The Power of Just One Teacher
Mayim Bialik, the Emmy-nominated actress on The Big Bang Theory and real-life neuroscientist, is on a mission to help educators and parents inspire students to pursue STEM education and careers. Bialik will share her unique journey from child actress to neuroscientist to playing a scientist on TV and working with Texas Instruments. Mayim Hoya Bialik received her BS in neuroscience and in Hebrew and Jewish studies from UCLA in 2000 and earned a PhD in neuroscience in 2007 from UCLA, specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents with Prader-Willi syndrome. She was born to first-generation American teachers and documentary filmmakers and was raised in Los Angeles, attending both public and religious school. Bialik is best known for her lead role in the 1990s NBC sitcom Blossom, as well as for portraying the young Bette Midler in Beaches. She appears regularly on CBS's The Big Bang Theory as Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon's "friend who is not his girlfriend."