“Hidden Figures” is the hit movie that revealed the brilliance of a Black woman who worked for NASA in the 1960s and had to fight for respect – and access to a bathroom.
The movie depicted scientists and mathematicians who deserved to be recognized in fields dominated by white men — and it wasn’t easy.
As we celebrate Boston’s Black History this month, we’re talking to a local woman who faced similar challenges in her career.
Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., is now president of Olin College of Engineering in Needham.
President Barabino has been a trailblazer in chemical engineering and is now working to get more young people of color excited about STEM-related fields.
Barabino has been the president of Olin College of Engineering since 2020.
To get there, she’s broken through many barriers.
She was the first African-American woman admitted to the graduate program in chemical engineering at Rice University.
She was just the 5th Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in that field in the entire country.