When the original Star Trek television series premiered in 1966, no one could have predicted the influence it would have on the real world. An untold number of youths later embarked on science careers because of Star Trek, and the show’s futuristic technology served as inspiration for everything from the first Apple computer to the cell phone.
It was more than just in the realms of science that the legacy of the original Star Trek is grounded, as the series also prominently featured an African American woman – Nichelle Nichols – as part of the main cast. Like the series itself, Nichols served as an inspiration for future generations and became a leading advocate for a more diverse real-world space program in the United States as well.
“Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazing actress, advocate and dear friend to NASA,” agency administrator Bill Nelson remarked when Nichols passed away in July 2022. “At a time when Black women were seldom seen on screen, Nichelle’s portrayal as Nyota Uhura on Star Trek held a mirror up to America that strengthened civil rights. Nichelle’s advocacy transcended television and transformed NASA. After Apollo 11, Nichelle made it her mission to inspire women and people of color to join this agency, change the face of STEM and explore the cosmos. Nichelle’s mission is NASA’s mission.”
In 2024, Nichelle Nichols once again served as an inspiration, this time with the founding of STEAM Superheroes, a nonprofit committed to using popular culture to attract contemporary youths into the fields of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. The organization started innocently enough during a conversation between Star Trek afficionado Linda Zaruches and Nichelle’s sister Marian in October 2023.
“Me and Marian were on a phone call,” Zaruches explains. “She called me and we were talking about how much we missed Nichelle. And she said to me, jokingly, ‘I think we should start a nonprofit because I think we should keep my sister’s legacy alive and inspire the next generation.’ And I said, ‘Okay, let’s do that.’ Three months later we had our 501(c)(3) approved, we had a website, and we had a board. It took us three months to get everything up and running. So here we are.”
STEAM Superheroes utilizes a two-pronged approach for its mission. The first is an original comic book entitled STEAM Superheroes: The Chronicles of Nexus. Set in the not-so-distant future, the narrative follows the adventures of the Nichelle Nexus company as it prepares to conduct scientific research on both an orbital outpost circling Earth and a lunar outpost on the Moon. Written by Robert Jeffrey II and illustrated by Ben Herrara, The Chronicles of Nexus features characters based on the real-life scientists consulted on the project and is filled with Easter eggs related to Star Trek, the most obvious being the name of both the company Nichelle Nexus and its CEO, Grace Nichelle.
“It was actually Marian’s idea to call the character Grace Nichelle because that was her stage name before she was Nichelle Nichols,” Linda Zaruches, who serves as president of STEAM Superheroes, explains. “And then the board together came up with the Nichelle Nexus because we wanted to have a company named after her that was kind of going to be the center point of the organization.”
As for The Chronicles of Nexus, Zaruches says, “We want to do the concept of Star Trek, where if somebody can see somebody on TV, they want to do it. There are so many people today in science who will tell you they did what they did because they saw it on Star Trek. And so that was a thought me and Marian had, how do we continue the inspiration, and the thought was the comic book, which would have science in it and then we would have YouTube videos and be able to expound on the science down the road with the kids.”
The second component of STEAM Superheroes is the organization’s STEAM Academy and STEAM Science Café events that feature hands-on scientific activities for youths and are overseen by real-life scientists. “We’ve done activities at the library for grade school kids,” Zaruches says. “We’ve done STEAM Science Café for high school-aged kids. We’ve done events when we’ve done conventions – we’ve done Phoenix Fan Fusion and Awesome Con. We were part of their kids’ area and we did hands-on activities throughout the weekend. And so you have the comic to excite them about science but reinforce it through the STEAM Academy.”
STEAM Superheroes didn’t waste any time in getting the word out, making its premier at Awesome Con in Washington, D.C. during the first weekend of April 2025 shortly after The Chronicles of Nexus was completed. “We didn’t know what to expect because no one knew who we were,” Linda Zaruches remembers.
She needn’t have worried as the organization’s appearance was a huge success. In addition to having activities in the kids’ area of Awesome Con, STEAM Superheroes also had a booth in the main hall containing both comic books and activities, as well as actual scientists. “The kids would come over and then the parents would get the comic book for them,” Zaruches says. “The scientists would sign it. Some of the scientists would then sit with the kids and do activities.”
Those activities were designed for three specific age groups – six-year-olds, ten-year-olds, and fourteen-year-olds. “We made sure that we had different science experiments that were age appropriate, not just one type of activity,” Zaruches continues. “Then we found while the kids were doing that, the parents were like, ‘Wow, you’re really in this comic book? You’re really a scientist? I have some questions.’ So we had a lot of people at our table and a lot of people wanted to talk to the scientists. Since then we’ve done several other events and the reaction has been really, really positive.”
Awesome Con also allowed STEAM Superheroes to network, making contact with several organizations in the area, including the Maryland STEM Festival. The organization is also working on a follow-up comic to The Chronicles of Nexus. “The goal long term is to bring in other STEAM superheroes with other, different kinds of backgrounds,” Linda Zaruches says. “Eventually we want to do medicine, maybe the environment. STEAM encompasses so many careers. In ten years it would be great to have just a whole bunch of comics out focused on a whole bunch of science.”
While STEAM Superheroes is based in the United States, Linda Zaruches has learned that the influence of Star Trek extends around the world. While perusing the internet, for instance, she came across a nonprofit high school in Uganda that educates children in rural areas with the goal of producing the next generation of scientists.
“They discovered the way to show them what the world could be and what the future could be is through Star Trek,” Zaruches explains. “They love Star Trek. They make Star Trek outfits. They make Star Trek spaceships. I met them on a message board. I thought this was cool, reached out to the headmaster and said, ‘How can I help?’ The first conversation was an hour. These kids, high school kids, who live halfway around the world, come from a very different background than I do. They grew up without internet, they grew up in a very impoverished area, and we spent an hour talking about what our favorite Star Trek episodes were and what our favorite characters were. And so we had a wonderful conversation about Star Trek.”
She then adds, “To me, that’s what it’s about. You have me and these kids who have literally nothing in common and we have the most wonderful conversation because they love Star Trek so much.”
It is a love that STEAM Superheroes will no doubt nourish for many years to come.
(STEAM Superheroes is a nonprofit organization and thus relies on the public for support. If you would like to make a donation, please visit the STEAM Superheroes website.)
Anthony Letizia