And Christine Darden, who was the baby of the four, went on to become a world-renown expert on supersonic flight and sonic phenomenon.

Katherine Johnson recently received the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom for her calculations for the trajectories of the Mercury Project. Dorothy Vaughan was the first black supervisor. For example, Mary Jackson was the first black woman to be promoted to engineer at NASA in 1958, at a time when very few women of any background were engineers. I wanted women who had notable careers, who had really accomplished something interesting. MS: There were scores of black women I could choose from, but what I wanted were women who’d spent their entire careers at Langley, so I could paint a full picture. HR: Why did you choose to focus on these four women in particular? But it wasn’t until I started the book I could say I really knew them or their professional lives. They were my parents’ friends they were people from church. MS: I grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where my dad was a research scientist for NASA. HR: How did you first hear about these women? Their numbers were the bedrock of so much of the work that was done in American aeronautics in the 19th century. There were parts of this whole endeavor of the space program that were very high-profile like the astronauts, test pilots, and Mission Control but we didn’t really understand how much work went on behind-the-scenes to make that successful. It refers both to the women themselves, who were doing this work for many years and people didn’t see them and it refers to the mathematics conducted by the women. MS: Hidden Figures is a title that’s rich with meaning. HR: Explain the significance of the book title, “Hidden Figures.” Shetterly discussed her book with college staff writer Heather Rodriguez. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner. A highly anticipated film based on the book will be released in January 2017. This true story is set against the backdrop of WWII and the Civil Rights Era and focuses on the NASA contributions made by Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden. Shetterly’s insight will show our Liberal Arts community why the college builds learning environments upon a foundation of these priorities. Hidden Figures celebrates innovation, encourages critical thinking, and promotes inclusiveness-which are all priorities of the College of Liberal Arts. This talk, which will be followed by a book-signing, is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The College of Liberal Arts and Aggie Agora proudly welcomes author Margot Lee Shetterly to discuss her book Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, on Friday (Dec.

Hidden figures author