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Dr Mae C. Jemison (October 17, 1956 - ) blasted
into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour,
September 12, 1992. She was the first non-white
woman to go into space. 

Dr. Jemison was Science Mission Specialist (a NASA
first) on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight, a United
States|US/Japan joint mission. She conducted
experiments in life sciences and material
sciences, and was co-investigator in the Bone Cell
Research experiment in the Spacelab laboratory
module. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993. 

Chemical engineering|Chemical engineer, scientist,
medicine|physician, teacher and astronaut, she has
a wide range of experience in technology,
engineering, and medical research. In addition to
her extensive background in science, she is
well-versed in African and African-American
Studies and is trained in dance and choreography.
Her inspiration for going into NASA was
African-American actress, Nichelle Nichols who
portrayed Lt. Cmdr. Uhura on Star Trek. 

Prior to joining the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) in 1987, she worked as
a general practitioner in Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles with the INA/Ross Loos
Medical Group. She then spent two and a half years
(1983-85) as an Area Peace Corps Medical Officer
for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa.
Returning to Los Angeles, she resumed her medical
practice, working with CIGNA Health Plans of
California. 

Dr. Jemison, the youngest of three children, was
born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama and
raised in Chicago, Illinois. 

She was educated in the Chicago public school
system. At sixteen, she entered Stanford
University on scholarship where she graduated with
a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical
Engineering, and fulfilled the requirements for an
A.B. in African and Afro-American Studies. She
attended Weill Cornell Medical College|Cornell
Medical College where she earned her Doctorate in
Medicine in 1981. In medical school, her interest
and knowledge in Third World countries evolved
into a commitment to effectively contribute. She
traveled to Cuba, rural Kenya, and spent a medical
clerkship in Thailand at a Cambodian refugee camp.
She completed her internship at Los Angeles
County-USC Medical Center in 1982. 

Dr. Jemison founded The Jemison Group, Inc.,
located in Houston, Texas, to research, develop
and implement advanced technologies suited to the
social, political, cultural and economic context
of the individual, especially for the developing
world. Current projects include: Alpha, (TM) a
satellite based telecommunication system to
improve health care in West Africa; and The Earth
We Share, (TM) an international science camp for
students ages 12 to 16, that utilizes an
experiential curriculum. 

This attitude and her high achievements in
historically exclusionary fields led Dartmouth
College to invite her to its Hanover campus in
1993 where she taught a course on Space Age
Technology and Developing Countries. Dr. Jemison
is currently a member of the Dartmouth faculty in
the Environmental Studies Program and is Director
of The Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology
in Developing Countries at Dartmouth College. The
Institute was established as an agent for
identifying, assessing, researching and
implementing advanced technologies that may be
employed advantageously to the development of less
industrialized nations. 

Dr. Jemison is the host and a technical consultant
to "World of Wonders" series produced by GRB
Entertainment and seen weekly on the Discovery
Channel. She is also in demand as a speaker to
civic and government organizations, schools and
corporations around the country and
internationally. 

Awards and honors she has received include Essence
Award (1988); Gamma Sigma Gamma Women of the Year
(1989); Honorary Doctorate of Science, Lincoln
College, PA (1991); Honorary Doctor of Letters,
Winston-Salem, NC (1991); McCall's 10 Outstanding
Women for the 90s (1991); Pumpkin Magazine's (a
Japanese Monthly) One of the Women for the Coming
New Century (1991); Johnson Publications Black
Achievement Trailblazers Award (1992); Mae C.
Jemison Science and Space Museum, Wright Jr.
College, Chicago, (dedicated 1992); Ebony's 50
Most Influential women (1993); Turner Trumpet
Award (1993); and Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth
(1993); Kilby Science Award (1993); Induction into
the National Women's Hall of Fame (1993); People
magazine's 1993 "50 Most Beautiful People in the
World"; CORE Outstanding Achievement Award;
National Medical Association Hall of Fame. She was
honored by the establishment (1992) of the Mae C.
Jemison Academy, an alternative public school in
Detroit. 

Dr. Jemison is a member of the Association for the
Advancement of Science; Association of Space
Explorers: Honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, Inc.; board of Directors of Scholastic,
Inc.; Board of Directors of Houston's UNICEF;
Board of Trustees Spelman College; Board of
Directors Aspen Institute; board of Directors
Keystone Center; and the National Research Council
Space Station Review Committee. She has presented
at the United Nations and internationally on the
uses of space technology, was the subject of a PBS
Documentary, The New Explorers: Endeavor by Kurtis
Production and made a cameo appearance in the
episode "Second Chances" of Star Trek: The Next
Generation as Lieutenant Palmer. 

She resides in Houston, Texas with her cats Sneeze
and Little Mama.

==External links==
*http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467
/2021262.html Peace Corps biography of Mae Jemison