Mechanical engineer, musician, author and television host Christine McKinley will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, Jan. 8 from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Acclaimed for shattering all stereotypes about what a female scientist is, McKinley’s presentation is entitled, “How Science Makes You Decisive, Courageous, and Glamorous.”
This event is free and open to the public. Carleton convocations are also recorded and archives for online viewing at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
McKinley, who majored in mechanical engineering with a minor in English at California Polytechnic University, has spent the majority of her engineering career designing and managing sustainable commercial construction, including the construction of power plants, semiconductor facilities, hospitals, and schools. Her clients include Intel, Kaiser Permanente, the Los Angeles Community College District, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Transalta.
As a student, McKinley played bass in an indie rock band. Never letting go of her “rock & roll” personae, in 2014 McKinley published “Physics for Rock Stars” (Penguin Random House). Dan Coffey, Public Radio’s “Dr. Science,” calls the book “a clever, wryly passionate homage to the beauty of physics.... Think Tobias Wolff meets Richard Feynmann, only female.”
Smart, funny and artistic, McKinley co-hosts the popular cable television programs Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel and Under New York on the Discovery Channel. In 2010, McKinley won a Portland Drammy for Best Original Score for her musical “Gracie and the Atom,” about physics and Catholic School and produced at Artist’s Repertory Theater in Portland, Ore.
More information at www.christinemckinley.com.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First and College Streets on the Carleton campus.
