Moderated by Christen Smith, Associate Professor - Center for Women's & Gender Studies and Josh Roebke, Assistant Professor - College of Natural Sciences

In this roundtable discussion Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein will discuss what it means to be a Black feminist physicist and how Black feminist physics bridges the boundary between the humanities and the natural sciences. At the heart of this discussion will be Dr. Prescod-Weinstein’s new book, The Disordered Cosmos a look at the gender and racial dynamics of being a Black woman in the field of physics, and its ups and downs. From the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, and the latest theories of dark matter — Dr. Prescod-Weinstein engages history, race and gender politics, and the wisdom of Star Trek. One of the leading physicists of her generation, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is also one of fewer than one hundred Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics. Her vision of the cosmos is vibrant, buoyantly non-traditional, and grounded in her personal and political Black feminist genealogies. Prescod-Weinstein urges us to recognize how science, like most fields, is rife with racism, sexism, and other dehumanizing systems. She also lays out a bold new approach to science and society that begins with the belief that we all have a fundamental right to know and love the night sky.

Co-sponsored by The College of Natural Sciences

Feminist Futures//Feminist Pasts Symposium