WASHINGTON, D.C. — Looking around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., there are not many women memorialized for their accomplishments. 

“When you really dig into it, you find out that there's literally very few women statues, and that once you know that you can never un-know that, and you'll never walk through any city again, without noticing, hmm, there's no women statues,” said Nicole Smalls, the CEO of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

That led to the organizations latest initiative: IF/THEN.

IF/THEN has the goal of furthering, advancing and elevating women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and also inspiring the next generation of girls to explore careers in STEM. 

The organization gathered 120 trailblazing women to be role models and mentors and created 3-D printed statues, making it the largest collection of female statues in the world, according to Smalls.

“We thought, ‘wow, we've got these 120 amazing women, why don't we turn them into statues and tell their stories that way?’” she explained. 

Lyda Hill partnered with the Smithsonian to bring the collection to Washington as part of its Women’s History Month celebrations. Rachel Goslins, Director of the Arts and Industries Building at the Smithsonian, told Spectrum News it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

“We're putting a twist on Women's History Month with Women's Futures Month, celebrating the power of women to change the world and help shape our future. And one of the best way to do that is bringing this amazing exhibition to the Smithsonian,” said Goslins. “[It] is a celebration really of the power of women, especially in STEM fields, to shape our world and lead us into a better and more hopeful future.”

Each statue represents a real woman who is working in a STEM field, including space flight engineers, social science researchers, video game developers, molecular neuroscientists and others who are making their marks on their respective fields. A QR code accompanies each statue to let the women share their stories in their own words. 

Kentuckian Anjali Chadha, a junior bioengineering student at MIT, is one of the 120 women depicted in the collection. She said she hopes the statues will inspire younger girls to follow their own unique dreams. 

19-year-old Chadha is one of the youngest women featured in the exhibit and wants to pursue a career in biotechnology entrepreneurship. She encourages girls to “be loud in what you love.” 

“I really hope that when I am loud about my love for biotechnology or loud about my love for entrepreneurship that it may resonate with a younger girl on a very personal level and may open their eyes to something they’ve never encountered or thought about before,” Chadha said. 

Chadha created her own nonprofit called Empowered to help girls in middle and high school learn technical skills like web design and app design.

“I really saw a lot of discrepancies in the opportunities that were being afforded to students of color versus non-minority students ,” Chadha said. “I really started to believe that especially in terms of technical skills and STEM education the gap was just too huge.” 

Dr. Joyonna Gamble-George, a neuroscientist who specializes in Alzheimer’s disease pathology, anxiety and sleep disorders and drug addiction is also honored in statue form. She admits she faced her own difficulties getting into her field.

“There's not a lot of representation. We do have women that are in STEM fields, but a lot of those women are not in leadership positions, you don't see them as tenured professors, you don't see them in senior level positions, as entrepreneurs of biotech companies,” said Gamble-George. “When you're getting into a field where people don't really consider you what they think a scientist should look like, you’ve got to deal with a little bit of misconceptions and stereotypes.”

Gamble-George told Spectrum News that she had been looking at STEM careers since she participated in a STEM program at her high school in Maryland. The Florida native is now back in the Tampa area. She admits it’s still surreal to see herself in statue form.

“I have something that looks like me. And then people are traveling all across the country just to come and see my statue and learn more about what I do as a STEM professional. So it's just such a wonderful and an awesome feeling,” Gamble-George explained. “I can be a future role model for younger girls who aspires to become a STEM innovator or a STEM professional one day. So I just feel honored just to be able to be in that position to actually provide mentorship and guidance for young girls.”

The statues will remain at the Smithsonian throughout the month of March, and will be located at different museums, including Air and Space, Natural History, Arts and Industries and more. There is also a permanent collection that lives online here.

“We want little girls to see someone who looks like them doing the things they're passionate about. But what we're learning is everyone who interacts with these stories comes away, inspired, hopeful and a little bit more knowledgeable,” said Smalls.