Jane Willenbringâs opening salvo in the documentary âPicture a Scientistâ is one that still brings tears to her eyes. The geomorphologist recalls taking her daughter to work one day and the 3-year-old saying she wanted to be a scientist just like her mom.
âThat was the horrible, sort of lose-it, triggering moment that I ever had. I actually started crying at the time,â said the director of Stanford Universityâs Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory. âSheâs 3. So, she doesnât understand why Iâm crying. So, I told her they were happy tears. But they werenât just happy tears. I was thinking about someone treating her like trash in 20 years, like I had been treated like trash.â
Screenings have been taking place across America, spotlighting systemic racism and harassment, and arguing for the advancement of women in STEM fields.