| Honoring
Minorities in the Sciences
Two years ago, a Smith sophomore and
her fellow students sought to create an event that commemorated
the contributions of those in minority populations to science
and medical fields.
This week, Feb. 19-23,
Mary Banks ’07 and a group she helped
found, the Smith chapter of the Minority Association of Pre-health
Students (MAPS), is celebrating the third annual Minorities
in the Sciences Week, a mini-series of events.
For the second straight
year, MAPS teamed with the Union of Underrepresented Science
Students (UUSS) to produce the series, which includes a
film screening, a workshop on careers in medicine and the
sciences, and a “scientist trivia game” and
raffle.
 The
weeklong series is held in honor of Percy Lavon Julian
(1899-1975), a groundbreaking American chemist who received
more than 130 chemical patents during his career, and whose
research led to the birth control pill and cortisone. Julian
was the first African American chemist inducted into the
National Academy of Sciences.
Minorities in the Sciences
Week continues the theme celebrated during Otelia Cromwell Day last
fall. That week-long series, titled “Science, ‘Race,’ and
Society,” explored race and the ethics of science, and racism
in the history of science, including the omission of African-American
scientists from historical records.
“It is important for the
community to recognize that minorities are in the sciences,” says
Banks, “and
that they have made great contributions. I wish to crush
the stereotype that many minorities are not involved in advanced
fields.”
Minorities in the Sciences
Week will kick off on Monday, Feb. 19, with an address
by Karen Sarena Morris, a recent graduate with a Doctor of
Medicine degree from Yale School of Medicine, who had entered
Yale’s
program at age 40 while raising four children, one of whom
had a child of her own. Morris is assumed to be the first
to enter Yale’s
medical school as a grandparent. She will speak at 4:30 p.m. in the
Mwangi Cultural Center, located at Davis Center.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, the film Forgotten
Genius, a production
of the PBS series Nova about Percy Julian, will be screened
at 7 p.m. in McConnell B05.
A CDO workshop, “Careers in Medicine and Science,” will
take place on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. in Campus Center
205.
The week will close on Friday, Feb. 23, with a trivia game and raffle
at noon in Campus Center 103-104.
“It’s important to honor those scientists who were never
recognized for their genius and hard work,” says Banks. “Minorities
will benefit by learning about scientists who look like them
and have succeeded in these fields.”
For more information about Minorities in the Sciences Week, send
email to maps@email.smith.edu or
uuss@email.smith.edu.
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