Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player OPEN WDET 101.9 FM On Air Now Open Navigation Menu NPR logo Station Logo DONATE SUBSCRIBE TO SHORT WAVE SCIENCE Yale honors the work of a 9-year-old Black girl whose neighbor reported her to police February 3, 20235:30 AM ET Vanessa Romo VANESSA ROMO Twitter Bobbi Wilson holds her collection of spotted lanternflies as she is honored at the Yale School of Public Health on Jan. 20. Andrew Hurley/Yale University Nine-year-old Bobbi Wilson may be in the fourth grade, but last month the Yale School of Public Health held a ceremony honoring the budding scientist's recent work. The university entered Bobbi's collection of 27 spotted lanternflies — an extremely invasive species that is harmful to trees and other plants — into the Peabody Museum of Natural History database. Bobbi was also presented with the title of "donor scientist" during the Jan. 20 ceremony. "We wanted to show her bravery and how inspiring she is, and we just want to make sure she continues to feel honored and loved by the Yale community," Ijeoma Opara, an assistant professor at the school, said in a statement. The accolades come just three months after Bobbi, who is Black, made headlines when former Caldwell city council member Gordon Lawshe, who is white, called local police on the girl. She was collecting spotted lanternfly specimens. Her neighbor became frightened and called the cops On Oct. 22, Lawshe was home, and things in the mostly white neighborhood seemed copacetic. But looking at the tree-lined street, Lawshe saw something scary. Recognizing it was not an emergency per se, he called the police department dispatcher instead. Sponsor Message "There's a little Black woman walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence," Lawshe told the dispatcher, according to a call obtained by CNN. "I don't know what the hell she's doing. Scares me, though," Lawshe added. Outside, Bobbi, a petite child who wears pink-framed glasses, was doing her bit to comply with the state's Stomp it Out! campaign, which urges New Jersey residents to help eradicate the spotted lanternfly infestation. She'd learned about it at school and made her own version of an insect repellent she'd seen on TikTok. Making her way from tree to tree, Bobbi would spray the bugs, pluck them from the tree and drop them into a plastic bottle. Bobbi was still at it when an officer arrived, curious about what she was doing. Body camera footage shows officer Kevin O'Neill approach the child before her mother, Monique Joseph, intervenes. "Am I in trouble?" the small girl asks. "No," Joseph and O'Neill respond simultaneously. Joseph adds, "How many trees did you save?" O'Neill explains that he was responding to a call made by Lawshe. The information appears to baffle Joseph, who has said that she has lived across the street from the 71-year-old for eight years and that they are on friendly terms. Rochester Mayor Suspends Police Officers Who Pepper-Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl AMERICA RECKONS WITH RACIAL INJUSTICE Rochester Mayor Suspends Police Officers Who Pepper-Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl Bobbi's mother and sister speak out about racial profiling Unable to shake the gnawing feeling that things could have easily escalated and ended in tragedy, as they have in other circumstances involving Black children and law enforcement, Joseph decided to address the issue head-on at a Caldwell city council meeting a few weeks later. During the meeting, Joseph and her 13-year-old daughter, Hayden Wilson, called the episode an instance of racial profiling. "She was not only doing something amazing for our environment — she was doing something that made her feel like a hero," Hayden said in her speech to the city council. Sponsor Message "What Mr. Gordon Lawshe did to my sister was extremely offensive, traumatic and scarring towards my family. I can confidently assure you guys that she will never forget this," she added. Scientists and scholars rally around Bobbi The outpouring of support for Bobbi and her love of science has been constant since the police stop hit the internet. She has received the Caldwell Environmental Commission's Sustainability Award for her contributions to improving the town's environment. At least one science writer has given Bobbi a collection of books and stickers to encourage her passion for learning. And there is the recognition from Yale. "Yale doesn't normally do anything like this. ... This is something unique to Bobbi," Opara, the Yale professor, said. She helped organize the recent ceremony and previously invited Bobbi and her sister to the campus to meet "other successful Black female scientists and to counter the horrible memories of that day." Shortly after the police encounter, Joseph told CNN that her 9-year-old hasn't been the same. But at the ceremony, she expressed gratitude for the community that has rallied around the entire family. "You know, you hear about racism; you kind of experience it in your peripheral if you're lucky in your life. It doesn't come knocking on your door. That morning when it happened, my world stopped," Bobbi's mother said, according to the university. She added: "The whole community, the science community, got together and said, 'She's one of us and we're not going to let her lose her steam for STEM. We're going to support the family, we're going to support this girl." peabody museum spotted lantern fly racial profiling yale university new jersey Facebook Twitter Flipboard Email More Stories From NPR SCIENCE From a green comet to cancer-sniffing ants, we break down the science headlines GLOBAL HEALTH Who's most likely to save us from the next pandemic? The answer may surprise you HEALTH A single-shot treatment to protect infants from RSV may be coming soon TECHNOLOGY We asked the new AI to do some simple rocket science. It crashed and burned SCIENCE Nipah: Using sticks to find a fatal virus with pandemic potential SPACE The once-in-a-lifetime green comet threatens FOMO sufferers everywhere Popular on NPR.org BUSINESS Tesla slashed its prices across the board. We're now starting to see the consequences WORLD Japan's conveyor belt sushi industry takes a licking from an errant customer ANIMALS How Groundhog Day came to the U.S. — and why we still celebrate it 137 years later POLITICS House Republicans vote to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee POLITICS Congress takes reins of prayer breakfast from secretive Christian evangelical group NATIONAL SECURITY China says it is looking into the report of a spy balloon over U.S. airspace NPR Editors' Picks NATIONAL SECURITY China says the balloon is theirs but not used for spying. Here's what we know ECONOMY U.S. employers added 517,000 jobs last month. It's a surprisingly strong number AFRICA Pope Francis arrives in South Sudan in hopes he can revive the peace process NATIONAL Brandon Tsay wants to use his celebrity to help heal his community WORLD Europe is set to ban Russian oil products, the latest strike on the Kremlin war chest WORLD European leaders meet in Kyiv to discuss Ukraine's path toward joining the EU READ & LISTEN Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows CONNECT Newsletters Facebook Twitter Instagram Press Contact & Help ABOUT NPR Overview Diversity Accessibility Ethics Finances Public Editor Corrections GET INVOLVED Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Events NPR Extra terms of use privacy your privacy choices text only © 2023 npr