“I dedicate my dissertation to my 21-year old self, who thought her dream to earn a Ph.D. was impossible. Despite being a single mother, working through undergraduate school, I never let my circumstances discourage me from accomplishing my goals. ‘Dreams,” by Langton Hughes, encouraged me to hold fast to my dream. Although achieving this goal was over 20 years delayed, it is no longer a dream deferred.
When Lisa Brown was an undergraduate student at Wayne State University with a young toddler in tow, she knew she wanted to get a Ph.D. after meeting a female professor who she thought was really cool and had one. But because Brown knew she first had to make a living to take care of her young daughter, she made a commitment to herself that, one day, she would earn her Ph.D.
Over 20 years later, she fulfilled that commitment – and conducted ground-breaking research that helpswomen, and the auto sector writ large, on an issue that has vexed the industry for decades. So she dedicated it to her younger self. “To me, this is an exciting industry, the auto industry, so I wondered ‘why aren’t more women, particularly young women, interested in the automotive industry?’ …So I thought this was a great opportunity to study what I’ve lived over the past 22 years, and then also to try to solve a problem,.