Shelia Nash-Stevenson is an American physicist and engineer. Nash-Stevenson was the first Black woman in Alabama to earn a PhD in physics.[1]
Shelia Nash-Stevenson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alma mater | Alabama A&M University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Marshall Space Flight Center Hughes Aircraft Company |
Early life and education
editNash-Stevenson was born and raised in Lawrence County, Alabama.[2] She graduated from Austin High School at the age of sixteen.[3] She studied science and electronic and electrical engineering at Alabama A&M University in 1981.[4][5] She was the first person to graduate from the Alabama A&M University physics masters program, where she was a NASA Fellow.[3] She worked at Marshall Space Flight Center. Her professor, M. C. George, encouraged her to enter a PhD program.[3] She was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in physics at the Alabama A&M University in 1994.[2] During her postgraduate studies she had two children.[3] She is three-times magna cum laude.[2] At the time she was one of fewer than twenty African-American women with a physics PhD in the United States.[2][6] She was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.[5] She worked on photon avalanche upconversion.[7]
Career
editNash-Stevenson joined the United States Army Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command.[2] She holds a patent for an optical fiber holder.[2] She joined Nichols Research Corporation as a scientist, then Hughes Aircraft Company as a technical researcher.[4] She joined the instrumentation group in Marshall Space Flight Center's avionics lab, where she worked for nearly ten years.[3] She was awarded a NASA Fellowship in 1998, and eventually joined the space craft and vehicle systems group.[3][8] During her fellowship she returned to Alabama A&M University as a professor. She was at Kennedy Space Center to watch the STS-95 launch.[8] She spoke at the 2013 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.[9]
In 2013 Huntsville, Alabama recognised her efforts for the community. She is the only African-American to serve on the Madison City School Board[2][10] and she's a member of the Madison Rotary Club.[4][11]
She won the Modern Figure award of NASA and was selected to attend the premiere of Hidden Figures.[2][12] She took part in several panel discussions and interviews after the film was released.[3][13][14][15][16][17] She gave the convocation talk at Elms College in 2017.[18] In 2018 she was honoured by the WEDC Foundation Women Honoring Women program.[19] She was featured in the AT&T Alabama African-American calendar.[20]
References
edit- ^ "Dr. Sheila Nash-Stevenson - Alabama A&M University". www.aamu.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson". 2018 Alabama African American History Calendar. 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (2017-03-02), Dr. Shelia Nash-Stevenson, retrieved 2018-09-10
- ^ a b c "Convocation Speaker 2017: NASA Engineer and STEM Pioneer Shelia Nash-Stevenson, Ph.D. - Elms College". Elms College. 2017-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ a b "Madison, AL - Official Website". www.madisonal.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "The Women of Alabama A&M University" (PDF). AAMU. 2011. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ Patel, Darayas N.; Reddy, B. Rami; Nash-Stevenson, Shelia K. (1999-05-20). "Photon-avalanche upconversion in thulium-doped lutetium aluminum garnet". Applied Optics. 38 (15): 3271–3274. Bibcode:1999ApOpt..38.3271P. doi:10.1364/AO.38.003271. ISSN 2155-3165. PMID 18319920.
- ^ a b "NASA Educational Fellowship Program Lets Marshall Engineer". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Speakers and Panelists – Southeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at UCF". sciences.ucf.edu. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Tech-savvy teachers put skills to the test in citywide competition - eCampus News". eCampus News. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Madison City Employees of the Year Awards 2016 – Rotary Club of Madison". www.madisonalrotary.org. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "NASA engineer to deliver Elms College convocation address". masslive.com. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Hidden Figures screening & panel discussion". www.intrepidmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ Crocker, Steve. "Modern 'Figures': NASA engineers hope to inspire other women of color in science". www.wbrc.com. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ FOX. "Go Backstage - 'Hidden Figures' (Stephanie Wilson, Bill Barry, Shelia Nash-Stevenson)". KRIV. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Not So Hidden Figures". www.newyorkminutemag.com. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "A NASA Historian Talks HIDDEN FIGURES and John Glenn's Legacy | Nerdist". Nerdist. 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "President Harry E. Dumay celebrates first year of leadership at Elms College". iobserve.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ "Honorees | WEDC Foundation". wedcfoundation. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- ^ Davenport, Fred (2017-11-10). "AT&T unveils 2018 Alabama African-American calendar". WVTM. Retrieved 2018-09-10.