Category: About

Forever a scientist: How I found my career niche

– Julia Bates –  “No Julia, you are still a scientist. You will always be a scientist”. Those were the words spoken by my mentor Professor Jenny Martin, as we sat drinking coffee in a sunny café in my hometown...

/ August 21, 2017

How Can We Help? Creating the Superwomen in Science Podcast

 – Cordon Purcell & Nicole George – In the fall of 2016, we were both in our first year of grad school and living together in Montreal (Cordon was sleeping on a crappy air mattress in Nicole’s living room). As...

/ August 8, 2017

Academic dreams: they come and they go

 – Bill Hinchen –  Is it time I let go of the academic dream? I seem to have been battling with this question for several years now. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to do science — I mean proper...

/ August 4, 2017

Better Get Used to Me

– Taylor Richardson | High School Student | The Bolles School –  Speech below was delivered at the 2017 March for Science in Washington, D.C.  My name is Taylor Richardson, I live in Jacksonville, Florida where I attend The Bolles...

/ July 23, 2017

Discovering My Passion for Teaching

Jennifer Gatti - "My message to my students is simple: don’t be afraid to try new things and don’t get stuck doing something simply because you think it is what you are supposed to do. You never know where you...

/ July 20, 2017

Playing in the Dirt and Calling it Science

 – By Stephanie Halmhofer | Bioarchaeologist –  For some, the line from point A to point B is fairly straight.  For others, it’s a zig-zag.  I am definitely a zig-zagger.  I didn’t find an easy, straightforward path into becoming a...

/ July 19, 2017

How To Be a Superstar With No Instructions

– Marguerite Matthews, PhD –  .  At 4 years old, I was sure I’d be a superstar! My father has endless video recordings of me prancing around, belting out my favorite songs or performing mundane tasks with Shakespearean theatrics. I was ready at a moment’s notice to...

/ July 7, 2017

Diffraction

– Rowena Fletcher-Wood | Programme Delivery Officer at Science Oxford –  The story below by Rowena was originally published in 2014 through the Story Collider. You can listen or read it below!  When I was eighteen, I loved school and I loved...

/ June 26, 2017

NPR: An Unstoppable Scientist

– Published by Michaeleen Doucleff on NPR on June 20, 2017 –  “Two years ago, Eqbal Dauqan was going to work in the morning as usual. She’s a biochemistry professor. And was driving on the freeway, when suddenly: “I felt...

/ June 24, 2017

Watch Your Steps!

– by Fanuel Muindi – How many steps do you take in a day? We take so many of them every day (around 6000 or so) without a care. For many of us, the focus is on our destinations. Spend...

/ June 11, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 3

– by Robin McLachlan – We teach school children that science is inaccessible and scientists are socially inept. Crazy scientists hide behind lab benches. They are disguised beneath white coats and thick glasses. Their hair is disheveled, their motivations shady, their...

/ May 24, 2017

The Courage to Say No

by William Yakah | Undergraduate Student (Neuroscience) | Michigan State University | Like many others in middle school, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to be in the future. In 6th grade, my class had a group of college students talk...

/ May 17, 2017

Why I Sci

by Natalie Hamer | Biomedical Science Student at Newcastle University | My favorite question has always been ‘why?’ As a child, this question frustrated my mother to no end. I asked her a million questions, and interrogated all of her answers....

/ May 13, 2017

A Ride of a Lifetime

by John Kropowensky | Curriculum Coordinator at Harvard University | The relationship I have had with science has been one of many ups and downs, a roller coaster ride speeding up, stopping suddenly, and revealing the beautiful world at its peak....

/ May 11, 2017

Discovering my identity as a scientist

by Tyler A. Allen | NC State University, College of Veterinary Medicine |  My journey into science was a seemingly unexpected yet inevitable one. I am the first person in my family to venture into the field of science as a...

/ May 4, 2017

Ordinary Folks Doing Extraordinary Things

by David Denlinger | Department of Biology | Utah State University Everyday when we wake up, whether we recognize it or not, our lives are inspired by science: not being crippled by polio or smallpox, the food we eat, the vehicles...

/ April 27, 2017

The words that changed my life

– Lia Paola Zambetti – Senior Project Officer |Research Development and Collaboration |The University of Sydney On a dull Saturday morning in the lab, I heard the words that changed my life. I had just finished changing the medium for...

/ April 27, 2017

Take a Chance On Me

by Jessica Okoro | TEDxLeicester Jessica Okoro the founder and director of BeScience STEM. Their mission is to “bring STEM to communities that do not currently have the opportunity to experience different aspects of STEM and to explore career choices, explore...

/ April 25, 2017

From Grandma’s Backyard to the Bench 

Rodolfo Jimenez  My parents were so young when they had me. They both had to put school on hold in order to provide for their new family. Because of my parents’ varying work schedules, my grandmother had a big role...

/ April 24, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 2

 – Robin McLachlan – <> In Part 1 of this journey, I bumbled down into Crystal Cave, the rocky heart of Sequoia National Park, where my love for geology was ignited. But if this fiery relationship started way up in...

/ April 23, 2017

Books and family: My path towards the world of science

Dinner table discussions centered around political and economic analysis of world events but most importantly the future of the African continent.

/ April 21, 2017

Finding a different way to make an impact

by Sharon Briggs | Senior Scientist at Helix I can remember the day I decided I wanted a career in genetics. I was 17 years old sitting in my human anatomy-physiology class learning about sickle cell anemia. It blew my mind...

/ April 19, 2017

I always thought I wanted to be a scientist

– Michelle Dookwah –  Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Georgia  I always thought I wanted to be a scientist, yet I considered other careers at brief points in my life. When I was really young, I wanted to...

/ April 14, 2017

Finding the Strength to Succeed

– Ashley Taylor –  5th Year PhD Candidate | Department of Chemistry | Louisiana State University Science was my first love because my parents also loved science. They made sure my siblings and I were introduced to science fairs, science...

/ March 30, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 1

– Robin McLachlan – Graduate Student | University of Washington | Oceanography | Sediment Dynamics Group <> How did I make my way from mountains to mud? Well, I had just graduated high school and was celebrating my last summer before starting...

/ March 28, 2017

From engrams to psychiatric disorders and back

– Steve Ramirez –   – Principal Investigator | Center for Brain Science| Harvard University –  I‘m often asked how I got into neuroscience, so here’s the story. In college, I was one of those students who loved every subject, from...

/ March 20, 2017

A rollercoaster ride to finding my passion in computer science

– Ruth Agbaji – CEO & Founder at TheGradSpark I grew up in an academic environment. My father was into biochemistry research and my mom was a chemistry professor. They were – and still are – forward thinking people. As...

/ March 16, 2017