By Mariah Loeber; Crossposted with permission from Fem-S.T.E.M.
This design project headed by design strategist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya is an incredible collection of 32 women who pioneered STEM fields in one way or another. Beyond Curie is a project meant to bring light to these women, and while not ignoring the incredible feats that Marie Curie did herself, everyone knows who she is. This project is meant to diversify the knowledge that students have of these incredible women, and every dollar that Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s Kickstarter makes beyond what production costs are will go toward the Association for Women in Science.
Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s design project includes every woman who has ever won a Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine/Physiology, as well as 16 other women who brought their own dose of amazing to the science table.
Women noted include, but are not limited to, Lise Meitner, Mae Jemison, and Maryam Mirzakhani. Each poster has a very unique design, meant to bring out what each scientist did in her work, as well as add some wonderful color to the classroom (or even your home if you so choose — forget those boy band posters! Put these in your girl’s room).
Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya is the founder of The Leading Strand, an initiative built on the idea that scientists and designers need to be brought together in order to help the world better understand science in the first place. Phingbodhipakkiya has applied the same principle behind her initiative to her poster project.
Phingbodhipakkiya became interested in neuroscience herself when she could no longer dance thanks to a severe injury she suffered from in college. “I desperately wanted to understand why I couldn’t move as gracefully as I used to, and began studying the intricacies of how the nervous and musculoskeletal systems work together,” Phingbodhipakkiya told me. When she began to study Alzheimer’s, and realized that the urgency of the work was not being properly displayed, that’s when she turned to design.
“I realized, as scientists, we needed to be better equipped to convey the vital urgency of our work. I gained a new sense of purpose and made it my mission to learn how to use design to shine a light on science.” And that lead to The Leading Strand.