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Hi, I'm Dr. E., Ellen Stofan.

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And Dr. Z., Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen and I,

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would like to answer
some of your questions.

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(soft electronic music)

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We got a question,

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which I think you and I
only have one answer to.

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It says, "What should I study

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"in the field of space science?"

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and "Why should you study it?"

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And you and I have different reasons,

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so I'm curious to hear yours.

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- So, first of all, should
you study space science?

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Absolutely!

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It's a great subject area,

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and there's many different
ways you can get into it.

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I actually believe the two of
us have a different degree;

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mine is a PhD in astrophysics.

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There's others that I know

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that went through
engineering and so forth.

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And for me, what's really interesting is,

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as we build teams, these resilient teams

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that make these missions happen,

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it takes many of us with
different backgrounds coming in.

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And study whatever it is that
you're most excited about.

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For me, that was astrophysics,

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and I'm really glad I did that.

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I focused on the sun.

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But you studied something else, right?

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- Yeah, I studied planetary geology.

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And this question was one of the reasons

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I wore my Cassini-Huygens shirt today.

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I worked on the Cassini mission,

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looking at one of Saturn's
moons, called Titan.

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And we had people who were geologists,

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people who studied the atmospheres.

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We had people who studied
the rings of Saturn.

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We had people looking at the solar wind

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out in the vicinity.

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So you had all these people

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from all these different disciplines,

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and we were all space scientists

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and all working together

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to really try to understand Saturn

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and its crazy system of moons.

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So, to me, it's the best
field because it's fun.

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There's so much to figure out.

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And with data coming in

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from new telescopes, like James Webb,

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we're never gonna be short of puzzles

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for people to be working on.

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- So, I wanna ask one more question;

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I'm really curious the answer.

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And it's really about you personally.

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What obstacles did you
encounter as a woman

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in your career as a scientist,

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as an administrator, first at NASA,

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now at the Smithsonian,

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and especially as a little
girl curious about science?

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How did you overcome it,

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and who helped you along the way?

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- Well, I look back to my
own personal experience

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and say, "Well, how did I as
a young girl get involved,

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when so few girls did?"

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One of the things I really think about,

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the fact that I had parents
who hugely supported me.

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I had teachers who hugely supported me.

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And it wasn't till later in my career

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where I encountered obstacles

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and a lot of men who clearly thought

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I really didn't belong in the room.

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I got called little girl
after I'd had a child,

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by someone who actually worked for me.

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I did eventually encounter
that kind of treatment,

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but by the time I did,

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I was a lot further on in my career.

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So I really think about,

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how can we better support kids

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who may not have that support network

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of teachers and parents?

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How do we as the science community

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really reach out to kids

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and say, "You know,
science is a great field."

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The other thing I really think about,

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and it's something I work on a lot

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at the Air and Space Museum,

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is, when I was a kid,

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I'd look for women role models.

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I'd look for "Oh, were there
women out there in science

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doing cool things?"

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And I would find
biographies of Marie Curie,

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and that was about it.

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And I loved reading
stories about Mary Leakey

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discovering the origins
of life off in Africa.

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So I really looked for
those women role models,

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and they were so hard to find.

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So as we reimagine the
National Air and Space Museum,

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as we're redoing all the galleries,

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I really think about, "Whose
stories are we telling?"

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and "Are we telling
stories so that every kid,

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"no matter what they look like,

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"when they come in the museum,

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"they understand that people
who look just like them

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"have been here all along
doing amazing things

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"in science and technology?"

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Because we have to broaden out our fields.

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We have to make everyone feel welcome

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or else we're not tapping into the talent

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of all of our population.

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- Well, I really wanna thank you

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for being a role model yourself.

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I remember introducing you to my daughter,

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and, you know, kind of the
Director of the Smithsonian,

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and of course, this
distinguished scientist.

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What a role model you have been.

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And thanks for that.

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You persevered and pushed through.

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And there's challenges ahead of us.

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And I really wanna thank you

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for being just a role model for so many.

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- Thanks so much!

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This has been really fun.

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And I can't wait to do our next episode