Dawn Heimer grew up in a small town in western New York with more cows and corn than people. After she inherited suitcases full of college nursing textbooks, she could often be found with her nose in a book. Fortunately for us, those books had glorious illustrations of the layers of dissected frogs and human skin, sparking her interest in science. True to her upbringing, she has pursued academic and industry-sponsored research for over 30 years.
She obtained her Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Sciences and Behavioral Genetics from the University of Connecticut where she conducted family studies in dyslexia and befriended multiple generations of affected family members. She also conducted and published scientific research on gender differences in learning and memory in small animals and held clinical research posts at several top pharmaceutical and medical device companies. This is where people usually say: “and the rest is history.”
Fortunately, again for us, her story continues. The concept for this book project developed over several years of introspection into her role models, exposure to multiple amazing women over her career, and noticing a gap in the young adult literature of stories on living (not dead), female, STEM role models. She is an accomplished abstract photographer and is an artist with The Copley Society of Art in Boston. She also works with VIDA & Company, an online studio and production company for art-inspired clothing. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two wonderful children, who serve as motivation for this book project. As much as possible, they spend their time at the beach and traveling the world.
So many STEM books targeted to young girls are history books. The goal of this book project is to encourage young girls to pursue STEM by providing them with living, real-life examples of women who are succeeding in these fields (and who are not dead): ourselves! We want to show young girls that STEM role models are right here, right now to inspire them.
The Modern Women in STEM Book Project seeks inspiring women leaders in STEM to contribute to a collective memoir. We need original, passionate, stories that describe your perseverance, spirit, brilliance, success, commitment, personal transformation or growth in a high-energy, inspirational style through words and photographs.
Copyright Dawn Heimer @ 2024