Maru Colbert
Professor, Director, and Designer in Massachusetts
Hello! I’m Maru, a professor in the sciences and a practitioner in the arts. My teaching and research areas are phytoremediation, micro-scale processes, climate science/ atmospheric modeling, surface chemistry, NOx sensing and pre-engineering education. Postdoctoral and international field studies led me to combine these topics. I teach and lead research teams at universities in the US and abroad (Australia, Canada, the UK, China and Africa).
My STEAM work is related to my profession and passion-providing resources to counter the lack of proficiency in STEM subjects due to inequity in education. My STE(A)M initiatives are in 4 cities in the U.S. and 3 countries in Africa.
Hobbies I enjoy include volleyball, skating, sewing, running, reading and performing. I also practice design for innovation.
I work on several charitable projects and initiatives. Each month I focus on one (or more) of them, sometimes helping them raise funds.
This year's list includes The Boutique 4 Good; The Innocent Convicts; Liberia Labs-Teaching & Research Project; Oxfemwa; The NAACP; Annie Cannons-MIT Solve; BAMIT; Minds Matter Boston; Maranyundo Girls School (Rwanda); NSBE-Region I-Boston [including Ghana]; The Empowerment Series/Social Justice Circle for Engaged Activism; (Charity Marathons) Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Cancer Society/Dana Farber, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association; Her'tazhe Productions and True Story Theater.
During the Fall of 2020 I was a participant in the TC2 PlayLab's (virtual) Fall Showcase. To view the entire show's social justice selections, click on the YouTube shown below. To see the monologue I performed, featuring a grandmother to granddaughter Facetime session, use the link below (40:38-47:00) at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Vb4UULs HuDM&feature=youtube. My recitation was particularly appropriate when it was done, near Thanksgiving, wherein relatives were "Zooming" and "Facetiming" instead of being together due to the pandemic.
A funding page "The Cause Project" will be up in 2021! To the extent you are are willing and able, please help me lift others. Soon, I will make my "10950" blog site public.
I give back as I move forward with the realization...it's a blessing to BE. Please return monthly for new posts.
It's March 2021.... Women's History Month in a new year...many women will lead as we begin the trek to the "next normal."
STAY SAFE AND WELL!