Description: Dr. Maureen Wanjiku Kamau, Veterinary Research Fellow in One Health, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Global Health Program, 2018–present, treats injured and ill wildlife species, conducts research, and participates in outreach and training. She is currently leading a study on the endangered wild eastern black rhino. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Joan W. Nowicke, Curator, Department of Botany, was an internationally recognized palynologist specializing in pollen morphology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 1972–99. Nowicke earned special recognition in the 1980s for her work studying “Yellow Rain,” which some governments alleged was a form of chemical biological warfare. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Sharon F. Patton, Director, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, 2003-2008, oversaw the museum’s 9,000 African art objects and welcomed the distinguished Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Under her leadership, the museum opened its first traveling exhibition and established a visiting artists program. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dianne van der Reyden was a paper conservator at the Smithsonian from 1981 to 2002. She was hired by the National Museum of American History in 1981 and was promoted to senior paper conservator and head of the paper conservation section before transferring to the Smithsonian’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory in 1984. There, van der Reyden was promoted to head of paper
Description: Last week, Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar was named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Chavez Lamar has worked at the Museum throughout her career, from an internship in 1994 to her current role as acting associate director for collections and operations. Between 2000 and 2005, she was an associate curator, leading the work on “Our Lives,” one of
Description: As Director for Latino Initiatives, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Maria del Carmen Cossu, seeks to provide all Americans a better understanding of the U.S. Latino experience, and to encourage Latinx museum professionals into the museum field. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Christine Mullen Kreamer, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Museum of African Art, is an expert on both traditional and contemporary African art. #Groundbreaker
Description: Anthropologist Dr. Priscilla Copeland Reining, social anthropologist and Africanist, coordinated the Smithsonian's Urgent Anthropology Program, specialized in desertification, population, fertility, and HIV/AIDS, and pioneered the use of satellite imagery in conjunction with ethnographic data. #Groundbreaker
Description: Independent scholar and research associate at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette, researches the popularization science through the media, and has helped raise the profile of close to 1000 female scientists found in the collections at the Archives! #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Michèle Gates Moresi, Supervisory Curator of Collections, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, oversaw the acquisition of nearly 37,000 collection objects for the new museum. #Groundbreaker