As a young girl, Mae Jemison, future astronaut, lay on her lawn in Chicago gazing at the starry sky with curiosity.

"I saw all around me this explosion of ideas and possibilities," she said. "And I wanted to be a part of it."

However, be-cause of her gender, economic status and race, she felt she lagged behind society's expectations. Her mother's encouragement helped her to reach full potential, she said.

"I lived in a country and world that didn't recognize me as a full person," she said.

Jemison told the story of how she transformed from an aspiring astronaut into a mature individual to an audience of nearly 400 people last night in Schwab Auditorium as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.

In 1992, Jemison became the first black woman to go into space during her flight aboard the shuttle Endeavor. However, her interest in space exploration reaches far beyond the confines of physical science.

Jemison said she believes there is a strong connection between the physical and social sciences. Scientists must think about the social implications of their work before starting research, she said.

"Should we use our nuclear physicists to produce nuclear bombs, nuclear plants or nuclear medicine?" she asked.

Sixty to seventy percent of the world's social problems are based on science and technology, she said.

For instance, problems of substance abuse and shortage of energy resources could be solved by taking the time to analyze the problems before trying to find quick solutions, she said.

As a burgeoning entrepreneur, Jemison speculated about the influences corporations have on society.

Business could have a positive impact by developing new antibiotics and creating economical means of transportation. However, they can also have an "unconscious impact" by creating pollution, she said.

"The problem is that [corporations] aren't held personally reliable," she added.

A question-and-answer segment followed the speech in which Jordyn Drayton (sophomore-public relations) asked about the future of space exploration.

"I thought when I was a little girl that we'd be on Mars by now," she said, adding that she thinks the United States has been timid with its space exploration programs.

Marc Maxson (graduate-neuroscience) asked how science students can maintain a sense of wonder. Jemison said that, through her work with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), she discovered that science constantly offers new opportunities to learn.

Jemison asked the audience to recall a common physics lesson in which the teacher holds up a ball and explains it has a lot of potential energy. She thinks this philosophy is applicable to areas besides science because ideas have potential energy as well.

"I like to think that ideas are really wonderful," she said. "Nothing will happen until we risk putting them into action."