A Letter to Michelle Larson (From Michelle Larson)

| Michelle Larson, President and CEO, Adler Planetarium

As part of Microsoft’s commitment to diversity and empowerment, we’re thrilled to celebrate Women’s History Month with our newest spotlight series. We’ve asked local women leaders to write a letter to their teenage and college-aged selves to recall a moment in time when they felt empowered by technology. Throughout the month of March, we’ll be spotlighting this series on our blog. We hope these stories uplift you and inspire you to #MakeWhatsNext.

A brief statement to my 20-something self

“Michelle, check your email.”

Reflections on a time I felt empowered by technology

Technology was never my thing. I grew up in Alaska, loving the outdoors, happy to bask in the natural beauty of pristine glaciers, majestic mountains and – my favorite – glistening northern lights.

I chose to go to college in Montana for two reasons; 1) not wanting to live in Fairbanks (think 50 below zero!) and 2) wanting to retain access to the rural, mountainous outdoors.  As a student, riding my bicycle ten miles to study on the banks of the Gallatin River was my idea of a perfect day. At the time, I didn’t own a computer, or a cell phone, and most had never heard of the Internet – including me.

No, I am not ancient.

Then, out of nowhere, ”Check your email,” he said.

Michelle and her husband.

This physics nerd I was dating kept talking about a great new tool the university had set up for each of us.

“Email? No thanks, I’m fine.”

Then, I overheard in the hallway that you could take a course to learn the language of a computer, and program the computer yourself.

“Sounds challenging and totally awesome,” this physics nerd said.

“Michelle, check your email.”

“No thanks, I’m fine.”

I enrolled in that programming course. “Hello, World!” changed my world.

“Michelle, check your email.”

Next, NASA asked the solar physics group in our department for help in utilizing a new public resource, called the Internet, to bring amazing satellite images and movies of the Sun into everyone’s home. “Sounds challenging and way cool. Sign me up!”

But first, I wanted to help people become familiar with the Sun and its motion in the sky. Using my new programming super powers – and a stack of excellent Nutshell books – I developed a website that taught anyone how to track the Sun to find true north, and then build a latitude-specific sundial to tell time. Within hours of putting my creation on the Internet, I heard from students in Australia; “Can you make a version for us in the Southern Hemisphere too?”

Hello, World! Indeed!

“Michelle, check your email.”

That moment, the moment I launched a sundial webpage and students on the other side of the planet responded, that was my technology-empowerment moment.

“Michelle, check your email.”

“Okay. What?! 800 new messages?”

That nerd boyfriend (now nerd husband) and his sneaky cohort of tech-savvy graduate student friends had been secretly sending me messages, every day, for months!

“I wonder if I’ll ever get this inbox down to zero?”

Michelle Larson discovered astronomy in her 20s, when she pointed a pair of binoculars at the Moon. The stunning details visible on its craggy surface were a complete surprise, and the experience left her eager to find out what other secrets the sky had to offer. Now, as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Michelle leads a talented team that helps people of all ages explore and discover our Universe.

Michelle enjoys making science approachable, often through connections to familiar, everyday items. Don’t be surprised if you end up speaking with her about rising cells of cream in your coffee, or her potato that looks like a comet. You may even find yourself exclaiming, like one young visitor did after looking through her telescope, “Hey! Saturn looks just like a Chevy symbol!”

Before joining the Adler in 2013, Michelle held positions in science education and administration at Utah State University, The Pennsylvania State University, the Montana Space Grant Consortium, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the University of California–Berkeley. She earned a PhD in physics from Montana State University, where she studied neutron stars and realized her passion for sharing science with the public. Michelle is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the American Physical Society; she also serves on several advisory boards.

Michelle lives just outside Chicago with her husband—who is also an astrophysicist—their daughter, and three cats.

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