MICHIGAN – This past Saturday, March 5, marked the opening of a new exhibit, #IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit, installed on and around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. as part of their Women's Futures Month. The Northern Research Station’s own Lindsey Rustad is one of 120 contemporary women STEM innovators to be depicted with life-size 3D printed statues, the largest collection of statues of women ever assembled together.  

The exhibit is part of the IF/THEN® initiative designed to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers. These STEM innovators were selected through a rigorous process with a commitment to inspire the next generation of girls and represent a diverse coalition of contemporary women innovators and role models leading a variety of fields.

Rustad, a research ecologist working in Durham, New Hampshire, traveled from her home to Washington, D.C., this past weekend to be a part of the exhibit’s opening festivities, that included standing next to her statue, so that visitors would be able to meet the women scientists and inventors behind the statues.

“It was quite the moving and surreal experience,” said Rustad.  “The public – and especially all the little girls – were mesmerized with finding the statues and the real live scientists there on the National Mall to talk to them. The eager, bright, shy smiles and questions from the girls were one of the highlights of my career.”

Rustad, has spent over three decades conducting research to understand what makes forests tick. Her laboratory is the outdoors, and she is internationally recognized for her large and often daring experiments on forest soil warming, drought, acid rain, and even ice storms.  Her passion is bringing together scientists, artists, and citizens to address some of the most vexing issues facing the world today.

The exhibit, in honor of Women’s History Month, runs through March 27.  View Rustad’s statue inside the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.