Articles

In high school, Sukin “Dylan” Sim ’15 found themselves captivated by a science textbook excerpt about computational chemistry, a type of chemistry that uses computer simulation to help solve problems. At Wellesley, they sought out professors working on research in the field, then crafted their own major of chemical physics with a minor in math.

COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic for Erika Willacy ’99. She has spent years at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) managing outbreak responses around the world, with a particular focus on those who are systematically disadvantaged and shut out of health care systems—people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, and in particular migrants and refugees.

Kathryn Bishop ’79 has held many titles in her life: program director, university fellow, board chair, published author. This spring, she added a new one to the list: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honor that makes her Kathryn Bishop CBE.

Linda Esslinger Heusser ’54, an adjunct research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, wants women to continue seeing science as a career option

Like many people, Alice Sun ’15 got on TikTok as a pandemic thing. After moving back into her parents’ home in March 2020, she found herself making meals for her family. “I’m cooking so much—I might as well share it,” Alice recalls thinking.

As a professor in the philosophy of education, Sheron Fraser-Burgess ’87 has spent the past 17 years as a “teacher of teachers,” training teachers, administrators, and doctoral candidates about the philosophical foundations of education.

Susan Reno Myers ’74 brings unique energy to everything she does, whether it’s international finance, high school football coaching, or saving endangered giraffes.

Miriam Butt ’87, a professor of general and computational linguistics at the University of Konstanz in Germany, chose to attend Wellesley in part because it was one of the only American colleges at the time where she could study both Latin and computer science.

In 2010, Anne Shen Chao ’74 founded the Houston Asian American Archive at Rice University, an oral history collection about the lives of Asian Americans living in the Houston area. “We want to make sure that Asian American contributions are included in the narrative of Texas history,” Anne says.