Oct. 30 (UPI) — Women leaders in science, technology, engineering and math from around the world are taking part this week in the U.S. State Department’s professional exchange program based on the Hidden Figures film.
“Hidden No More: Empowering Women Leaders in STEM” International Visitor Leadership Program runs through Nov. 16, in nine cities, including Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Participants will also visit Durham and Greensboro, N.C.; Huntsville, Ala., and Orlando, Pensacola and St. Petersburg, Fla., where they will meet with STEM researchers to discuss the advancement of women in scientific innovation and opportunities for girls in STEM.
The IVLP initiative was inspired by the 2016 film Hidden Figures about four Black female mathematicians, who performed complicated calculations at NASA for supersonic flight and space exploration during the 1960s space race.
Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Christine Darden, who also faced racism and sexism in their work, received Congressional Gold Medals last month for their contributions. Darden, who is the only surviving member, watched the ceremony from her home as family members accepted the gold medals on their behalf.
Johnson, who served as the space agency’s “human computer,” died in 2020 at the age of 101. One of her first jobs was to calculate the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space in 1961. Actress Taraji P. Henson, who portrayed Johnson in Hidden Figures, called her a “real-life superhero” for rising above prejudice in the workplace.
During this year’s IVLP, women leaders in STEM will participate in meetings at the State Department, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, National Geographic, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Walt Disney Studios, where they will learn about the science and technology “behind the magic of Disney.”
Since 2017, 235 women leaders from 119 countries have taken part in the program.
