Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium Scheduled for October 2nd Online

Website Editor • September 18, 2020

A Different Kind of Women in STEM Meeting

The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) will host its second Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium (MMWSS) virtually on October 2, 2020 from 1-4PM. Originally planned for an in-person two-and-a-half-day event at the Babson Executive Conference Center in Wellesley, MA, the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the MMA to reconfigure the event. This year’s online event is free but registration is necessary.


The MMWSS is meant to promote and support women and girls in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.  


Distinguished women scientists and others involved in STEM will focus their discussions on Diversity, Inclusion and Intersectionality for this online event.  


The keynote speaker, Catalina Martinez, is the Regional Program Manager for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER). A certified diversity professional with three graduate degrees from URI (MS Oceanography, MMA Marine Affairs, MBA), Ms. Martinez began her ocean science career with NOAA in 2002 working on ship operations and logistics, as well as education and outreach initiatives associated with expeditions to explore little known and unknown ocean areas. Ms. Martinez also works on a variety of local, regional, and national efforts to face the barriers to entry for underrepresented individuals into STEM fields, and was honored with the URI Diversity Award for Staff/Administrator Excellence in Leadership and Service in 2010 for this work. She consistently seeks to increase potential for life success for individuals born to challenging circumstances, and was recognized by the YWCA as one of their 2015 Women of Achievement in Rhode Island for promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity. Ms. Martinez also received the 2016 NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research EEO/Diversity Award for Exemplary Service for dedication to improving the representation of women and minorities in STEM. 

Panelists for this special online MMWSS include:


Serra Hoagland, Ph.D. – serves as the Liaison Officer (Biologist) for the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire Lab to Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana. From 2012-2016, she worked as a Biological Scientist and as the Tribal Relations co-point of contact for the USDA Southern Research Station in Asheville, North Carolina. As the first Native American to graduate from Northern Arizona University with a PhD in forestry, Dr. Hoagland studied Mexican spotted owl habitat on tribal and non-tribal lands in south-central New Mexico


Dorene Price – Chief IP Counsel, is a patent attorney and head of the Intellectual Property Legal Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory. She received both her BSc and MSc degrees from Binghamton University where she studied chemistry and industrial engineering


Amy Bower, Ph.D. – has been a Senior Scientist in the Department of Physical Oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution since 2005. She is currently serving a four-year term as the department’s first female chair


Sabine von Sengbusch – is Vice President of Validation/Clinical Affairs in the Laboratory Diagnostics business of Siemens Healthineers. Her global team of 135 scientists and clinicians perform internal and external studies and trials to ensure lab diagnostic products meet design input requirements and user needs. In addition to her current R&D responsibilities, she also serves as the Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council for Siemens Healthineers U.S., has served as the Executive Sponsor of the Pride Network, and been an active participant in Siemens’ Women’s Networking group


Gwyneth Packard, Panel Moderator – is a Senior Engineer in the Oceanographic Systems Laboratory (OSL) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) where she writes control code for the REMUS family of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). As a bi-racial woman in engineering, she has always worked to improve representation of women in traditionally male-dominated fields, and to increase representation of under-represented minorities throughout STEM fields

Women continue to be under-represented in the sciences. According to the 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators report by the National Science Foundation, women comprised just 28% of workers in science and engineering occupations in 2010. This under-representation shortchanges the students, the field of science, and the public that benefits from scientific advancement. 


Jascin Finger, MMA Deputy Director and Symposium Coordinator states, “This Symposium is designed to serve as a source of inspiration and support and to be a hands-on experience in which all attendees are actively participating and problem solving. While the COVID-19 Pandemic has moved us online for a shortened version, we hope that the moment we had coming out of our first Symposium in 2018 can be built upon as we look towards meeting again in-person in 2021. Our in-person meeting allows us to come together to work towards real-world solutions that we can then take back to our places of work and schooling to begin to make changes and create support systems.”


The Symposium is named after Maria Mitchell, America’s first woman astronomer. The first Symposium in 2018 also marked the 200th anniversary of Mitchell’s birth. Mitchell, who went on to teach Astronomy at Vassar College, promoted hands-on learning and encouraged women to study science.


The themes that the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium addresses are persisting issues that hindered women in science in Maria Mitchell’s time and still affect them today. The Symposium also addresses where women are today, how to recruit women and girls into STEM, how to address the challenges that women still face in STEM, promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion in STEM, and how to broaden participation and leadership. Maria Mitchell believed in learning by doing and the Symposium continues this philosophy by encouraging all attendees, female and male of all backgrounds and educations, to actively participate, problem-solve, and learn through a hands-on experience. 


The online MMWSS is made possible thanks to the generous support of the American Astronomical Society, Tupancy-Harris Foundation, and Novartis.


Registration to the MMWSS is still available at mmwiss.org. Visit the website for more information and registration.


The event is organized by the Maria Mitchell Association, a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

September 11, 2020

Contact:  Jascin Finger

jfinger@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • December 15, 2025
[1855] On the 12 th [December] at 8 o’clock, I found a comet in Cetus. It is probably that seen by Bruhns in Berlin on Nov. 12. It is round and bright and moved so rapidly that in an hour I was certain of its change of place. From 8 to 10 ½ it had moved about half the diameter of my field of view. I tho’t it varied in its light but of this I am not quite certain, as I at times changed from one instrument to another, and I cannot be certain that my eye was not somewhat affected by the size of different powers, so as to affect my judgement. I would give a good deal for it to be my own possession, because it would convince me that I was not declining in vigor.  This comet, unlike her won comet of October 1, 1847, is fairly fast moving – it would take many calculations and much time for her comet to illustrate its movement – beyond just the appearance of its “tail.” Maria had made earlier comments in the month about if being a hard year – the hardest of her life. The loss of friends, her mother’s illness. But this, with other matters, buoyed her spirit and she talked about her “blessings.” This comet was one seen by Maria only eight years after her comet discovery so it seems interesting that she feels she is slipping and not as “vigorous” – she is only thirty-seven years old at this date. JNLF

A Swatch of Fabric

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • December 9, 2025
Another re-blog. I came across this recently while looking through my computer files. I want to re-blog it in memory of Jean Hughes, an incredibly gifted islander, who was directly influential in the lives of so many island children and those in need. She was the Coffin School Trustee’s President for many years and I had the honor to serve as a trustee under her. She passed away in the summer of 2025. Jeanie loaned me this from her family collections as she thought I would enjoy it. She knew me better than I thought she did. With love. 1830s Chinese silk to be exact. It literally floated into my lap as I sat reading a letter.  A letter from a young Nantucket girl to her grandparents. A young girl who just several years before had moved from tiny Nantucket Island to San Francisco with her mother to join her father. He had moved for better work and a better life. Nantucket was in an economic decline. Reading this treasure trove of letters – loaned to me by a friend who is a descendant of these people I mention – was like spying on them. Now, when I read Mitchell family letters and writing it is slightly different for me. Having worked in the Mitchell House for so long, I feel like they are a part of my family. This batch of letters was different however. I felt like they know I read their letters – as if they were looking over my shoulder or sitting on the other side of the room aghast. I felt like they thought no one ever would – or at the very least an outsider – read this correspondence. The worse letter one was the son writing to his mother upon receipt of her letter telling him of his father’s death. That was hard. Made harder because he thought his father was fine – he was as of the last letter a month or two before. Made harder as I lost my own Father a little over a year ago. I knew how he felt – but cannot imagine receiving a letter that is about a month old telling one of such horrible news. He had not seen his father in several years. I could speak to my Father, visited him monthly, and was there with him. That was not an easy letter to read. The silk fabric piece is quite beautiful – and still pristine – as if it was just folded into the letter yesterday. She wanted to share with her grandparents the dress that her cousin had brought to her directly from Hong Kong. A cousin, who was likely pregnant – or “sick” as was written but it was obvious what “sick” meant (yes, pregnancy was looked at as an illness in a way – and there were high rates of infant and mother mortality during and immediately following birth). The cousin had travelled back and forth to Hong Kong on the China Trade with her husband it seems but due to the pregnancy had to be put off with family or others until the baby was born. This was a common practice for the wives of whale captains who might go to sea with their husbands. They were put off with other whaling families or missionaries in far off ports so that they could have their baby where others could help. Sometimes they were put off months in advance. And, did you know that Nantucket whale wives were the FIRST to go to sea with their captains husbands? They set the trend – after all, we were the whaling capital of the world. At least, until we lost that title for multiple reasons. I digress. The other piece that leads one to realize that money was to be had – at least for the cousin – is that she didn’t bring fabric – she brought the dress already made in Hong Kong. Yes, it would have been less costly there than in the United States but it shows there was extra money for spending. And, there was enough excess fabric inside the dress for this young girl to cut off a piece of it and send it to her grandparents. Making them feel as if they were a part of her daily life – and making her feel that way too. So far from home. On the other side of the continent with Nantucket Sound in the midst, to boot. JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: December 2025

December 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews
Show More