Linda Birnbaum showed women they can have family, community, fun and passion in her “You Can Have It All” presentation Tuesday in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Grand Ballroom.

Birnbaum, the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, came to Eastern as the keynote speaker to members of Women in Science and Mathematics.

President William Perry introduced Birnbaum. He attended graduate school at the University of Illinois, Urbana with Birnbaum and they have been friends ever since.

“It is important to me to have a relationship between faith, community and friends,” Birnbaum said.

Birnbaum also stressed the importance of finding a good mentor. When Birnbaum was in middle school she had a biology teacher who was also the cheerleading coach. She found that “great teachers made it OK to be a girl and like science.” Birnbaum found this inspiring and credits her biology teacher as one of the main reasons she went on to study science.

“Make sure wherever you are in your career, you find a good mentor,” Birnbaum said.

Another secret to having it all is being able to be flexible and being willing to compromise. Students should also be up for change and be looking for new challenges when they arise.

“Balance your work, community and your family. Really be flexible and willing to compromise,” Birnbaum said. “Follow your nose in science and in life. Take advantage of what presents itself.”

During the presentation Birnbaum touched on topics such as increased awareness of changing patterns of exposure and disease, research models that provide integrated scientific solutions and many more environmental topics.

Amy Robertson, a sophomore math major with teachers certification, attended the event because she heard nothing but good things about it from last year.

“I thought it shed a lot of light on the issues that are affecting our generation,” Robertson said.

In addition to being the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Birnbaum has been a federal scientist for almost 29 years. She was also the director of the Experimental Toxicology Division at the Environmental Protection Agency for 16 years, along with many other accomplishments

Women in Science and Mathematics was established in 2007 by Mary Anne Hanner, dean of the College of Sciences. WiSM is for women who are pursuing a career in the sciences and mathematics. The organization encourages women to continue down these career paths.

“We started (WiSM) as a way to develop mentoring relationships with students to encourage women students to continue in math and science majors,” Hanner said. “We observed that once the coursework became more difficult that sometimes women would change their majors. But what we would rather they do is find a mentor and continue to work through the issues of the majors.”

Samantha Bilharz can be reached at 581-7942 or slbilharz@eiu.edu.