EBONY names Dr. Raven Baxter a 2022 Power 100 STEM Trailblazer

EBONY named Dr. Raven Baxter to its 2022 Power 100 in the STEM Trailblazers category. The magazine published the list in September 2022 and honored the class at a gala in Los Angeles on October 29.

The category recognized Black leaders who, in EBONY's words, "are expanding frontiers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics." In April 2022, a Pew Research Center survey asked Black Americans about science. A 54% majority said young Black people would be a lot more likely to pursue STEM degrees if they saw more Black high achievers in STEM. Only 20% said scientists as a group were very welcoming of Black people.

Black workers held 9% of STEM jobs, below their 11% share of all employment, Pew reported in 2021. In August 2022, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which aimed to broaden participation in STEM and to support historically Black colleges and universities.

EBONY's entry described Baxter as a molecular biologist and STEM educator who had found new ways to get young people excited about science. It cited her "album's worth" of science-education rap videos, including "Wipe It Down," a COVID-19 primer that went viral. It also cited The STEMbassy, her web series featuring scientists of different genders, races and disciplines.

Baxter shared the category with nine other entries. They included Marian Croak, a Google vice president and member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and Gregory L. Robinson, who directed NASA's James Webb Space Telescope program from 2018 to 2022. Mareena Robinson Snowden, the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT, and Dr. Cameron Webb of the White House COVID-19 response were also named.

EBONY has covered Black life in America and worldwide since 1945. Its Power 100 dates to 1979, Editor-in-Chief Marielle Bobo said at the 2022 gala. EBONY called that year's list "the return and reimagining of its signature program."

Comedian Amber Ruffin hosted the ceremony at Milk Studios. The gala also gave Spike Lee its Icon Award and Issa Rae its People's Choice Award. The cast of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever accepted the For The Culture award.

In 2024, Baxter returned as a past honoree to serve on EBONY's Black In Power Council, which voted on that year's Power 100.

Baxter, known online as Dr. Raven the Science Maven, had received her Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo in February 2022, eight months before the list, for a dissertation on science communication through hip-hop.

EBONY's STEM Trailblazers page is preserved in the Internet Archive.