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Valerie Taylor
As a young girl growing up in Chicago, Valerie Taylor didn't have to look far to find a scientist role model: her father had his own scientific company and brought her in to work with him on weekends. As she watched her father work, Valerie decided that she wanted to be a scientist, too. Later, when Valerie was working on her Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, she continued to think that she would take a position in the industrial area of science. One of her professors encouraged her to think about an academic career instead, partly because she could act as a role model for African-American students.At first, a career in academics seemed like too big of a challenge. Valerie didn't think of herself as a role model, but then she realized how much she would have liked to have had an African-American woman as a teacher. As she began to think seriously about the possibility of becoming a professor, she decided to take a position at Northwestern University in Chicago, where there was another black woman on the faculty. In the BreakThrough program, Valerie's colleague Janet Rutledge asserts that the importance of role models is crucial for students who are not encouraged to pursue scientific careers, a responsibility that Valerie takes seriously. At Northwestern, she serves on faculty committees related to minority issues, black issues, and women's issues.
Off campus, Valerie volunteers her time as a mentor in a housing project in downtown Chicago, where she teaches science and mathematics to children. While she hopes her work with these youngsters will make some difference in their lives, Valerie also says that she gets a lot of motivation from the community. She has received support from organizations designed to help minority students, and now she wants to give something back. Her father, who served as her role model when she was a child, is now happy to take direction from his daughter, the scientist.
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