But as Alyson Brooks rose through middle school and high school in her home state of Minnesota, she found herself getting talked out of pursuing astronomy.
“Nobody told me, ‘You can’t do this,’” Brooks recalled. “But they said I wouldn’t enjoy it. There’s a perception that science is very isolating and lonely, and that women don’t enjoy it.”
So when she enrolled in Macalester College – a small liberal arts school in Saint Paul – in 1996, Brooks majored in English. She took an introductory astronomy class for science credits and was the top student in her class. The professor encouraged Brooks to join her on a research project.
That’s when Brooks began to discover that her detractors were wrong. Science, and especially astronomy, is incredibly collaborative, interactive and social.
For the full story: http://news.rutgers.edu/research-news/sloan-foundation-awards-research-fellowship-rutgers-astrophysicist-alyson-brooks-early-career/20150224#.VPtvPPnF_E5