Â鶹AV

Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D., a self-described "science evangelist" and author of , will give the Black History Month keynote address at Â鶹AV on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Old Library's Great Hall.

Ramirez speaks internationally on the importance of making science fun and has served as a science advisor to the American Film Institute, WGBH/NOVA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and several science museums. She co-authored  and is currently writing a book on the role of materials in history. In addition to her writing and speaking, Ramirez co-hosts a science podcast called . 

Previously, Ramirez was an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University. At Yale, she was the director of the award-winning science lecture series for children called Science Saturdays and hosted two popular-science video series called Material Marvels and Science Xplained.

Ramirez received her undergraduate training in materials science and engineering from Brown University and earned a doctorate at Stanford University. Prior to being on the faculty at Yale, she was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, in Murray Hill, N.J., where she did award-winning research. She has authored more than 50 technical papers, holds six patents, and has presented her work worldwide.

Technology Review, the magazine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, named Ramirez one of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators for her contributions to transforming technology. She has been profiled in The New York Times, Fortune, CBS News, Inside Edition, Fox News, CNN, NPR, ESPN, Time, as well as scientific magazines (Scientific American and Discover).

Ramirez's talk is being sponsored by Sisterhood*.