Dr. Aomawa Shields Featured in Articles

Dr. Aomawa Shields is featured in Sheread’s article, “Most Anticipated Non-Fiction & Memoirs of Summer 2023”, and Publishers Weekly’s article, “Stars—They’re Just Like Us: New Books About Space” for her memoir, Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding my Place in the Universe.

Excerpt from Sheread’s article,

“Aomawa Shields always dreamed of being an astronaut. A year into her astrophysics PhD program, she felt discouraged by a while male professor and plagued with self-doubt, and eventually left astronomy to pursue acting. After a decade, a day-job at NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope pulled her back to the stars. The oldest, and only Black student in her PhD cohort, Shields was not going to let the voice of others, or herself, get in her way this time. She examines how the perfect placement of planets can create the miracle of life on Earth, while also examining the very life it creates – the human experience.”

Excerpt from Publishers Weekly’s article credit to Liz Scheier,

“The opinion of a white male professor convinced Shields—a young Black woman whose interest in fashion and the arts didn’t negate her passion for science—that she didn’t belong in her astrophysics PhD program. She pivoted to acting, but a decade later, a job as a desk operator at NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope returned her to her former field. She completed her PhD and today, as an astronomer, astrobiologist, and UC Irvine physics professor, Shields uses her theatrical training to encourage girls in STEM.”