(Newser)
– When Alena Wicker realized the racial and gender differences in STEM employment, she went to work. The 12-year-old from Texas told her mother, “I want to create this culture of Brown girls in STEM, because it’s all this gap and I just want to do something,” Good Morning America reports. In fact, the Pew Research Center found that only 9% of STEM workers are black and only 7% are Hispanic. The result of Alena’s effort is a website, thebrownstemgirl, for girls of color. Her other efforts include writing a children’s book and launching a podcast, which is a few weeks after the debut, which will include “women and girls from STEM to ask and answer questions.” She also intends to lead by example.
“I will be the youngest black girl who has ever worked for NASA,” Alena told her mother. He will begin distance learning at Arizona State University in May as soon as he graduates from high school. Alena intends to double in the field of astronomical and planetary science and chemistry on her way to becoming an engineer. NASA honored its first female engineer of color, Mary Jackson, earlier this year, naming it Washington headquarters. Alena hopes that one of her podcast guests will be another pioneer: Mae Jemison, NASA’s first black astronaut. The great is about to open; she and her mother, Daphne McQuarter, said NASA contacted Alena. (Read more uplifting news.)