Mae Jemison life and biography

Mae C. Jemison had received two undergraduate degrees and a medical degree, had served two years as a Peace Corps medical officer in West Africa, and was selected to join the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's astronaut training program, all before her thirtieth birthday. Her eight-day space flight aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992 established Jemison as the United States' first female African American space traveler.

* Early Life

Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, the youngest child of Charlie Jemison, a roofer and carpenter, and Dorothy (Green) Jemison, an elementary school teacher. Her sister, Ada Jemison Bullock, became a child psychiatrist, and her brother, Charles Jemison, is a real estate broker. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois, when Jemison was three to take advantage of better educational opportunities there, and it is that city that she calls her hometown. Throughout her early school years, her parents were supportive and encouraging of her talents and abilities, and Jemison spent considerable time in her school library reading about all aspects of science, especially astronomy. During her time at Morgan Park High School, she became convinced she wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering, and when she graduated in 1973 as a consistent honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.

At Stanford, Jemison pursued a dual major and in 1977 received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies. As she had been in high school, Jemison was very involved in extracurricular activities including dance and theater productions, and served as head of the Black Student Union. Upon graduation, she entered Cornell University Medical College to work toward a medical degree. During her years there, she found time to expand her horizons by visiting and studying in Cuba and Kenya and working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. When she obtained her M.D. in 1981, she interned at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center and later worked as a general practitioner. For the next two and a half years, she was the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia where she also taught and did medical research. Following her return to the U.S. in 1985, she made a career change and decided to follow a dream she had nurtured for a long time. In October of that year she applied for admission to NASA's astronaut training program. The Challenger disaster of January, 1986 delayed the selection process, but when she reapplied a year later, Jemison was one of the 15 candidates chosen from a field of about 2,000.

*Joins Eight-Day Endeavour Mission

When Jemison was chosen on June 4, 1987, she became the first African American woman ever admitted into the astronaut training program. After more than a year of training, she became an astronaut with the title of Science-Mission Specialist, a job which would make her responsible for conducting crew-related scientific experiments on the space shuttle. On September 12, 1992, Jemison finally flew into space with six other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS-47. During her eight days in space, she conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew and herself. Altogether, she spent slightly over 190 hours in space before returning to Earth on September 20. Following her historic flight, Jemison noted that society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the opportunity.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received several honorary doctorates, the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, the EbonyBlack Achievement Award in 1992, and a Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993, and was named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990. Also in 1992, an science and technology public school in Detroit, Michigan--the Mae C. Jemison Academy--was named after her. Jemison is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served on the Board of Directors of the World Sickle Cell Foundation from 1990 to 1992. She is also an advisory committee member of the American Express Geography Competition and an honorary board member of the Center for the Prevention of Childhood Malnutrition. After leaving the astronaut corps in March, 1993, she accepted a teaching fellowship at Dartmouth College, and also established the Jemison Group, a company that researches, develops, and markets advanced technologies.

The former astronaut also conducted the first annual International Space Camp in 1994. A strong, committed national voice for science literacy, Jemison founded The Earth We Share (TEWS), an annual international science camp where students, ages 12 to 16, work together to solve current global dilemmas. The four-week residential program builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills through an experiential curriculum. She also serves as chair for the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence and serves as Bayer Corporation's national advocate for the Making Science Make Sense initiative.

In 1999, Jemison launched a second technology company, BioScientient Corporation, a Houston-based medical devices and services start-up focused on improving health and human performance through physiological awareness and self-regulation. The company is involved in the design, development, and marketing of leading-edge, patented ambulatory equipment that provides wireless, real-time, real-life multi-parameter physiologic monitoring and the means to control one's responses to their environment and stimuli.

A noted lecturer, Jemison speaks nationally and internationally on science literacy, sustainable development and technology design, education, achieving excellence, the importance of increased participation of women and minorities in science and technology fields, and investing in the present to secure the future.

In 2004, Jemison delivered the keynote address during the Women of Diversity - Entrepreneurship Symposium sponsored by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at the Lally School of Management and Technology. The symposium features distinguished leaders who are making their marks on higher education, business, government, and the international landscape. The annual symposium is part of the Severino Center's effort to spark the interest of young women to pursue entrepreneurial ventures and careers in science, engineering, and technology. Jemison received an honorary degree from Rensselaer in May, 2007.

Jemison resides in Houston, Texas.

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