Bridging the gap between Application Developers and Data Scientists, the demand for Data Engineers ro...
from Codementor Community https://ift.tt/3lxHIEw
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Trayvon Martin to have street named after him
Trayvon Martin Avenue will replace a section of Northeast 16th Avenue
This week, Miami-Dade commissioners approved a request from Trayvon Martin’s high school to rename and dedicate a street to him.
Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High will rename part of Northeast 16th Avenue, between Ives Dairy Road and Northeast 209th Street, after Martin.
The new street name will be Trayvon Martin Avenue.
Read More: Trayvon Martin’s mom, Sybrina Fulton, lost her political bid
“Trayvon Martin was a typical teenager who enjoyed playing video games, listening to music, watching movies, and talking and texting on the phone,” read the resolution, whose primary sponsor was Commissioner Barbara Jordan, the outgoing District 1 commissioner, the Miami Herold reported.
Martin “was also developing advanced mechanical skills and, among other things, was known to be able to build and fix dirt bikes… Martin intended to stay close to home and attend college at either the University of Miami or Florida A&M University.”
In 2012, Martin, 17, was attending his junior year at the school when he was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
The high schooler was visiting his father in Sanford, Orlando and was walking back from a convenience store with Skittles in his hands.
Martin was unarmed when Zimmerman, who was 28 at the time, began following the boy. Eventually, Martin was shot and died.
The teen’s death would kick off a nationwide movement for racial justice.
Read More: Naomi Osaka: Trolls who said ‘keep politics out of sports’ inspired me to win
Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother, campaigned with Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
As theGrio previously reported, Fulton launched her own political campaign, although she lost the race by fewer than 350 votes to Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert for the District 1 seat on the County Commission.
Martin has become a symbol of the fight against racial profiling of Black young men and racial injustice after Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter, after a jury determined Zimmerman was acting in self-defense.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Trayvon Martin to have street named after him appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3nzdlQ1
via Gabe's Musing's
Netflix on YouTube
Drag Queens Trixie Mattel & Katya React to The Haunting of Bly Manor | I Like to Watch | Netflix
Drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya react to scenes from the Netflix series 'The Haunting of Bly Manor', in this episode of "I Like to Watch". SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Drag Queens Trixie Mattel & Katya React to The Haunting of Bly Manor | I Like to Watch | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix Dead doesn't mean gone. An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance from the creator of "The Haunting of Hill House."
View on YouTube
Drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya react to scenes from the Netflix series 'The Haunting of Bly Manor', in this episode of "I Like to Watch". SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Drag Queens Trixie Mattel & Katya React to The Haunting of Bly Manor | I Like to Watch | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix Dead doesn't mean gone. An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance from the creator of "The Haunting of Hill House."
View on YouTube
TEDx Talks on YouTube
TODAY: Watch the Countdown Global Launch, a call to action on climate, at 11am ET
Watch the livestream here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY Live on YouTube Saturday, 10.10.2020 from 11am - 5pm ET. Join us for the Countdown Global Launch, a call to action on climate change and the first-ever free TED conference! Get ready for an inspiring day exploring the bold steps we all can take to change climate change. The Countdown Global Launch features more than 50 speakers, activists, actors and musicians in five curated sessions of actionable and science-backed ideas, paired with moments of wonder, inspiration and optimism. This one-of-a-kind event includes hosts Jane Fonda, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Al Gore, Xiye Bastida, Prajakta Koli, Hannah Stocking and Jaden Smith; speakers Prince William, His Holiness Pope Francis, Monica Araya, Jesper Brodin, Dave Clark, Christiana Figueres, Kara Hurst, Lisa Jackson, Rose M. Mutiso, Johan Rockström, Nigel Topping, Ursula von der Leyen and many more; with special musical performances by Prince Royce, Yemi Alade, Raye Zaragoza, Sigrid and Cynthia Erivo. Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED Learn more at https://ift.tt/2sqB3FK #JoinTheCountdown
View on YouTube
Watch the livestream here: https://youtu.be/5dVcn8NjbwY Live on YouTube Saturday, 10.10.2020 from 11am - 5pm ET. Join us for the Countdown Global Launch, a call to action on climate change and the first-ever free TED conference! Get ready for an inspiring day exploring the bold steps we all can take to change climate change. The Countdown Global Launch features more than 50 speakers, activists, actors and musicians in five curated sessions of actionable and science-backed ideas, paired with moments of wonder, inspiration and optimism. This one-of-a-kind event includes hosts Jane Fonda, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Al Gore, Xiye Bastida, Prajakta Koli, Hannah Stocking and Jaden Smith; speakers Prince William, His Holiness Pope Francis, Monica Araya, Jesper Brodin, Dave Clark, Christiana Figueres, Kara Hurst, Lisa Jackson, Rose M. Mutiso, Johan Rockström, Nigel Topping, Ursula von der Leyen and many more; with special musical performances by Prince Royce, Yemi Alade, Raye Zaragoza, Sigrid and Cynthia Erivo. Follow Countdown on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedcountdown Follow Countdown on Instagram: https://ift.tt/30Nmz1b Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED Learn more at https://ift.tt/2sqB3FK #JoinTheCountdown
View on YouTube
Friday, October 9, 2020
US coronavirus cases reach highest numbers since August
Globally, more than 36 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported.
[jwp-video n=”1″
Thursday marked the country’s highest daily increase in COVID-19 cases since mid-August.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 56,000 new confirmed cases of the contagion on Oct. 9. This brings the total number of individuals to test COVID-positive in the U.S to more than 7.6 million, with nearly 213,000 deaths, The Hill reports.
Globally, more than 36 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, and more than 1 million deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The race for the cure is now on, as several pharmaceutical companies are competing to be first to deliver potential vaccines amid the rising coronavirus cases.
Read More: White House security official reportedly gravely ill with coronavirus
President Trump has vowed that a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready before the Nov. 3 elections, despite contradicting statements from experts and public health officials.
Sen. Kamala Harris said in Tuesday night’s debate that she wouldn’t trust a COVID-19 vaccine if only Trump himself said it was safe.
theGRIO previously reported, Dr. Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s health emergency program, has come forward to share an alarming new statistic.
Read More: Coronavirus testing surges in D.C. after White House outbreak
According to The Associated Press, Ryan revealed that the most recent estimates indicate a significant percentage of the world’s population may have already been infected by the coronavirus this year.
“The disease continues to spread. It is on the rise in many parts of the world,” Ryan explained during a special session of the organization’s executive board. “Our current best estimates tell us that about 10% of the global population may have been infected by this virus.”
He also pointed out that the stats vary from urban to rural areas, and between different groups, but that ultimately “the vast majority of the world remains at risk.”
One of those groups whose cases stand out amongst the pack is Black Americans who have been disproportionately affected by the virus, both medically and financially.
Ryan said lockdowns “may be unavoidable where the disease has got out of control again, but we shouldn’t accept that in every country, the return of cases should be seen with an immediate return of the need for lockdown restrictions.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post US coronavirus cases reach highest numbers since August appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3lxnn2c
via Gabe's Musing's
Brooklyn teen opens beauty supply store amid pandemic to ‘inspire others’
‘I had the knowledge and I had the funds to do it.’
A Brooklyn teenager credits her mother for inspiring her entrepreneurial spirit to open a beauty supply store amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Paris McKenzie, a 16-year-old senior at the High School for Human Services and Health Professions, is making national headlines after launching the Paris Beauty Supplyz on Church Avenue in Flatbush last month, Fox Business reports.
“My mom really inspired me to open up the store,” McKenzie said on Making Money with Charles Payne. “She’s my biggest inspiration.”
McKenzie admits she was a little apprehensive to launch her own business at such a young age. “But, I knew I had the knowledge and I had the funds to do it so I said if this can inspire others, then it is something I should do,” she shared.
Read More: Roc Nation partners with Brooklyn’s LIU to launch new school
McKenzie said the response on social media has been “amazing,” and the support helped push her business to the next level.
“Business has been really well ever since I posted a store on social media. People have been very supportive,” she said. “It is amazing to see how much people I have inspired and how much people have learned or have gained coverage to start their own business just from my post.”
Read More: Brooklyn woman killed after asking neighbors to stop shooting fireworks near kids
McKenzie, a first-generation Jamaican American, grew up watching her mom, Senica Thompson, run salon businesses in Brooklyn.
“I grew up very independent, you can say. My mother, she’s an entrepreneur as well. She opened her first business a few months after I was born. I grew up watching her handle businesses and finances, so I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into,” she said in an interview with BEAUTY IRL.
“And since she was at work so often — seven days a week, took one day off a year — I pretty much had to grow up a little bit faster and it made me able to run a business at this age,” McKenzie continued. “Some people might say, “Oh, she’s so young. She’s not fully developed.” But growing up the way I have, I’ve been mature enough to do this from probably 14, 15.”
McKenzie’s beauty supply store is safe space for Black people to shop and support Black entrepreneurs through the various products.
“My vision was to have a place that was very accessible, affordable, and comfortable for anyone who walks in,” said McKenzie. “If you’re Black, you’re white, you’re Asian, whoever walks in, I wanted them to feel comfortable no matter what. And especially because I’m Black, I wanted to push more on the Black products and making Black people feel comfortable in an area that we very much frequent, so that’s something I really wanted to do,” she explained.
“That was a huge part of my vision. I just want us to feel comfortable in a space where we spend the most money, and not like we’re being followed, watched, or accused of stealing.”
McKenzie went on to admit that one of her “life goals” is to become an orthopediatric surgeon.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Brooklyn teen opens beauty supply store amid pandemic to ‘inspire others’ appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3nAQyTW
via Gabe's Musing's
Tory Lanez says ‘truth will come to light’ in Megan Thee Stallion shooting
If convicted on all felony charges, the rapper faces a maximum sentence of 23 years.
Rapper Tory Lanez hit up social media on Friday to respond to the felony charges he’s facing over the shooting incident with Megan Thee Stallion.
Lanez, 28, is accused of firing at Megan’s feet several times after the two had an argument in the Hollywood Hills on July 12. The “WAP” rapper reportedly had to have bullets/fragments removed from her feet at the hospital.
Lanez faces two felony charges of assault with a firearm. On Friday, the Canadian-born artist took to Twitter to speak out about the case.
Read More: Tory Lanez charged with felony assault in Megan Thee stallion shooting
“the truth will come to the light,” he wrote. “I have all faith in God to show that … love to all my fans and people that have stayed true to me & know my heart … a charge is not a conviction . If you have supported me or meg thru this , I genuinely appreciate u.”
As theGrio reported, Lanez was arrested outside of a house party immediately following the shooting. Witnesses claimed people had been arguing inside an SUV before shots were fired.
Megan named Lanez as her shooter in August. He has denied the accusation.
“Yes, this ni— Tory shot me,” she said during an Instagram Live session, noting that Lanez “got his publicist and your people going to these blogs lying” about what really went down that night.
“I tried to keep the situation off the Internet. But you dragging it,” she added.
Megan also denied that she physically assaulted Lanez in the altercation.
“I’m in the front seat, this ni— in the back seat (there were two other people in the car, her “homegirl” and Lanez’s bodyguard). “I’m done arguing,” she continued. “I don’t want to argue no more. I get out. I’m walking away, this ni—, from out the backseat of the car, start shooting me. You shot me!”
The L.A. County D.A.’s office announced on Thursday that Lanez has been hit with one felony count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm – personal use of a firearm – and carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He is also alleged to have personally inflicted great bodily injury using a gun.
Tory Lanez is scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 1 in Los Angeles. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 23 years.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Tory Lanez says ‘truth will come to light’ in Megan Thee Stallion shooting appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/34K286f
via Gabe's Musing's
Boston officials seek answers after Black jogger stopped by ICE
ICE thought he was a suspect they were looking for
A Black man was jogging on Tuesday when he was stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Bena Apreala was jogging along VFW Parkway in West Roxbury, Boston when ICE stopped him. Apreala quickly pulled out his phone to record the ordeal, according to NBC Boston.
Read More: Man and woman found dead in SUV in Boston Harbor
He said the officer did not identify himself and asked if he had a tattoo on his right or left arm.
“The police officer started walking towards me, and he said, ‘Hey, stop,'” said Apreala. “He started asking me for identification.”
Apreala asked the officers, “Am I free to go? Do I have to show you? If I’m free to go, then I’m not showing you anything, thank you. Have a great day, guys.”
Apreala, 29, is a father and real estate agent. “They never introduced themselves, they never identified themselves, they never said I was being detained because of an immigration violation,” he complained.
When the young man asked why he was being stoped the agents said it was because he fit the description of a suspect they were looking for.
The video of the incident was posted online. His mother, Patricia Apreala said once she saw the video she was afraid her son had been arrested.
“As I was watching this thing, I wasn’t sure until I got to call him if he had been arrested. I have too many videos running in my head about young Black males with law enforcement, and it was not a pretty sight, I can tell you.”
Boston officials said the agents’ behavior will not be tolerated. “This was an extremely disturbing video to watch. It was unacceptable in so many ways: violating someone’s rights just because of the color of their skin, is always unacceptable. Also unacceptable is the fact that ICE hasn’t confirmed or denied that these were their agents, “said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Twitter on Wednesday.
Read More: Officer fired over fatal shooting of Jonathan Price: ‘Egregious violation’
ICE eventually said it was in fact their agents who stopped Apreala. A spokesperson told NBC News, “ICE officers were conducting surveillance as part of a targeted enforcement action Wednesday in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, looking for a previously deported Haitian national with multiple criminal convictions and pending cocaine and fentanyl trafficking charges that may have been residing in the area.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass took to Twitter to comment and call for a full investigation.
“For too long, ICE and CBP have acted with impunity—emboldened by a xenophobic Administration and the Occupant of this White House. We will not stand by and watch them intimidate, harass and racially profile our Black and Brown communities in Boston or anywhere in the country.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Boston officials seek answers after Black jogger stopped by ICE appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3iNd5Jx
via Gabe's Musing's
‘Good Trouble’ director Dawn Porter on the legacy of Rep. John Lewis
‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ is streaming now
Many are still mourning the loss of legendary freedom fighter Rep. John Lewis, who died in July at the age of 80, and thanks to Dawn Porter, he will be immortalized forever in her documentary, John Lewis: Good Trouble.
theGrio caught up with the film’s director, Porter, to find out how she handled the hero’s journey.
Read More: Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, dies at 80
The film that follows Lewis’ extraordinary life and world-changing work premiered on streaming services just two weeks before his death and was broadcast on CNN in September. Fortunately, Lewis was able to see the film with Porter before he passed away.
“That was really special. He was not diagnosed before we finished the movie, so we had no idea. We were completely were done, completely edited. We had no idea he was even ill,” she explains.
“So we finished in November. We found that out he was sick in December. In February. I mean, there were still some hope that he could fly to Atlanta to do a screening. This was right when COVID hit, like a month before a shutdown. He was in treatment and not really up to traveling that weekend so I flew to D.C. from California and it was Valentine’s Day,” she recalls. “I just plucked open my laptop and we watched it together. He cried a little bit and then after he just kept saying, ‘it’s so powerful, it’s so powerful.'”
The incredible project features first-hand accounts from lewis himself, and incorporates footage from some of his most memorable speeches and events; painting a picture of a beautiful life lived in service to our community. Seeing Lewis’ story unfold is certainly inspiring, but it also highlights the fact that leaders aren’t as easy to identify in today’s fight for justice.
“That is what’s so remarkable about John Lewis and the other activists of the time; they were 18 and 19 and 20 years old. And with young women, there were 19 and 20,” says Porter. “I think we need different layers of leadership. We need governmental, we need activists who are seniors and we need activists who are young people. I think that there are a plethora of voices, but you do kind of need some coordination.”
“Even if those folks are trying to figure it out, I don’t feel like we have the place to look to. I’m like, all right, I’m primed now. Where do I go? Who do I listen to? Who’s trustworthy? I see that as an opportunity,” she continues. “One of the things I want to make clear in the movie is that John Lewis and the others didn’t just show up on a bridge. They planned for months and months. They studied. They agreed. They hashed out how they would do things so that they spoke with a voice that could be followed.”
Read More: Stacey Abrams doc ‘All In: The Fight for Democracy’ to open in theaters
For Porter, one of her favorite scenes in the film made a poignant point.
“One of the scenes that moves me the most is when they’re appearing in court and the announcer says each of them was given a choice: 30 days in jail or bail, and they all chose jail. That was a deliberate strategy. They knew if they were a core of people, you couldn’t ignore them. You also couldn’t kill them, so you couldn’t silence them,” Porter says.
She also highlighted the ways in which the fight has changed, offering some hope on how each of us can take it up in our own way.
“In some ways our expectations are greater. If you think about it, he was trying to have a hamburger and a Coke in a drugstore and vote. But really it was about really establishing the basic dignities of human life. Can I walk where I want? Can I go to school where I want? Can I live where I want? It’s not so easy to deny those basic dignities these days. The pressure point that we’re in now is pushing for real power,” Porter notes.
“I think that the fight has elevated. We are still making sure that enough people have the basic decency of life. That effort is not finished, sadly. But we’re also saying and we’re gonna be in some real power, too. He really straddled both of those efforts and he never forgot that. We need to remember that we could have a Black president. We could have Black multibillionaires and all the rest of it. That’s not enough. That was not John Lewis’s mission. His mission is how do we rise all boats? Particularly for Black and brown people, but for all marginalized people; and he always said that.”
John Lewis: Good Trouble is streaming now.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post ‘Good Trouble’ director Dawn Porter on the legacy of Rep. John Lewis appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3jLhRZn
via Gabe's Musing's
Netflix on YouTube
Love & Anarchy | Official Trailer | Netflix
When Sofie, a career driven consultant and married mother of two, gets an assignment to modernize an old publishing house she meets young IT technician Max, and an unexpected flirtatious game begins. Sofie and Max secretly challenge each other to do things that question societal norms. It starts innocently enough, but as the game gets more and more daring the consequences grow beyond proportions. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Love & Anarchy | Official Trailer | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix
View on YouTube
When Sofie, a career driven consultant and married mother of two, gets an assignment to modernize an old publishing house she meets young IT technician Max, and an unexpected flirtatious game begins. Sofie and Max secretly challenge each other to do things that question societal norms. It starts innocently enough, but as the game gets more and more daring the consequences grow beyond proportions. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Love & Anarchy | Official Trailer | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix
View on YouTube
More than 600 million people traveled in China during 'Golden Week'
More than 600 million people traveled within China this week in celebration of the country’s annual “Golden Week” holiday.
from Wealth https://ift.tt/2IbEFDE
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
from Wealth https://ift.tt/2IbEFDE
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
Thursday, October 8, 2020
How to Install vnStat and vnStati to Monitor Network Traffic in Linux
VnStat is a console-based network traffic monitoring tool design for Linux and BSD. It will keep a log of the network traffic for selected network interfaces. To generate the logs, vnStat uses the information
The post How to Install vnStat and vnStati to Monitor Network Traffic in Linux first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.
from Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides https://ift.tt/2rgLF5s
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
How to Install PostgreSQL and pgAdmin in RHEL 8
Pgadmin4 is an opensource web-based management tool for managing PostgreSQL databases. It’s a Python-based web-application developed using the flask framework at the backend and HTML5, CSS3, and Bootstrap on the frontend. Pgadmin4 is a
The post How to Install PostgreSQL and pgAdmin in RHEL 8 first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.
from Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides https://ift.tt/33FvlA5
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
Sheila Widnall: A lifetime exploring the unknown
On Sept. 30, the MIT community came together to celebrate the career of Institute Professor Emerita Sheila Widnall, who recently retired after spending 64 years at MIT. The virtual event featured remarks from MIT leaders, current and former secretaries of the U.S. Air Force, and Widnall’s faculty colleagues from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), who spoke of her impact at MIT and beyond.
MIT was not only a springboard for a hungry young tinkerer who became a remarkable engineer and a visionary leader, both at MIT and on the national stage. Widnall would also become one of the curious few who make MIT their intellectual home for their full adult lives. Her work in fluid dynamics would have major implications in aviation and space flight. She would become the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military when she was secretary of the Air Force in the 1990s. And her leadership in supporting women in the STEM fields, both at MIT and internationally, would blaze trails for six decades.
The call to adventure
It was a small chunk of uranium, a gift from an uncle who worked for a mining company that first brought Widnall face to face with her future.
It may seem like an odd choice of present for teenager, but in the 1950s when Widnall was in high school in Tacoma, Washington, America was hot for uranium. Hollywood produced two uranium-themed movies: “Uranium Boom” and “Dig That Uranium.” The Atomic Energy Commission was paying between $3,000 and $7,000 a ton for the stuff — half the cost of a new home.
To Widnall, however, the rock had a more practical purpose. An 11th grader at Aquinas Academy, a Catholic girls’ school, she had a science project due: “I used it, along with models of atoms, to explain radioactive decay,” she told a reporter in 2009.
Her project on the degradation of uranium won first prize at the Tacoma Science Fair, and from there it was on to a national competition. She traveled with her science teacher on a two-day, 2,000-mile train trip to Ohio, where Widnall’s life was about to change forever.
Her project impressed a Tacoma civil engineer, Arthur Anderson SM ’35, SCD ’38. As a businessman he’d developed pre-stressed concrete, which could be used to create curved beams, the kind you see in monorails like the ones at Walt Disney World. Anderson thought Widnall had a future in science and told her she should apply to his alma mater, MIT.
“Where’s that?” she asked.
Soon enough, Widnall would discover how the Institute launched the intellectually curious, helping them explore the boundary where the known meets the unknown.
From Tacoma to Cambridge
Widnall attributes the fearlessness with which she faced a career in engineering to her parents, Rolland and Genevieve Evans. At a time when women were only a third of the U.S. labor force, Widnall was unique among her friends in having a mother with a full-time job. Genevieve Evans was a probation officer whose cases sometimes required her to reach back to her earlier professional experience as a social worker. “She worked with families, kids who were accused of violent crimes,” Widnall says with pride. “It was a big deal.”
Her father, Rolland Evans, was an insurance salesman. Later in his life, he went back to school to obtain a master’s degree and teach college-level business. He also taught his daughter self-reliance. “We worked together on various projects, building things. He fixed things and I’d tag along and he’d show me how. I was 20 years old before I realized you could hire people to do work on your house,” Widnall says.
After being accepted to MIT, Widnall arrived on campus in the fall of 1956. Of 6,000 students at that time, just 2 percent were female, including 23 first-years. The women felt isolated, Widnall remembers, forced to live in a rowhouse a mile off campus. While she personally experienced few instances of outright sexism, one episode stood out: “When I came to MIT and was introduced to my freshman advisor, he said “Why are you here?’, Which I took as an insult. I thought, ‘This guy is a jerk.’ But every other advisor was supportive.”
One of these, math professor George Thomas, author of the famous textbook, “Thomas’ Calculus,” brought cookies to sustain her during a test. Another, Holt Ashley, an aeronautical engineering professor known for his patience and humor, first suggested to Widnall that she pursue an advanced degree — and she readily agreed.
By then, Widnall already knew what she would study. “I love airplanes. There was never an issue about what I was going to choose,” she says. Much later in her career, she would read reports suggesting many women entering science and engineering chose fields where they believe they can make the biggest contribution. By her example, it was true. Less than a decade into her career she’d already conducted research that had an impact in aeronautics, one that every air traveler ought to appreciate.
After obtaining her PhD in 1964, Widnall was hired as the first female faculty member in the MIT School of Engineering, where she established her research program with a focus on fluid dynamics. Eventually, she published research that analyzed vortices trailing from the wing tips of aircraft. This work was used to gauge the hazards of wake turbulence. It was no small matter, as some of the largest commercial aircraft were taking to the skies, the Lockheed L10-11, the DC-10 and the jumbo jet that started it all, the 400 plus seat Boeing 747. Turbulence from the wing vortices of these enormous airplanes could and sometimes did upset the flight of airplanes nearby.
But as Widnall’s MIT colleague Dave Darmofal, the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, notes, there was a smaller phenomenon in Widnall’s research that had even larger applications for wing, engine and rocket design. “Yes, she made an impact in understanding the wing tip vortex with the obvious aviation application, but the fundamental understanding of the Widnall instability you see in many more situations,” Darmofal says. “With any kind of fluid motion this instability plays a role.”
Widnall also kept an analytical eye on how MIT and other academic institutions could contribute their research expertise to government policy. Transportation was evolving in the seventies. America’s interstate highway system was brand new, but the increasing emphasis on cars had many environmental and social consequences, not all of them positive. Could academia help government think through these issues?
Widnall got the chance to find out when fellow engineering professor Robert Cannon asked her to be the first director of the office of university research for the U.S. Department of Transportation. In the early seventies, Widnall oversaw the distribution of $6.5 million, ($31 million in 2020 dollars) for university research projects from Alaska to Atlanta.
Around this same time, Widnall was thinking about improving outcomes for MIT students who came to the Institute without strong backgrounds in engineering, and who ultimately missed out on careers in this area. She teamed up with MIT physicist and electrical engineer Mildred “Millie” Dresselhaus to spearhead a new course for first-year MIT students that introduced avenues for career advancement in various engineering fields. “We had hoped for 15 students per semester, but we got over 100,” Widnall recalled in 2017. “Many MIT women and minority students took the course, and quite a few decided to major in engineering.”
Later, Widnall saw how MIT’s own research provided a way through the persistent gender imbalance in admissions. In the 1980s, as chair of MIT’s admission committee, she proposed a simple solution: accept more of the women who apply to MIT. Her proposal relied on the research of then-engineering professor Art Smith. He had discovered that the Scholastic Aptitude Tests under-predict the actual academic performance of women students — at least as far as the math scores were concerned. The proposal, based on the data, was to add a small percentage to their SAT score. MIT was casting about for ways to increase the number of women while at the same time using an irrelevant barrier.
“People in the administration were saying, ‘We have to do more advertising we have to do more searching” for women students, Widnall says. “And I said, ‘Why are we searching? The women we should admit are the women who have applied.’”
The idea was effective. A year later, she says, “the number of women admitted rose from 26 percent to 38 percent.”
Not satisfied to stop at undergrad admissions, Widnall turned her attention to graduate applicants.
Daniel Hastings, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Education and head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, remembered Widnall’s presence at a meeting of faculty for admissions in the early 1990s. When all the candidates had been considered, the applications sat on the table, divided into stacks of yes, no, and waitlist. Then Widnall summarized the proceedings, noting that all of the women had been waitlisted while they accepted many of the men.
“Every time there was a question, ‘Is this candidate capable?’ the men were given the benefit of the doubt and the women were not. The women went to the waitlist pile,” says Hastings. “We felt collectively ashamed and we went back to correct that.”
Hasting’s summary was simple. “Wise people are the backbone of this place.”
Leadership on a national stage
Her reputation for wise sensibility was not confined within MIT’s walls. In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton cited Widnall’s scientific acheivements when he nominated her to become secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Prior to the nomination, Widnall had served on several Air Force advisory boards and had served as chair of the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors in the 1980s. Accepting Clinton’s nomination, she became the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military.
While Widnall called it “an incredible experience,” to lead the Air Force, with an $84 billion budget, it was a time of international strife as well as domestic controversies and sexual harassment scandals, all of which were serious business. “Many pressures are brought on the secretary of the Air Force. The person has to make the tough calls and live with the key decisions,” says a successor to Widnall, 23rd Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
When she announced she would return to MIT in 1997, Widnall’s legacy at the Air Force was writ large and small. On the larger side is a program to develop the expendable launch vehicle used for Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, which began under her direction. “These vehicles still provide the majority of the launch capability for National Security launches,” she says, adding, “There has never been a launch failure.”
Less obvious, but equally important, was her contribution to defining the character of the Air Force. The branch had no stated core values when Widnall arrived, so she elevated those of the Air Force Academy — “Integrity first. Service before self. Excellence in all we do.” — to define all 400,000 airmen and women.
“If you ask any airmen, ‘What are our values?’ my guess is 99 percent would be able to tell you,” says Heather Wilson, who became the 24th Air Force secretary two decades after Widnall broke the glass ceiling. “The best values are those when a leader says, ‘This is who we are.’”
Back to the Tech
Widnall’s return to campus was a thrilling development for MIT’s ROTC students because she volunteered to be their academic advisor.
“It was awesome,” says 1st Lt. John Graham, now an F-16 pilot. Graham found his highly accomplished advisor down-to-Earth, fun-loving, and — most important — a talented instructor.
“What she taught me I wouldn’t have learned in a different astrodynamics class,” Graham says. “She could simplify the complex.”
Meanwhile, Widnall’s service continued on the national level. Most recently she served as co-chair of a 2018 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that examined the costs and consequences of sexual harassment in these fields. It was another example of Widnall applying her experience and intellectual energy to improve the environment for female students.
Among other things, the book-length report analyzes the effectiveness of harassment awareness training programs and finds them wanting. The report concludes changing behavior is key, and efforts should be regularly assessed.
“Schools have to create a climate that supports proper behavior,” Widnall says. “They don’t do it by passing rules and regulations; they change the environment.”
To Capt. Jay Pothula ’14, a former ROTC student at MIT, this message was clear: He and all students have a role to play in creating an atmosphere conducive to achievement. “Adhering to the core values is one way we can reduce the incidents of harassment and assault,” says Pothula, now in F-15 pilot training at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.
Widnall also had a unique approach to testing students, according to Pothula, who took her aerodynamics class.
“Most of the quizzes and learning moments took place in knowledge tests,” he says. “You would go into a room with her and the teaching assistant and you would be given a problem and you would try to solve it in front of them.”
At first, Pothula found the method intimidating but before long his thoughts were flying. “These were great experiences because she would always know the right thing to say to push you ever so slightly in the right direction. She would always get you there. There was a dual purpose, testing your knowledge but you would learn a lot in the experience.”
Widnall did not reserve that kind of thought-prodding for students only. Olivier de Weck, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems, joined the faculty of MIT in 2001, occupying an office across the hall from Widnall, who he describes as a friend, colleague, and mentor. He hadn’t been in the job long when Widnall was asked to serve on the board looking into the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, which came apart on its return to Earth in February 2003, killing seven astronauts.
Over the course of seven months, Widnall and her fellow investigators examined the physical chain of events as well as the systemic pressures that played a role. De Weck watched in fascination as his colleague participated in writing one of the best-ever analyses of an accident.
“She is able to look under the covers,” he says describing Windall as having “an uncanny ability to peel away layers of complexity and get to the core reason about why things are and why they happen.”
It was de Weck’s habit to stop by Widnall’s office most mornings for a quick conversation or to catch up on MIT news. On occasion, though, de Weck would seek her advice. Widnall would steer the search for a solution right back to him, de Weck says, using her decades of experience to provide relevant context.
“She never tells you what to do, just how to look at the question from a holistic perspective,” de Weck says. “After leaving Sheila’s office, I felt I had a different way to think about the problem.”
When Widnall naively stepped onto the campus of MIT in 1956, she began a journey that would help her live up to the expectations of those who saw her potential in her youth and pushed her to do more. She became a role model for those who came after, inspiring those who benefited from her pioneering efforts for women and for science.
All the while she was becoming what she set out to be at the age of 15, considering that chunk of uranium; a traveler on never-ending journey along the border between the known and the unknown.
from MIT News https://ift.tt/2SDp2a7
via Gabe's Musing's
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)