Bozeman Magazine

Bestselling author Margot Lee Shetterly will visit Montana State University in October as part of the second annual President’s Crossing Boundaries Speaker Series.

Shetterly will deliver a talk, “Hidden Figures: Breaking Barriers Within STEM,” on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The event will begin at 6 p.m. in the Strand Union Building ballrooms. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow Shetterly’s talk. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.

Shetterly is the author of “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race,” which was a top book of 2016 for both Time magazine and Publisher’s Weekly, a USA Today bestseller and a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. The book recounts the true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped make possible some of America’s greatest achievements in space.

In a New York Times review, Janna Levin wrote that the book “is clearly fueled by pride and admiration, a tender account of genuine transcendence and camaraderie. The story warmly conveys the dignity and refinements of these women. They defied barriers for the privilege of offering their desperately needed technical abilities.”

The film adaptation of “Hidden Figures” — which became a No. 1 movie in the U.S. — stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 2017 for best picture and best adapted screenplay, and Spencer was nominated for best supporting actress.

Shetterly is also the founder of the Human Computer Project, a digital archive telling the stories and accomplishments of the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s.

Her research has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. She is currently a scholar-in-residence at the University of Virginia, with joint appointments at the McIntire School of Commerce and the School of Engineering.

Shetterly will be the final speaker in the second annual President's Crossing Boundaries Speaker Series at MSU. Through the series of lectures, MSU welcomes speakers to campus who have gone on remarkable journeys to cross seemingly impassible boundaries. In August, the series will feature Tommy Orange, an acclaimed Cheyenne and Arapaho author whose novels chronicle contemporary Native American life. Orange will speak at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at MSU’s First Year Student Convocation at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. A second speaker who will visit campus in September will be announced in the coming weeks. All three events are free and open to the public. Visit montana.edu/president/crossing-boundaries/ for more information.montana.edu/president/crossing-boundaries/