About this Book

Science is everywhere! Whether wearing a white coat or a wet suit, working on

a mountain or at a microscope, exploring the ocean depths or our own brains,

the IF/THEN Ambassadors hope to show you that anyone (and everyone) can

be a scientist.

The IF/THEN initiative envisions a future where more women innovators

are empowered to solve our greatest global challenges. The AAAS

IF/THEN Ambassador program brought together 125 US-based women STEM

professionals across a variety of fields and industries to serve as high-profile

role models for middle school girls. Supported by an AAAS IF/THEN She Can

Change the World grant, this Collection features researchers working in

academia, at NGOs, and in industry in a wide range of fields to show readers

that there are many ways to be a scientist and to inspire more young people

to ask and seek answers to questions about our world. At IF/THEN we know

that if you can see it, you can be it!

This Collection includes articles from women who are neuroscientists,

ecologists, physicists, biologists, engineers, and health professionals. Their

research asks questions about human health, biodiversity, neuroscience

and psychology, earth sciences, chemistry, and engineering and shows how

cutting-edge science often happens at the intersections of these fields. In this

Collection, you can read about how movie technology is improving patient

movement, how to protect bats and pika on a warming planet, the importance

of brain and gut health, exploration, the impacts of catastrophic weather

events, and emerging fields of science like medical physics.