“What are you doing for others?”
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Fleet Science Center is a countywide organization with a mission to connect everyone in our community to the power of science. The Fleet Science Center believes that science, inclusive of engineering, technology and math, is our most powerful tool for understanding and thereby shaping our physical world. It is at the core of our collective economic, civic and cultural prosperity. A San Diego where everyone can access this power is one whose collective prosperity is stronger, more enduring, and more equitably shared. Julie Cowan Novak has been named the 2025 Fleet Woman in STEM Honoree.
#1 Julie Cowan Novak grew up in Illinois. After grad school at IOWA, Bob and I were recruited to SDSU and UCSD.
#2 My favorite travel destinations are Cape Town, South Africa and Xochimilco, Mexico where I have had the honor to lead clinical research teams. I would like to visit New Zealand.
#3 Hobbies: Dancing, kayaking, sailing, traveling, history, photography, interior design.
#4 We have two dogs – “Winston Churchill” and “Jack Kennedy”.
#5 In 1990, Joan Kroc chose 11 mother-child pairs (including my son Andrew and me) as Peace Educators/Citizen Ambassadors to the former Soviet Union in the era of Gorbachev “glasnost/perestroika”. “Mothers Embracing Nuclear Disarmament” (MEND) is the power of maternal love and the instinct to protect one’s children as powerful, universal forces. The American mother/child dyads lived with Russian and Estonian families for a month. Six months later our Russian and Estonian families lived with us in San Diego. The MEND concept came to Joan, her daughter, Linda Smith, and Linda’s daughters at the DC Viet Nam Memorial, evolving decades later to the Kroc Peace & Justice Centers.
#6 Dr. Loretta “Lee” Ford, co-founder of the NP movement, was my inspiration, role model, mentor, and loyal friend. Lee encouraged me to begin doctoral study with 3 little boys under the age of 5. A healthcare and nursing education revolution, there are currently 390,000 U.S. Nurse Practitioners providing care.
#7 Favorite Movies: “Vertigo”; “2001: A Space Odyssey”; “Terms of Endearment”; “Something’s Gotta Give”.
#8 Favorite Books: “Lessons in Chemistry” and “Boys in the Boat”.
#9 Our three sons took Fleet astronaut classes and were amazed by the Dome Theatre. I had the opportunity to arrange and participate in four CBS Channel 8/YouTube Zevely Zone features including a field trip to the Fleet with three buses carrying 150 excited Chula Vista schoolchildren.
#10 The funds raised from the 2025 Fleet Science Center Gala will support our STEM programs for girls and young women as well as exhibits for our flagship experience in Balboa Park and our community engagement efforts throughout the county of San Diego.
Fleet Science Center
“Lessons in Chemistry: Celebrating Women in Science”
Saturday, April 26
5:00 PM
Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park
