Category: About
Growing up in Science: Anne Urai
Anne Urai Ihad a careless childhood. I was good at school, but could never quite decide on my passions. I dropped high-school physics and chemistry in a streak of rebelliousness, only to realize my mistake a year later and catch...
It takes a village: Creating engineered regulatory T cells to induce immune tolerance
Leonardo Ferreira: "What if we could avoid the need for HLA matching for successful organ transplantation without severely impairing the recipient’s immune system? Better even, what if we could use a mismatched HLA molecule present in the donor but not...
Growing up in Science: Clinton Cave
Clinton Cave - "Protect your health, find mentorship, and help those around you. And just for the record, "You DO belong here."
My Developing Journey to Becoming an Agent of Change in Science
Milanpreet Kaur: "It has been three years into my doctoral program, and recently I began to draw connections between my studies and personal growth, asking myself - Have I attempted to act as a catalyst to accelerate the rate of...
Finding a Passion for Physics and Virtual Reality Headsets
Haxhi Pantina: "To this day, I still like reading about stars and the universe, but quantum mechanics, quantum optics, and quantum information contain the largest part of my daily routine."
My Career Path Following Water from the Mountain to the Sea and Across an Ocean
Jeeban Panthi: "My professional and personal journey to understand water continues to unfold, and I was a part of a multi-year collaborative research project on climate and water in Nepal."
Sleeping Astrocytes: Failures and Successes on the Journey to Publication
Laura Bojarskaite: "I want to be honest and tell you the story of how science actually happened for me and not how science should have happened according to all the rules, supposed-to’s, and textbooks."
Limits to Perfection: Searching For Order in Chaos
Kumaresh Krishnan: "Understanding when the details of a model are satisfactory for the research questions being asked is one of the most critical steps in my work."
Crisis After Crisis During Pandemic Field Day Experiments
Catalina Mejia: "Whether to a friend, a colleague, or another graduate student, make the small efforts to reach out and ask for support if you are in need of it."
Fishing for Change: How Fish Tanks and Textbooks Taught Me to Fall in Love with Science (and Discover its Flaws)
Jeromy DiGiacomo: "I hope my story can highlight that in all its objectivity, the STEM community is not immune to prejudice or discrimination and that we have a lot of room to grow."
My Career in the Midst of a Pandemic: Overcoming the Limitations of COVID-19
Rodrigo FO Pena: "I have reached a really great point in my career where I can give back to my home country without ever leaving my current research..."
Flickering Lights in the Darkness: How Microscopy Shaped My Scientific Path
Natalie Nannas: "Watching those flickering green dots shuttling around the cell convinced me that my future was in research."
How Getting Kicked Out of My Lab Kick-Started My Career
Kristen Vogt Veggeberg: "I could not have earned the distinction of [Impact Scholar] had I not started my career in graduate school, and I could not have started without that initial failure at hand."
A Long and Winding Road: One Disabled Scientist’s Story
Katie Stofer: "Mine is a story of [social and financial] supports, and how I am able to do my research not only because of them but in spite of my chronic illness, which I’ve just recently come to recognize as...
I Thought Only Neurologists Could Study the Brain
Kathryn Bonnen: "The realization that I was not alone put me on a path to recovery that has allowed me to truly enjoy science again."
From Picking Grapes to Treating Cavities
Ramneek K. Batth: "I came to recognize the importance of research and it’s need to advance almost every, if not all, aspects of life."
The Little Boat of “Why?”
Catherine Lockley: "As soon as this voyage is over, it will inform another and yet another. I signed up for the endless seas, but I stand at my bow and salute my fellow voyagers as they sail by on their...
Growing up in Science: Jane Willenbring
Jane Willenbring: "My Ph.D. on rates of glacial erosion in the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic seemed long and difficult. I thought about quitting many times, but I'm glad I didn't quit."
Breaking the surface: Lessons on resilience and rebuilding from planarians
Divya Shiroor: "When I look at my publication today, I can’t help but be struck by how 5 years of blood, sweat and tears coalesce so tidily into 5 pages of a journal. I wonder how differently things might have...
Ice, heat, science, and acting
Morgan Dundon: "I think we should be more accepting of our many dimensions, both academics and actors alike. In my world of materials science, there are solid materials that can exist in more than one form or structure."
Stories in Science Nanochat: Alfredo Spagna, PhD
Alfredo Spagna, PhD: "The role for the scientist is making science accessible...we have to improve our way in which we communicate new discoveries as a milestone in a scientific process."
Crossing the finish line
Divya Shiroor: "By trying to make a mad dash to the finish line we run a very solid risk of not making it at all. In the long run, taking a moment to stop and smell the roses might go...
This Is Not The Way Beyoncé Made It Look
Bianca Jones Marlin: "I came to realize that my connection with my daughter, who’s now two-and-a-half years old, isn’t punctuated moments of oxytocin release. It’s our life together."
Fraternizing with Failure
Divya Shiroor: "I stepped up on stage, looked into the audience and for the first time ever, completely drew a blank. I tried to find my focus, somehow stumbled though my speech, leaving a big part of it out and...
Growing Up in Science: Gyorgy Buzsaki
György Buzsáki: "To be part of such a conversation, all I had to do was to learn Morse code, memorize the Q language, learn a bit about electronics, pass exams, get a license, build a transmitter and receiver, and set...
Be your own Cartographer
Divya Shiroor: "I think of the IDP as a roadmap to the destination of your choice, with the difference being that you build your own road as you go along. It is a tool that helps assess which career you...
Academia: My forbidden love?
Divya Shiroor: "As happens with all relationships, my honeymoon period ended soon after commencing graduate school. Seven months into my first year, I now realize that my once perfect boyfriend can be complicated, demanding and potentially unstable."
The Spirit of the Inca
Aiza Kabeer: "When we are not aware of the achievements of civilizations such as the Inca, we are unable to see the breadth of cultures that made outstanding scientific progress."