Coutesy of TED Talks
Aromawa Shields has used her acting ability to communicate complex science to audiences.
Aomawa Shields studies the climate on distant planets. Her aim: to find those most likely to host alien life. The astrobiologist is a National Science Foundation astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellow working in UCLA's department of physics and astronomy. But she was also an actress with an M.F.A. from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television That's given her a secret "superpower" that's helped her make science accessible, a talent that's attracted nearly 1.5 million views of her engaging TED talk on her search for other life forms in the universe. "I'm an African-American female astronomer and a classically trained actress who loves to wear makeup and read fashion magazines. So I am uniquely positioned to appreciate contradictions in nature," she said in her TED talk, laughing, "and how they can inform our search for the next planet where life exists." In July, Shields starts a new job, as the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor at UC Irvine. A participant in the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, she is among 24 fellows newly hired by UC campuses this year. The program, which prepares outstanding Ph.D.s for faculty careers, has been lauded as a national model for expanding faculty diversity. She talked to Nicole Freeling of the UC Office of the President about her unusual career path, the search for E.T. and her efforts to groom a new generation of star scientists by mentoring middle school girls in an organization she founded, Rising Stargirls. What is astrobiology, and how does your work fit in?
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