropology, archaeology, evolution, and astronomy. In high school student, she developed an interest in biomedical engineering, and after graduating in 1973, at the age of 16, she entered Stanford University. There she received degrees in chemical engineering and African American studies

In 1977 Mae entered medical school at Cornell University where she pursued an interest in international medicine. After volunteering for a summer in a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand, she studied in Kenya in 19279. Mae graduated from medical school in 1981, and, after a short time as a general practitioner with a Los Angeles medical group, she became a medical officer with the Peace Corps in West Africa. There she managed health care for Peace Corps and U.S. embassy personnel and worked in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control on several research projects, including development of a hepatitis B vaccine.

After returning to the United States, Jemison applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in 1987, was 1 of 15 accepted out of 2,000 applicants. She became an astronaut office representative with the Kennedy Space Center working to process space shuttles for launching and to verify shuttle software.

Jemison’s maiden space flight came with the weeklong September 1992 mission of the shuttle Endeavour. At that time she was the only black American female astronaut.

In 1993, she formed The Jemison Group Inc., a consulting firm that considers the sociocultural impact of technological advancements and design. Jemison also founded the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence in 1994. One of the projects of the foundation is The Earth We Share, a science camp for students aged 12 to 16. Founded in 1994, its camps have been held at Dartmouth College, Colorado School of Mines, Choate Rosemary Hall and other sites across the United States, as well as internationally in South Africa, Tunisia, and Switzerland. The Dorothy Jemison Foundation also sponsors other events and programs, including the Shaping the World essay competition, Listening to the Future (a survey program that targets obtaining opinions from students), Earth Online (an online chatroom that allows students to safely communicate and discuss ideas on space and science), and the Reality Lads Fantasy Gala.