Meet “The Space Gal,” An Inspiring Engineer Sharing Educational Science Videos On TikTok
“Stay curious and keep exploring” is the motto of Emily Calandrelli, an engineer who wears many other hats and has been teaching people of all ages with her educational content.
Emily is an MIT engineer, Emmy-nominated kid’s show host, producer, content creator, author, public speaker, and mother. Dubbed “The Space Gal,” Emily currently has a TikTok following of over one million people and is constantly keeping her followers informed on today’s science and space-related news.
Raised in West Virginia, Emily’s professional journey began when she received a mechanical and aerospace engineering degree from West Virginia University, where she was awarded scholarships for her work in research and policy.
Then, she went to MIT and impressively got her master’s in aeronautics and astronautics, as well as technology and policy. Emily has also worked for NASA and interned at NASA Ames in California and NASA Glenn in Ohio.
She got to work as a Chief Engineer on a mission at the Mars Desert Research station. How cool is that?
In interviews and videos about her life, Emily mentions how she’s flown on NASA’s famous reduced-gravity aircraft, nicknamed the ‘Vomit Comet’ three times. She’s also received astronaut training.
In addition, Emily began public speaking about her experience as a woman in STEM and other science-related topics and has given multiple TED talks.
Emily started pursuing a career in science communication when she began hosting the show Xploration Outer Space on FOX. Her work on the show got her nominated as an Outstanding Host in a Lifestyle/Children’s/Travel or Family Viewing Program for a daytime Emmy award.
In 2017 she started working with the iconic Bill Nye and appeared on his Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves the World.
Tierney – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
In 2020, while she was nine months pregnant, she filmed her very own educational series called Emily’s Wonder Lab, where she had children participate in fun experiments and taught them about the science behind them.
Emily released a sweet children’s book titled Reach For The Stars in 2022, which she dedicated to her young daughter. She also has a science experiment book called Stay Curious and Keep Exploring, filled with at-home experiments families can do for fun.
Emily is also an advocate for women’s rights, consistently raising awareness for women’s health-related issues.
She even worked with representatives to draft up a bill to make it easier for women to get their breastfeeding equipment through airport security after being embarrassed by a TSA agent for trying to bring her breastmilk on an airplane.
Today, Emily continues to post educational videos for her TikTok audience on all things space and science related. In addition, she gives thoroughly researched clarifications on rumors within the space world and eases people’s worries about things like asteroids and “UFOs.”
On her website, it is written that Emily “believes that everyone, despite their educational background, can understand scientific topics” and that she “hopes to convince more people of this and foster a higher level of scientific literacy in society through her work.”
You can check out Emily’s informative TikTok page here!
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