Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Kathy, an electrical engineer, launched the podcast in 2020 to share real, unfiltered stories of women working across STEM disciplines. Now with over 130 episodes, the mission remains the same: to amplify the voices of ordinary women doing extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math.
We’re deeply committed to:
- Normalizing the presence of women in STEM by making their stories visible
- Building community for women who may be the only ones like them in their workplace
- Educating listeners about the wide variety of STEM careers — and what they actually look like
- Empowering growth and retention by addressing the challenges behind the leaky pipeline
From early-career professionals to experienced leaders, our guests share how they got started, how they’ve grown, and what they’ve learned along the way. This podcast is a space where women in STEM can be seen, heard, and supported — because representation isn’t just powerful, it’s essential.
Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
60. Sandy Marshall, Project Scientist, Founder & CEO
Sandy Marshall is the Founder and CEO of Project Scientist, a program designed to inspire young girls to consider STEM careers. Project scientist aims to nurture these future scientists to be tomorrow's leaders and be change makers. Sandy founded Project Scientist to fill a void she saw when looking for a STEM program for her daughter. The program has flourished to multiple states and is embarking on an international stint.
Episode Notes
Sandy shares how she came to start Project Scientist and the important work project scientist does. Project Scientist started in Sandy's guesthouse as a way to bridge a gap in STEM programming. She used her background in non-profits to create a very successful, research based STEM program that brings women STEM professionals to mentor and educate girls at very young ages.
She talks about the challenges of getting girls into STEM and how they work to overcome these challenges. She shares how important it is to get girls interested in STEM at early ages. We talk about the need to normalize girls and women in STEM careers so that girls think about STEM careers as a part of their normal life and as potential careers for them.
She also shares her journey through the non-profit world, both in previous roles and starting Project Scientist. She provides great insights and tips that she has gained throughout her career.
Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio
Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check
www.projectscientist.com
"Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age" by Dr. Sanjay Gupta (https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Sharp-Build-Better-Brain/dp/1501166735)
"Scigirls" PBS (https://pbskids.org/scigirls/)
Gina Davis Institute on Gender in Media (www.seejane.com)
If you are interested in being a mentor or getting involved with Project Scientist, please send an email to info@projectscientst.org.
Draw a Scientist Experiment -
When boys and girls were asked to draw a scientist in a study several decades ago, the results revealed a stunning bias: 99.4 percent of the drawings depicted a male scientist. Out of 5,000 drawings collected between 1966 and 1977, only 28 were of female scientists, all of which were drawn by girls. Since then, nearly 80 studies have repeated this experiment with over 20,000 students across all grade levels, and the results of all these studies were reviewed in a meta-analysis published last year. (https://www.edutopia.org/article/50-years-children-drawing-scientists)
