San Diego Women Using LiDAR Drones to Honor the Resilience + Sacrifice of BIPOC Ancestors

MEDIA ALERT

March 22, 2022

CONTACT: Shellie Baxter

Shellie@ourgeneticlegacy.org

San Diego Women Using LiDAR Drones to Honor the Resilience + Sacrifice of BIPOC Ancestors

New Program Announcement March 30th Will Give Women Tech Training for Racial Justice

WHEN: Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at 10:00AM

WHAT: In honor of International Women’s History Month, there will be a live LiDAR enabled drone demonstration to demonstrate how a local non-profit will teach young women to use LiDAR to create 3-D images of landscapes invisible to the naked eye.

As part of a 9-month program, young women ages 16 - 19 will get field experience and receive advanced training in the use of LiDAR and other advanced geospatial technology. They will use the tech to map, survey, and create publicly available virtual memorials for Julian Pioneer Cemetery and Serenity Harrison Ranch, both locations are significant enclaves of BIPOC prosperity after enslavement. These are just the first of many such sites. OGL plans to expand the program to other locations in San Diego and beyond.

Native San Diegan, Shellie Baxter, is diversifying US history to include stories of BIPOC legacies beyond enslavement and trauma. Baxter has partnerships with leaders in the tech industry as part of her mission to educate the public about how survivors of enslavement lived and died. The virtual memorials will be created to honor their resilience.

WHO: Shellie Baxter’s organization, Our Genetic Legacy (OGL), created the DRONE Project (Descendents Recovering Our Names) empowers BIPOC young women who have been historically undervalued in STEAM to use the best available technology to find those that were once treated as the least of us to create a new future that includes all of us.

Greater Than Tech, led by Jasmine LeFlore, a rocket scientist committed to teaching young women how to use technology for good and become leaders in the industry as entrepreneurs.

Elementary Institute of Science, James Stone, CEO. EIS trains and licenses young women living in underserved communities to become licensed drone pilots.

MODUS, a leader in LiDAR training and advanced geospatial technology, will provide our participants with resources and experience that will accelerate their future careers in technology.  MODUS is currently working to hire a 90% diverse female workforce in historically male-dominated crafts.

WHERE: Elementary Institute of Science, 608 51st St, San Diego, CA 92114

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:

• Shellie Baxter, Founder of Our Genetic Legacy
• Jasmine LeFlore, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Greater Than Tech
• Daniel Hubert, CEO & Founder of MODUS.
• James Stone, CEO of Elementary Institute of Science

VISUALS:

• A live LiDAR enabled drone demonstration. Recently LiDAR mapping in Guatamala has found that the Mayan civilization was much larger than anyone previously thought. See National Geographic coverage.
• Community members in science, technology, US history, and ancestry united to create an inclusive future for San Diego and beyond.
• San Diego young women who have been selected to participate in this STEAM program and who are interested in learning more about BIPOC US history.