Being an astronaut means being the ultimate crossover between pro athlete and pro mathlete. Before joining NASA’s Astronaut Corps, Mae Jemison studied chemical engineering at Stanford University, then got her medical degree from Cornell. As she prepared for the 1992 STS-47 shuttle mission, she had to train her body for both the extreme accelerations of launch and the zero gravity of spaceflight. On Wednesday, at the Beyond Innovation conference at Levi’s Stadium, Jemison talked about how the worlds of sports and science education interact.
The Beyond Innovation meeting was organized by Beyond Sport and the 49ers Foundation to bring together experts and educators from across the science, technology, engineering, and math education ecosystem.
“Kids are born interested in science. I don’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t interested in how the world works,” Jemison said. But the important part is what happens as children turn into adults, she explained, “whether you continue to go into it as a profession.”