Today two of our former students ran into each other at SpaceX Headquarters in California. Suman Sherwani is an Iowa alum and former employee in the Dept.

For years Taviare Hawkins avoided giving talks about being a Black woman in physics. “I didn’t want to be pigeonholed,” she says; she wanted to be known for her science. Eventually, though, through a zigzagging path that included good mentors, personal initiative, and several jobs, she came to see the importance of serving as a visible role model.