This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Andrew during undergrad at Yale. (Photo Credit: Alex Zhang) Andrew Saydjari is a 5th-year PhD student studying astrostatistics and data science in the Physics Department at Harvard University, along with working in the Center for Astrophysics. This comes after growing up in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, then attending Yale University for his undergraduate in Chemistry and Mathematics, which he completed in 2018. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program grant, and also completed several first-author publications during both his undergraduate years and high school. Saydjari recalls two “really influential moments” in terms of how he got into his field of study: Hearing the first time when a high school teacher asked several levels of questions as to “why?”, as Saydjari says this motivated his own drive to take more advanced-level courses; and during his research experience at the US Naval Research Lab, which he says was the first time he was able to devote his full attention to “reading papers, designing and running experiments, and trying to pull conclusions out of (sometimes noisy) data.” “It was then that I first experienced high-quality mentorship and got my first taste of the thrill of discovery in pulling signal out of noise,” says Saydjari. Mounting a HgCdTe device on a dilution refrigerator to measure its electrical properties at temperatures near zero (~ 20 mK). (Photo Credit: Dhavala Suri) In terms of why he chose to attend grad school, Saydjari says it allows him to ask both himself and his advisor questions “that probe the cutting-edge of our understanding of the world around us.” “Then, I get to play with data and try to answer those questions!” Saydjari exclaims. “It also gives me the chance to reflect on what I know and practice communicating that in answering student questions in classes I TA.” Saydjari was drawn to the Physics Department at Harvard and institutions in the wide Boston area due to the access to expertise and resources he would need to accomplish his academic and research goals. “Out of all of the programs I considered, it also offered me the most freedom in terms of how I spent my time in the program, which allowed me to explore and eventually find my current research path,” says Saydjari. “Within that program, I found a home working in Astrophysics because I really appreciate the growing movement in that subfield to use rigorous statistics and data science in order to instill confidence in our claims.” In terms of issues facing grad students today, Saydjari says the biggest issue is replicability, which he says is also the biggest issue facing the field, overall. “By its nature, science often grows by extensions of past work,” says Saydjari. “However, in order to learn from, critique, or compare to past works, we must be able to replicate them. Graduate students often spend an outsized portion of their time attempting to replicate results where the code, data, or methods are not fully public, documented, or well-explained. To that end, every figure in every paper on which I have been a first author in graduate school can be generated from a (Zenodo) repository containing a notebook of code and the requisite data. Yet, I myself need to be better about documenting my code. So, as a community, I think we really need to ask ourselves 'How do we normalize and motivate work in support of replicability?'". Optical/near-infrared image of an HII region (CED 116) from the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey. Correctly measuring the star brightnesses in the presence of complicated backgrounds like these is a core problem Saydjari worked on. (Photo Credit: Andrew Saydjari) After grad school, Saydjari envisions himself in a position that allows a combination of both research and teaching. He says he once thought this was only possible in the purview of academia but has since become enticed by several non-academic positions that don’t involve the normal stresses of academia. These include the Smithsonian, NASA centers, and national labs, where he says researchers are granted the same opportunities to work with students. “I want to be having fun,” says Saydjari. “One of the most important lessons I learned in grad school is that what matters most to me is that I wake up energized to tackle the problem of the day. I think a large part of that is being agile, curious, and open to new ideas. Some of the mentors I respect most have not simply studied one niche area in which they were an expert but have used their expertise to learn about and contribute to solving a variety of problems. So, in 5-10 years, I hope to be using my expertise to tackle a problem I haven't conceived of yet.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Featured Image: Andrew in front of the Great Refractor at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. (Photo Credit: Sophia Sánchez-Maes)
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Desert Research Institute, 2022 (Credit: Rachel Kozloski) Rachel Kozloski is a 2nd-year Hydrology PhD student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and is a student employee (Research Assistant) of the Desert Research Institute (DRI). She is proud to be a 40-year-old mother of two teenagers while pursuing her PhD, saying she “took the long road” before enrolling in her PhD program. After finishing her bachelor’s degree with a lot of debt, she made the decision to pursue a career in environmental consulting for the next approximately 16 years before returning to academia for grad school. “I grew up in a farming community in Northern California where drought and water policies were topics of everyday discussion,” said Kozloski. “Over the ten years before I started my PhD, I spent a large part of my professional energy working on issues related to development and sustainable groundwater use and closely followed the statewide discussions. Watching the rapid population growth in my home state coupled with the pressure of drought and increased water scarcity made me realize that water may soon be the most limiting resource both human and natural systems. I want to be part of the solution.” Sampling microplastics on the Mekong River, Cambodia, 2022. (Credit: Rachel Kozloski) Kozloski discovered within the first three years of working in the industry that she would require an advanced degree to pursue the work she wished for her career. However, she says life got in the way with a young family and therefore she and her partner couldn’t afford to give up her salary. She says they would have a discussion every year about her going back to grad school asking if the timing was right, how they could financially make it work, and the amount of responsibility her kids would be able to take on themselves. “Finally, after more than 10 years of circling back to the ‘grad school’ discussion, we got to a place where my partner's salary and our accrued savings could keep us afloat while I went to grad school,” said Kozloski. “I had also reached a point professionally where I was feeling pretty stagnant and was ready for something new. By the time I went back to school, I was so hungry for it that I felt almost euphoric. Grad school is a gift I have given myself and I put in long years of hard work and patience to make it happen. We all know how difficult academia can be and I don't mean to minimize those issues, but my perspective is different from many students who go straight through to their graduate programs. I love that my job is to learn things and solve problems. I love that I have the time to dig deeply into a topic and truly develop expertise. I have more social and economic security that the average grad student and I have seen that the private-sector grass is not necessarily greener.” Kozloski says following a lot of water science work over the last 10 years that came out of UNR and the Desert Research Institute got her interested in pursuing grad work at UNR. “I became interested in microplastics as a novel pollutant of surface and groundwaters and when I saw that Dr. Arienzo had a PhD position available working on microplastics in snow-dominated systems, I immediately applied,” said Kozloski. “I am really fortunate to have a fairly open-ended PhD position. My research focus was not prescribed, so I have been able to chase the ideas and questions that were living in my brain rent-free over the past few years. I also have a really supportive advisor who constantly pushes me forward and gives me opportunities.” Rachel spends a lot of her time at the Desert Research Institute Microscope Lab. (Credit Rachel Kozloski) As for problems facing grad students in her field, Kozloski says it’s the same issues as other grad students are facing, which include lack of pay and being able to both pay the bills and eat, finishing their program with their soul intact, and limited academic positions, the last of which Kozloski does not see herself pursuing. “As I've mentioned, my perspective is a little different as a non-traditional student,” said Kozloski. “For me, the whole point of going back to school was to get into the business of answering hard questions. I don't know where I will end up yet, but I want to stay in a research focused position. I am also passionate about science communication and making technical material accessible to broader audiences. I hope to find a position that allows me to keep learning and feeding my curiosity while working toward meaningful solutions for water management.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Marc Berghouse is a 3rd-year Hydrology PhD student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) where his research focuses on the microbial and fluid dynamics intersection. Berghouse is specifically investigating micro-scale transport of bacteria at various flow speeds and porosities with the goal of upscaling his results to the field scale. He then intends to use reactive transport simulators to model the field scale impact of microbial motility on bioremediation. This comes after earning a BA in Earth Science at Columbia University in 2018 where his thesis work involved studying water quality in New York City, and then afterwards as a part-time Research Assistant at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University before beginning his PhD in 2020. Berghouse grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Redwood City, where he excelled at fencing and was even a member of the national fencing team when he was only 16. It was fencing that brought him to Columbia where he majored in Earth Science, and the rest is history. “I have always loved hydrology; it just took me a little while to realize it,” says Berghouse. “When I was a kid I loved playing in rivers, lakes and the ocean. As I got older, I became interested in the physical and chemical properties of water, and when I was in college I got interested in the management and development of water systems. I also liked statistics, so my thesis in water quality came about as a joint interest in water management, water chemistry and statistical analysis. I decided that hydrology was for me after I joined the lab at Stanford. I found all aspects of the work engaging, and I felt like the questions we were trying to answer are truly important. I was also inspired by the skills, work ethic and kindness of the PhD student I worked directly under, Zach Perzan.” Berghouse says he decided to go to graduate school to continue to hone his skills as an independent researcher. While he enjoyed his work at Stanford, Berghouse says he found his job to be too narrow and longed for greater self-imposed pressure and guidance to achieve his research goals. Berghouse proceeded to email approximately 30 professors, but says he found his current position via a random conversation at AGU 2019 Fall Meeting where he met Dr. Nicole Sund, who was at AGU presenting her work for a project on microbial motility. Berghouse says she put him in touch with Dr. Rishi Parashar, who is now Berghouse’s current advisor at UNR. “One of the things I like most about the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Science (GPHS) at UNR is the sense of community,” says Berghouse. “All the grad students and professors support each other and have genuine interest in each other’s research and happiness. I also love Reno. It might take a little bit of time to grow on you, but the outdoor opportunities here are practically endless.” Despite praising both UNR and his program and receiving financial assistance from his parents to help pay the bills during his studies, Berghouse doesn’t shy away from the multitude of challenges that graduate students face today, to include the low salaries, mental health, and discrimination. “In my experience, a large percentage of grad students receive some support from their parents,” says Berghouse. “Thus, people who are interested in research but are from poor families may be less likely to go to graduate school than wealthy people interested in research. Even those who do receive support from their parents are often struggling to pay the bills and have spending money for things they enjoy. Ultimately, low salaries contribute to lack of diversity and have a negative impact on the mental health of students. Another huge problem that contributes to lack of diversity in grad school is discrimination. Although we would like to believe that as scientists we are above discrimination, this is simply not true, and many geoscience departments around the country are still plagued by discriminatory practices. Mental health is also a big challenge that grad students face. Grad school can be a grueling and lonely experience, and most of the time things do not go exactly as planned. Managing these experiences while producing journal-quality research is an extremely hard task, and for most people it is too much pressure to face alone. Universities should take more steps to ensure that their students are in good mental health, such as offering free therapy. Also, although I have no idea about how to solve this problem, publish-or-perish culture has got to go!” As far as his post-grad school aspirations, Berghouse says he hasn’t made a firm decision between industry or academia, but does point out the outdated notion that going into industry after your PhD is a negative, stating that industry pays far better than academia. “The primary draw of academia is that you get to research whatever you want and advise students,” says Berghouse. “In industry you can now also basically research whatever you want, but you get paid much more to do it, and the hours are more reasonable.” While Berghouse says seeing his career path 5-10 years from now is tough to envision, he has recently taken an interest in medical research due to a study he’s conducting using deep learning to detect breast cancer in mammograms, which he notes is completely different than his current PhD research topic. “In a perfect world, I would be using my knowledge of microbial motility, fluid dynamics, image processing and deep learning to develop things in the medical industry that will directly help others,” says Berghouse. “I don’t think this job exists yet though, so it might take a while to be in such a position. Until then, I should be happy with any research that is computationally challenging and has what I believe to be a large and beneficial impact.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Al Ibtida Sultana is a Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate at the Florida Institute of Technology whose research focus involves waste biomass utilization with the goal of developing materials for carbon capture and hydrogen energy storage, which she began in Spring 2020. This comes after earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2019. In her free time, Sultana enjoys making desserts and traveling. “Recalling my early days of schooling, ‘water cycle’ always had a sweet spot in my heart as the interconnected process fascinated me and opened my eyes in realizing how interdependent our survival is,” said Sultana. “Growing up in Bangladesh, a densely populated country with scarce resources, it was a day-to-day part of my life to witness electricity blackouts, public waste bins with overflowing garbage, and recurrent news of flooding at various low-lying regions severely affecting the poor.” Sultana wanted to utilize the advantage of being the first woman in STEM in her clan by pursuing education in engineering with the goal of developing solutions to the problems that the Bangladeshi people predominantly face. This decision ultimately led her to chemical engineering, which she describes as a diverse discipline encompassing clean energy technologies along with environmental remediation. While Sultana agrees that grad can be considered a “double-edged sword”, she also views it as an opportunity since she embraces challenges and says challenges lead to self-growth. “Being in the 3rd year of my Ph.D., when I look back, I certainly see a lot of failures, from experimentation errors to machines breaking down to journal rejections,” said Sultana. “On the other hand, in the mirror I can also see an evolving person who is gaining a good grasp of the ‘double-edged sword’ while strengthening her ability to conduct and disseminate impactful research findings, leading her to the opportunity of authoring more than 10 peer-reviewed articles and conference proceeding papers in addition to the numerous outstanding graduate presenter awards in conferences along with the prestigious ‘Student of the Year’ award from Florida Tech.” Sultana says that while grad school might be considered a ”double-edged sword”, it can also act as a transformative key that unlocks doors of success and growth if “we are persistent in our effort and dedicate ourselves unconditionally.” Sultana decided to work with Dr. M. Toufiq Reza, saying his pursuit of unleashing the potential for biomass waste for energy and environment aligned with her own research interests. “Dr. Reza’s record of impactful research in thermochemical conversion and energetic mentorship is what particularly drew me to the Biofuels Lab at Florida Tech, where what I love the most is the endless possibilities of collaborative research, both within and beyond my research team, with utmost flexibility and availability of state-of-the art facilities for required experimentation,” said Sultana. While Sultana believes grad students in her field face numerous research problems because of the acceleration of both global warming and energy crises, she says one of the challenges for grad students in her field is to both find and foster the correct problem with quality independent research so today’s grad students can be the “leaders of tomorrow.” “Also, from my experience, as my graduate study was initially affected during the onset of the COVID pandemic, networking using virtual platforms was a key barrier and hence mastering the art of quick adaptation by graduate students is an essential skill in the ever-changing world of today,” said Sultana. After grad school, Sultana aspires to further enhance her research training involving hydrogen storage and carbon capture technologies. She also wishes to pursue avenues to obtain research funding and learn more about government policies while building her network. “Coincidentally, like most other kids, I used to always love being a teacher,” said Sultana. “Growing up, the vision of seeing myself as a teacher is still intact with the added thirst of researching for solutions in the arena of clean energy and environment. With every opportunity of researching and training fresh graduate and undergraduate students on our research team, I could witness how youth is blessed with the passion and energy which has the power to transform the world. Down the line, I would certainly love to lead such inquisitive minds in order to solve global problems through impactful research. Hence, 5-10 years from now I visualize myself as a professor, who is not only researching keeping her countrymen’s crisis in mind but also transferring knowledge and expertise to the inquisitive minds of youth, both in and beyond the classroom.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Timmis Maddox teaching at the Sorte Muld archaeological site on Bornholm, Denmark 2021. (Credit: Timmis Maddox) Timmis Maddox is an anthropologist and PhD Candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This comes after earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from James Madison University followed by a Master of Arts in Prehistoric Archaeology from Durham University. Maddox has been studying prehistoric societies in Scandinavia for approximately 10 years, with a focus on how developing communities both interact with, and shape, the surrounding environment. “I have always been interested in ancient European history,” says Maddox. “Even as a kid, you could never keep me away from the library, where you would often find me nose-deep in a textbook. For a long time, the question for me was what specific aspect of European history I wanted to focus on. I was always interested in not only ancient Rome, but also the communities and nations they interacted with. It wasn’t until I managed to go and study in Europe that I was able to narrow down what I wanted to do, specifically my current passion of mapping out the development of the Scandinavian communities that eventually became the Vikings!” Maddox says he realized the importance of attending graduate school since a graduate degree is necessary to advance as far as possible in the field of anthropology. While he stresses that people can be successful without a graduate degree, he also notes that a number of higher paying academic positions possess stringent graduate requirements. Timmis Maddox on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2021. (Credit: Timmis Maddox) “I also wanted to be able to spread my research far and wide, but you need to be pretty high up on the academic ladder to be taken seriously (at least that’s the message university gives you),” Maddox explains. Maddox says a few things in his PhD program attracted him, to include his advisor, Dr. Bettina Arnold, who he refers to as an “excellent mentor and very well known in my field.” He says he wanted to learn from her to allow himself the best chance to succeed, and also notes that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offered to pay his full tuition and provided a stipend, which he said was especially appealing, as he says he was taught to not attend a graduate program that won’t fund you. In terms of graduate student challenges, Maddox says that mental health is a worse issue for graduate students than financial challenges, noting the lack of hospitality in academia. “As it is right now, it encourages a lot of competition rather than collaboration,” says Maddox. “This atmosphere of rivalry can really take its toll on anyone, even the most ambitious and hardworking student. That is why I believe it is so important for grad students to regularly check and care for themselves—whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally.” Timmis Maddox presenting at a symposium concerning the Iron Age Sorte Muld settlement complex 2022. (Credit: Timmis Maddox) As far as after completing his PhD, Maddox says he’s not letting himself get too far ahead in terms of planning for the future, noting the status of the current job market. He cites the limited and competitive jobs in academia, along with the lower pay and working conditions in industry. He says this is why he has been obtaining skillsets in disciplines outside of anthropology in order to better set himself up for success upon graduation. In the long-term, Maddox says he aspires to live independently and travel while excavating sites and getting published. “What is most important to me is knowledge, so I see myself using all of my skills to contribute to human history,” Maddox explains. “I also want to see the information I develop be put to practical use, so much of my research will be designed towards trying to understand the complex relationship between human communities and the environment and using my understanding of this relationship to help modern communities preserve the world we live in today.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Abbie Sandquist is a 2nd-year Hydrology PhD student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). This comes after earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Fresno State University in 2017, followed by one summer at NASA Ames Research Center as an Aeromechanics Intern and then as a Mechanical Engineer with the US Navy in an ocean engineering group at Port Hueneme, CA. She says her decision to pursue hydrology for graduate school was led by both the complex nature of water and the effects that water management has on ecosystems and communities. “I have often been drawn to water throughout my life,” she says. “I competed on my high school dive team, I love to ski and kayak, and I worked as a white-water river rafting guide in college. My interest in the importance of water grew in 2016 when I learned how the lead and pollution present in the mismanaged water sources in Flint, Michigan affected my colleagues and their loved ones while working at an internship less than 40 miles away. It grew again in 2018, as I spent a month traveling and volunteering in rural agricultural communities in Cambodia. Many of these villages faced unique sustainability and water-related challenges, some of which were due to residual impacts from the Khmer Rouge brutality.” Sandquist notes the innovative solutions undertaken by local communities to combat the crisis. “These experiences led me to recognize that the necessity of water for life knows no social or geopolitical boundaries,” she says. “It is vital to all people that we understand our water systems well. My engineering experience also suited pursuing this field well – I have strong background in core math and sciences and critical thinking and have worked with fluid mechanics and dynamics. Hydrology is also a fairly broad field – there is an opportunity to continue to learn about new subsections of the field throughout my life, which is exciting.” Sandquist says she was drawn to attend grad school due to the research and development work she conducted as an engineer, noting that her career trajectory would involve more project management roles and less science. Wanting more of a research-based career path, Sandquist made the decision to pursue graduate studies, as she is drawn to being continually challenged, along with taking part in research that can have positive impacts on both the planet and the people who live here. “Grad school can definitely be challenging, so I am glad I worked for a while before starting a graduate degree,” she says. “This allowed me time to experience working outside the world of academia, and to explore many interests and types of work. This gave me time to be more certain about the direction I wanted to go with my graduate study and career. I was also able to save money and have a little more financial security during my years as a grad student.” Throughout the application process, Sandquist spoke with her current advisor, Dr. Scott Allen, several times via Zoom, and determined it would be a good fit for her. Sandquist stresses the importance of selecting a good advisor for graduate school, noting Dr. Allen was thoughtful, humble, and encouraging. “In addition to a great advisor and an interesting research project, I was also drawn to UNR because of its location,” she says. “I love the mountains in the western US, and I wanted to live closer to them. Reno is a beautiful location, and a great place to study water as it is surrounded by both mountain and desert ecosystems. I also liked the multidisciplinary nature of the Graduate Program of Hydrological Sciences at UNR – people are studying a huge range of different topics related to water in the program, so there is an opportunity to learn about a broad range of potential paths in hydrology and gain wide breadth of understanding of the field.” Sandquist says that adaptability and proper data usage are two of the most important challenges facing graduate students in her field, noting that much like the climate, the methods that professionals in her field conduct research are constantly changing. “Current students in hydrology will also have to be careful with how we use data and models,” she says. “There is a lot more data available now than there was a few decades ago, thanks to developments in ways we can collect and share data. This data can provide an opportunity to learn a lot about water systems, but the nature of hydrological data often includes large uncertainties. If we use data and models without being careful to track accuracy and communicate the uncertainty involved, there is possibility that our work can lead to sharing of misleading conclusions or misinformation. This is especially important as our digital media platforms allow information, whether it is accurate or not, to spread incredibly rapidly.” Sandquist says that after earning her PhD, her goal is to pursue a career in applied research, noting the United States Geological Survey, Department of Energy, and the Desert Research Institute as possible landing points. She says that within 5-10 years, she wishes to conduct research that can help us better understand how we interact with daily water systems, along with ensuring access to safe water for everyone. “I hope to use the research and data skills I’ve developed in grad school to actively work on research,” she says. “I also hope to use the writing and science communication skills I am developing to translate the research work into a format that is interpretable and applicable for actual management of our water systems – I want to do work that spans the gap between academia, industry, policy, and public spheres so that all people are well informed about their water systems, and communities can make water decisions that are just and sustainable.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
David Handy is a PhD student in Biological Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) studying how bacteria assists in plant growth and how this can be useful in space crop production, and comes after Handy earned his B.S. in Astrobiology in 2019, also from Florida Tech. ”I was steered toward science by high school biology and chemistry teachers who were very influential in the beginning,” said Handy. “Due to my diverse interests in science, especially space sciences and biology, that led to me finding the field of astrobiology, which led me to Florida Tech. In my junior year I joined Dr. Andrew Palmer’s lab working on plant growth in Martian regolith simulant (a.k.a. fake Mars dirt). While I did not foresee going into plant work before that, Dr. Palmer's enthusiasm for the work and for mentoring students had me hooked.” Handy said he has since fallen in love with both the work and the people within the fields of space biology and plant science. He praises Dr. Palmer for encouraging his students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, to attend conferences, with Handy saying he has had “nothing but positive” interactions with other individuals within plant science. Handy said his Martian research led him to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where he met Ralph Fritsche and Trent Smith via Florida Tech’s Space Act Agreement, during which time he suspected his dream job might be at KSC. “After finishing my bachelor's, during my first semester of grad school, I managed to snag an internship at KSC, working in the same spaces as Ralph and Trent,” said Handy. “I got to meet just about the entire team of plant scientists and microbiologists at KSC, and those 4 months solidified KSC, in those labs, as my current dream job.” Handy said he chose this path because he wants to continue doing scientific research, and later a professor. “In the field I want to go into, if I want to be the one calling the shots on what experiments I do, designing methods, all of that, I need the Ph.D. to back it up,” said Handy. “Not to mention that astrobiology is such a niche field, virtually all positions that can claim the title "astrobiologist" require a Ph.D.” Handy said the primary reason for returning to Florida Tech for grad school was because of the connections with KSC. “The research I do now is a continuation of the work I did during my internship, and Florida Tech allows me to maintain contact with the colleagues I met during that time,” explains Handy. “One of them, Dr. Gioia Massa, is even on my Ph.D. committee. The other reason is the professors in biology here. Dr. Palmer, of course, is an amazing advisor, and the other professors I work with here are always so eager to help and talk with me about my work.” Handy said one of the most obvious challenges that grad students face is economics, stating that since they don’t get paid that well this can make the prospect of grad school limited and difficult for a lot of students. He said he’s fortunate to have parents who are willing to support him, along with having roommates to share the cost of living. Handy said his goal after grad school is to be a research scientist, with his goal at KSC. But he said he was recently introduced to the agricultural biotech industry, where he said he could easily apply his work on growing plants in space to help improve Earth’s agriculture. “My ‘plan A’ is to work as a research scientist until I get closer to retirement age, then "retire" to be a professor so that I can help educate the next generation of research scientists,” said Handy. “The ‘plan B’ would be to go directly into a position as a professor at a university performing research and teaching, being a mentor to students the way Dr. Palmer and others here have been to me.” Handy said his goal in 5-10 years is to be a NASA scientist creating methods to feed astronauts in space while studying how such approaches can also be applied here on Earth. “My goal is to use space to ‘think outside the box’ with how food can be grown in austere environments, because if we can grow food on the Moon or Mars, we can use those same technologies to grow food in deserts, or inner cities, or other areas where growing food is difficult, and the community is therefore reliant on shipments,” he said. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! Nikoletta Karapanos is a first-generation Greek American and second-year graduate student in Sonoma State University’s Cultural Resources Management Program, which she started in August 2021. She began her academic career attending a community college in Sacramento, California, after which she attended the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), ultimately earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Evolutionary Anthropology in 2020. Karapanos says it’s not a secret that her cultural roots played a role in her decision to study archaeology. “I am from Greece’s Argolid Plain where archaeological sites, excavations, and museums are accessible and incorporated in the modern landscape,” said Karapanos. “The past is very much a present feature throughout the city of Argos, and I was exposed to this from a very young age. In my first year of college, I was initially a political science major until I discovered cultural anthropology. And then I discovered archaeology. It was like a snowball effect. Even though I had grown up surrounded by archaeology, it wasn’t until I was introduced to the multidisciplinary reality of academic and applied archaeology that I actually began to consider it as a potential academic route for me.” Karapanos ultimately chose the field of cultural resources management (CRM), which she said combines both academic and applied archaeology to better educate and train upcoming archaeologists for both the private and academic sectors. She ultimately attended Sonoma State University since it is one of the few programs on the west coast that focuses primarily on CRM. “The program is very well connected with government agencies, other universities, and research institutions, and has alumni that are employed in various aptitudes throughout California,” said Karapanos. “I also chose this program because I wanted to be acknowledged as a whole person, not just as a student who could offer my academic rigor and research to elevate the program. My advisor and fellow cohort members (as well as other mentors in the program) are incredibly supportive towards each other and there is a true sense of community and compassion that is felt throughout.” Karapanos said one of the most useful skills she’s acquired in grad school is adaptability. “This manifests as being able to use self-awareness to identify the nuances in distinctive circumstances and adjusting appropriately in order to accurately respond and have meaningful engagement,” she said. “This has been useful in the various workplaces I have found myself in. For example, lab work required acute attention to detail while field work necessitated panoramic attention of the surrounding environment. It’s like putting different thinking caps on and knowing which thinking cap will serve me better to reach my goals.” While she’s still trying to find a definitive path after grad school, she foresees herself as a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) while working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Despite being unsure about her future, she is “very comfortable with this at the moment because it feels less restrictive, and I prefer to be pleasantly surprised with what I could discover in the interim.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! (Featured Image Credit: Nikoletta Karapanos)
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Elijah Boardman is a 2nd-year Hydrology PhD student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). This comes after earning a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Earth Sciences and Physics in 2021. He is a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), which is currently being used to fund his research studying the mountain water cycle focusing specifically on the convergence between physical hydrological processes with water management and policy. Both his background and a more in-depth view into his research can be found at his website: https://mountainhydrology.com/. “I grew up in Colorado, and always spent lots of time in the mountains, where I became intimately familiar with the components of the mountain water cycle,” said Boardman. “In school, I was always drawn to physics, as it offered mathematically concise ways to describe complex real-world phenomena, and I'm attracted to the abstraction and explanatory power of the physical sciences. As part of an undergraduate introductory hydrology course, I conducted a series of daily stream measurements and used some of the mathematical theory I had learned in physics to quantify the role of lakes in buffering streamflow pulses. I really enjoyed the way that hydrology combines fieldwork and real-world observations with mathematical abstraction to describe complex systems (like a creek) in simple, meaningful terms.” After working on several hydrology projects during his undergrad at Dartmouth, Boardman said he wanted to journey deeper into the field, saying his advisors were very supportive of his research interests, and he even started his Senior Thesis during his junior year which allowed him to graduate a year early, earn the prestigious GRFP, and get accepted into UNR. “I knew I wanted to study water in the western mountains with a mix of rigorous physical science and management analysis,” said Boardman. “For hydrology, it's important to be part of a program that is reasonably close to the region you want to study, because besides having access to fieldwork, it's important to form connections with other scientists studying the same places. My advisor, Dr. Adrian Harpold, specializes in the sort of research I wanted to do, and I was lucky enough that the timing worked out well: I joined a fieldwork trip with my new lab group only a few days after graduation! The hydrology program at UNR is an awesome place to work because it's set up as an interdisciplinary program, so we have colleagues and collaborators working in diverse fields from geological engineering to aquatic biology to environmental policy.” In terms of grad school, Boardman believes one of the primary challenges for graduate students in the field of Earth sciences, specifically hydrology, is the ability to turn their research into litigation for policymakers, managers, and stakeholders. “Everyone agrees that water is important, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to manage effectively in many parts of the world, but sometimes it's difficult to form direct connections between the papers we write and the decisions that have to be made in the real world,” Boardman explains. “That's why I think it's really important to dialogue with peers from a wider range of disciplines to learn what questions might actually be relevant to decisionmakers and how we can effectively study and communicate results around actionable problems. The entire discipline of hydrology seems to be shifting towards a more holistic approach to physical science that includes a lot of outreach and interdisciplinary collaboration, which makes it an exciting time to be part of the field.” After completing his PhD, Boardman wishes to continue working on bridging the gap between process and policy, saying his goal is to have a career as an independent research consultant to assist in advancing the field hydrological sciences and its relevance to human communities. As part of his current research project, Boardman has been working with both State and Tribal agencies in hopes of installing real-time stream gauges to answer hard-science questions relating to snowmelt behavior and management-oriented questions pertaining to water availability. “I enjoy the process of iteratively refining research goals in dialogue with collaborators from scientific and management backgrounds, and I hope to continue working in that area,” said Boardman. “Ultimately, I'd like to work as a private research contractor and "ideas person" for water management agencies and stakeholder advocacy groups. I hope to use the tools of process-based science to help communities become more resilient in the face of climate change, help managers optimize operations in the face of uncertain water availability, and help policymakers balance the value of competing demands.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! Ian McDowell is a third-year PhD student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). This comes after earning a B.A. in Earth & Oceanographic Science and Government & Legal Studies from Bowdoin College in 2016. During the year following his undergraduate degree, McDowell worked as a Scientific Support Associate at the United States Environmental Protection Agency supporting air quality modelers in the Computational Exposure Division. He began a M.S. program in Geology at the University of Wyoming in 2017, where he studied how Greenland Ice Sheet temperature influences how ice flows to the edge of the ice sheet before it melts, and he is currently studying the Greenland Ice Sheet for his PhD as well. “My research seeks to understand what happens to meltwater that is generated in this region of the ice sheet,” said McDowell. “As air temperatures increase, more of these typically colder regions of the ice sheets will experience surface melting. Rather than immediately running off the ice sheet surface, meltwater will actually seep into the porous near-surface snow and firn. Essentially, the firn layer can act as a ‘sponge’ that saturates and retains meltwater. So, if we want to better predict how much and how fast melt from these areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet will contribute to sea level rise, we need to better understand how the physical structure of the firn layer controls where this water goes and how it is stored.” McDowell says both of his parents being high school educators and his childhood boarding school experience were inspirations for pursuing his field of study, to include an annual tradition of cross-country road trips. “By the time I reached the 8th grade, I had been to all 50 states!” McDowell exclaims. “These trips exposed me to the incredibly beautiful and diverse landscapes found across the US, and I think that exposure left a curiosity and fascination with understanding the natural world.” McDowell decided to go for a master’s first as he was “too timid” for a five to six-year commitment, but it was after doing research for a year during his master’s degree that he decided to pursue a PhD. He was eventually drawn to UNR due to the work of his current advisor, Dr. Kaitlin Keegan, who he says, “has really given me the freedom to develop my own projects and ask questions that most interest me.” “I am grateful that UNR has the interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences,” says McDowell. “As a glaciologist, I often don’t feel like I fit into a traditional geology department, so I love belonging to a program that brings together researchers studying all aspects of water. I find it incredibly intellectually stimulating to interact with professors and graduate students studying a wide range of water-related topics from water policy, to ecohydrology, to groundwater hydrology, with far-reaching societal implications.” In terms of challenges that graduate students face, McDowell believes all of them face the real mental challenges of failure, which he says happens all the time in graduate school. “Many years of graduate school have taught me that mistakes are inevitable and are actually a crucial part of the learning process that will make you a better scientist,” says McDowell. “I often still find myself paralyzed when I don’t know how to take the next step in my research, or if I think I have made a mistake along the way. But this is what happens when you are developing analyses or answering questions that didn’t previously exist! I am constantly trying to get better at admitting when I need help or when I’ve made a mistake. Your advisor and other collaborators will understand—they too were once scientists-in-training! If you are curious and motivated, you can develop the skills necessary to become a researcher, even if it feels like it does not come easily at first.” After grad school, McDowell aspires to stay in academia, saying he has teaching in his blood. “I hope to continue researching, but I also am drawn to teaching at a school that values undergraduate learning,” says McDowell. “My undergraduate professors were a big reason why I ended up as a PhD student, and I hope through teaching I can instill a love for scientific research in future earth science students.” McDowell says he hopes in 5-10 years to find a position with stability, but also allows him to fully-establish roots for the long-term. He says this is due to constantly moving between his undergraduate and the present, but also includes his eventual postdoc position. “I hope that I have found a faculty position that allows me to develop classes that I think are interesting and relevant for students pursuing a degree in earth science,” McDowell concludes. “I’d love to develop projects that undergraduate students can be a part of and potentially even lead, so they can experience research first-hand and help to push the envelope of our understanding of ice sheet processes.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest! Collecting data in the hemp field. (Credit: Mona Farnisa) Mona Farnisa is an MS student in the Sustainable Horticulture Lab and the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), which she started in 2020. This comes after earning a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science at Amsterdam University College in 2017, followed by two separate internships at the Interreg Baltic Sea Region and Sprout by Design, then industry work at Dayton Valley Aquaponics and Terra Alta Permaculture Education & Research Center. Her research focus pertains to floral hemp cannabinoid production, and she actively contributes to the growing small-farm movement in Northern Nevada. “I moved to Northern Nevada five years ago for an aquaponics farm internship,” says Farnisa. “While living here, I found the farming community of Reno to be an inspiring network of individuals committed to expanding the local agriculture scene, supporting farmers financially and socially, and making healthy produce accessible to underserviced communities. I was moved by the determination of farmers to consistently promote diversified local agriculture and every year choose to grow in an incredibly challenging environment. I felt my inner scientist call out and decided to stay in Reno and pursue agricultural research specific to the high desert and Northern Nevada region – and so I started my research on floral hemp production at UNR.” Harvesting at Reno Food Systems. (Credit: Mona Farnisa) Farnisa credits her time doing school in The Netherlands for getting her interested in her current research, referring to The Netherlands as being at “the forefront of agriculture research”. It was through a combination of doing a senior thesis on agrochemicals and learning more about the “conglomerate monopoly” of that field, she was drawn to supporting small farms and local agriculture, while raising awareness in her community for farm worker protections. “I have always felt like a scientist at heart,” says Farnisa. “I also believe research and agriculture go hand in hand. Every new growing season for a farmer is a new experiment in facing the oncoming unique challenges that that season may present. No growing season is ever completely the same. While working on farms, I started becoming interested in tracking plant productivity metrics and developing research questions around how to increase plant productivity and how environmental conditions and nutrient management influence yield.” Volunteering at Reno Food Systems. (Credit: Mona Farnisa) Farnisa refers to researching floral hemp as an “incredible experience”, and notes that while there’s still much to learn about it, the research is increasing, especially in Northern Nevada. She says while there is “skepticism and misinformation” about hemp, she’s excited to be able to educate the public about it. Regarding some of the challenges facing graduate students in her field, Farnisa notes the limited number of available jobs in agriculture and horticulture, specifically in Northern Nevada and the Mountain West region. “In general, I think something myself and other grad students face is having a broad skillset and interests--cultivated as a result of being in academia--and having to figure out how to narrow down these interests to a specific field and market our unique skillset to suit different jobs,” says Farnisa. Checking hemp seedlings in the greenhouse. (Credit: Mona Farnisa) As for her plans after graduation, Farnisa says she’s eyeing industry, noting that while she’s enjoyed her time in academia with combining computer, field, and lab work, she believes other valuable skills can be acquired in industry and used as career steppingstones. She aspires to broaden her plant knowledge into plant ecology and conservation, calling herself a “lifelong plant learner” and she wishes to be trained in everything plant related. “The field of science focused agriculture is really changing, especially due to climate change and water cuts in the West,” Farnisa explains. “We are really at the beginning of some cutting-edge technological shifts in agriculture, and it will be interesting to see where it goes. Ideally, I would love a job that combines my love for plants, research, and data analysis. Either at a small company conducting novel plant research or an ecological plant conservation group. A huge plus would be getting to spend some time in the field or lab.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Once again, if you'd like to be featured in this series, please send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest!
This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! Shannon Barry is a PhD student studying genetic relatedness and habitat use of bull sharks at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech). She began her academic career at Western Illinois University where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology and later a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology from San Francisco State University (SFSU). She says that while her work at SFSU influenced her research interests after being introduced to genetics as a tool for studying species, it was the Pixar movie Finding Nemo where she first gained interest in sharks. “Specifically, there was a particular shot of the white shark Bruce swimming that was so elegant and peaceful, a stark contrast to how sharks can typically be portrayed,” said Barry. “That really inspired me to learn more about them. And doing that really influenced what I wanted to do as a career, and I knew I wanted to spend my life studying and learning all I could about sharks.” Barry says her career goals always included doing research and being able to ask her own questions and knew she would have to attend graduate school to accomplish that. She says it was during her master’s degree where she learned more about what she both did and didn’t enjoy about her career path while realizing that pursuing a PhD would help her better achieve her career goals. Barry was attracted to Florida Tech due to the work her current advisor, Dr. Toby Daly-Engel, was doing. “Using genetics to understand how the diversity of a population or species is impacted by their environment is something I’m incredibly interested in, so the opportunity to join this lab was very exciting,” Barry says. “Florida Tech being a smaller school was also a big draw, as it makes it easier to get to know all of the faculty and other graduate students and fosters a sense of community within the department that was lacking in other, larger programs.” In terms of the challenges graduate students might face in her field, Barry says accessibility is one of the biggest ones. She notes that graduate school can be fairly exclusive for students who can’t pay for it, specifically first-gen graduate students trying to navigate for financial assistance. She also conveys that sustaining a healthy work/life balance can also be difficult, especially for the first few years, noting this might be due to students feeling the need to say “yes” to accepting work, which can lead to burnout. After graduation, Barry wishes to pursue an industry position, saying her dream job is to work in a museum or aquarium lab to continue her work in molecular ecology and conservation genetics. She says that environment would also allow her to work in public outreach where she can educate the public about her research, the marine environment, sharks, and science overall. She says in 5-10 years, she hopes to build upon the skills she’s learned in graduate school so she can better understand how climate change impacts the genetic diversity of cartilaginous fishes, to include sharks, rays, skates, and chimaeras. “There is so little we know about a good majority of cartilaginous fishes, and genetics work is not always done on lesser-known species,” Barry says. “By continuing to explore genetic diversity of these species, we can better understand the impacts that future climate scenarios may have.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Kirstin Cutshaw is a Biological Sciences PhD student at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) whose research focuses on quorum sensing in unicellular eukaryotes, specifically in a ubiquitous green algae known as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (C. reinhardtii). This comes after earning her BSc in Biochemistry from FIT in 2018 with a full-ride scholarship, and she began her PhD the following year. Cutshaw is not shy about her non-linear path in getting to this point. After dropping out of high school, she completed her diploma in only two months at an adult education center and proceeded to work full-time in the retail and food service industry for the next 10 years. During this time, she got married, had a daughter, then divorced, but credits her current husband for encouraging her to go back to school, as he also assisted her in applying for financial aid at her local community college. Upon receiving her AA, she was awarded a full-ride scholarship to FIT, and the rest is history. “I think I’ve always been interested in science, but I resisted the idea of being a scientist,” said Cutshaw. “I think when I was younger, it conjured images of stuffy, boring people in sterile labs and that wasn’t something I pictured for myself. In high school, I had a science teacher, Mr. Ethan Hall, who was really cool and laid back, which was the first time I had seen someone in the sciences not be a stuffy, boring person. When I went back to college, I had two mentors in biology at my community college, Dr. Jessica Schrader and Dr. Ramona Smith-Burrell, who helped guide me through what I wanted out of biology (and they are super cool women in science who are an inspiration for all I would like to be: kind, supportive and realistic).” Cutshaw praises her current advisor, Dr. Andrew Palmer, as being an inspirational figure in her life. “He’s always so animated and excited for whatever is next in our research journey,” said Cutshaw. “He helps pick me up and motivate me when I’ve hit a slump. I’m still in contact with all of my mentors, who provide me with an overwhelming amount of support and encouragement. And, of course, my husband and daughter, who remind me why I’m still subjecting myself to this every day.” Cutshaw conveys she chose to pursue grad school mostly out of spite and believes this is more common than most people think. “I had a lot of people in my life when I was younger who told me I would never be anything or do anything with my life, and I am here to prove them wrong,” Cutshaw explains. “That and I really, really love research and experimentation. Plus, I would like to serve as an example for my daughter, to show her that it’s okay to change your mind and do something different and that change can be scary, but it’s usually worth it in the end. Especially when you finally find that ‘thing’ that helps you wake up and be excited to go to work in the morning, as opposed to dreading it.” Cutshaw said she chose to stay at FIT for graduate school due to a combination of her research and not wanting to move her daughter out of her current school system. Cutshaw says she was an undergraduate when her current vein of researcher was initially discovered, having been on the team that observed odd ways how the algae move, and she wanted to see it through to the end. “Honestly, my favorite thing about where I am at is my advisor and the people I work with,” said Cutshaw. “We have an amazing team and recruit new team members all the time. I love helping foster the curiosity of the next generation of scientists.” Cutshaw believes that mental health is the biggest challenge facing grad students today and thinks there should be more administrative support across all universities. She says that while mental health is supported at FIT, she still believes that graduate students as a while still need more. “We aren’t research machines; we’re people,” Cutshaw conveys. As for her future after getting her PhD, Cutshaw is still going back and forth, but is considering medical school so she can become a principal investigator for clinical human-phase research. Overall, she says she still has time to figure it out. “Honestly, I just want a career that will let me do research and repay my student loans,” said Cutshaw. “Anything else is a bonus. I really enjoy doing research and problem-solving. I think I would love a government position in a research lab, but industry or academia would suit me just fine, as well. Anywhere I am working on research is where I will go. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Trupti Mahendrakar is an Aersoapce Engineering PhD student at the Florida Institute of Technology. She was born in a small city called Anantapur in India, and after arriving in the United States in 2015 she pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering-Astronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. Upon graduation, she worked at Delta Air Lines until she began her PhD at Florida Tech in 2020. “My dad was an engineer and a pilot,” says Mahendrakar. “So, growing up, instead of barbie dolls I had jet planes. I loved the fact that the sky is the limit for flying!” Mahendrakar says the first Indian woman astronaut, Kalpana Chawla, has been an inspirational figure in her life that allowed Mahendrakar to realize the aeronautical field is what she wanted to pursue. “When I was in kindergarten, I remember my mother saying, ‘you can go anywhere you want’ and telling me about Kalpana Chawla,” says Mahendrakar. “At that time, I wanted to be a pilot but after I heard about Chawla, I made up my mind to be an astronaut as well (which I then called a Rocket Driver). Coming from a backward society where men have always had a dominating role compared to women, I felt the need to defy the odds and show that women are no less able to do what they wanted to do. With my family’s support I have been able to come so far and inspire many children to keep chasing their dreams with hard work, perseverance, intelligence and most importantly, fun!” Mahendrakar decided to pursue grad school since she noticed most astronauts had their PhDs, but says she's always been curious about how things worked and loves coming up with new ideas to simplify tasks. While she has always loved research, she didn’t want to end up conducting repetitive work daily, and that she enjoys working under pressure, coming up with new ideas, and turning them into reality. “I remember when I was little, I would wear my mother’s Doctor’s apron and walk around the house everyday writing observations on how flowers in different vases were growing with different plant food content,” says Mahendrakar. Mahendrakar says one of the biggest mental challenges facing graduate students in her field today is continuing to push the verge of giving up, and that finding that last bit of motivation can be a challenge. However, she says going to NASA Kennedy Space Center, which is only a few miles from campus, allows her to recharge. “Other than that, some physical limitations are resources,” says Mahendrakar. “I am fortunate to have a motivated and passionate advisor and a team of undergraduate students who I can work with and the ORION Lab, which has almost everything I need. However, resources are some of the limitations that most graduate students in my field experience. Especially with the increasing demands for technology and innovation, having access to various facilities from other universities and also partnerships with industries to use their facilities will boost the country’s research output.” After grad school, Mahendrakar says her current path is taking her to industry, but she is not opposed to academia. She says she loves getting her hands dirty by dabbling through both hardware and algorithms. She says her experience has taught her that industry is where this happens more frequently than not. She says with the commercial industry taking off she hopes to become an astronaut within the next 10 years but is open to seeing herself working with trajectory designs and spaceflight research and development, as well. “The one thing I consistently think about every day is being an astronaut,” says Mahendrakar. “That has been a constant drive I’ve had since I was little. As I said, I just think about being able to go to space to motivate myself. Even if I am not an astronaut yet, it gives me immense joy and satisfaction that one day I’ll be able to use my research to help spaceflight exploration!” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Moira working in the hood at Sanford Research. (Credit: Sanford Research) Moira Rodriguez is a 3rd-year Biological Sciences PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) studying plant mitochondrial genetics, with a focus on DNA repair. This comes after earning her Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Jamestown in 2020 and growing up in a small town of 398 people called Chokio, Minnesota. “My first exposure to plant genetics research was my summer job in high school, detasseling corn for a company called AgReliant Genetics,” she says. “While I was simply doing manual labor, it got me thinking about plant breeding, as well as experimental design. University of Jamestown is an undergraduate only university, so the biology department is more geared towards students aiming for medical, dental, and optometry school. Therefore, I did not get first-hand research exposure during my time there.” Rodriguez credits one of her professors, Dr. Jensen, for suggesting the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), which she says is one of the biggest reasons she’s in graduate school right now. “When I heard about this program, I knew it would be perfect since I wasn’t interested in any of the pre-professional degrees, or teaching,” she says. “That semester I applied to around eight different programs across the country and got accepted for one in Dr. Jeff Mower’s lab here at UNL. That was the first time I had ever even been in a research lab, and I had a lot of learning to do. I really enjoyed my summer there, and I felt my lab confidence grow tremendously throughout the 10-week program. On my last day, Dr. Mower brought me to lunch, and we talked about graduate school and that conversation gave me confidence to know I could do it. The research we did that summer was on fern genetics, so up until this point I had only ever been exposed to plant research.” Rodriguez did another REU internship the following summer at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls, this time with a focus on biomedical research studying the genetics of small-cell lung cancer. She says this was when she decided to pursue a path in plant science. She highly recommends the REU program for undergraduates who are debating about going to graduate school. Rodriguez gives praise to her parents, her husband, her best friend, and Dr. Jensen, as inspirations for pursuing her current career path. Moira and her husband doing a science experiment at their wedding. (Credit: Gina Lee Photography) Moira and her best friend, Emily, at the University of Jamestown. (Credit: Moira Rodriguez) Rodriguez says she ultimately chose graduate school since she felt she wasn’t done with her education after earning her bachelor’s degree, while also noting the lack of research jobs available with only an undergraduate degree, as well, and felt graduate school was the logical next step. “I was drawn to apply to this program due to the summer I spent in it as an REU student,” Rodriguez explains. “I also already knew that I enjoyed living in Lincoln, so it was an easy decision to apply. I love the lab that I am in: we have a great advisor, Dr. Alan Christensen, who fosters a great environment to work in. The most fulfilling part of graduate school for me so far is mentoring undergraduates in the lab. It is so cool to see these extremely bright students gain an interest and confidence in lab work and it is very rewarding to be a part in that for them.” Rodriguez says one big challenge for graduate students is the lack of job outlooks and career prep, noting that Biology PhD graduates have a higher chance of being unemployed than earning a full-time job, citing a 2013 article in The Atlantic. She says this as both a scary and disheartening fact, while also saying that paying fees twice a year is another issue graduate students face, as well. As for her own career outlook after getting her PhD, Rodriguez sees herself working in the industry with a focus on agricultural genetic research and development. “In 5-10 years, I hope to be contributing to the plant research community, in a way that makes the future more hopeful in light of climate change and the rising human population to feed,” she says. “But anything to do with both plants & genetics will make me happy!” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! About This Series: This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest!
Daliah Raquel Bibas is a second-year Geology & Planetary Sciences Master’s Degree Candidate at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. This comes after earning a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Biology & Medical Sciences in April 2021, also at Western. “I always knew I loved sciences – I have been asking questions about life since I was a child,” said Bibas. “Questions like ‘How did life start?’ and ‘Does life exist beyond Earth?’ were regularly in my mind. I have always felt a strong urge to seek answers to these questions.” Initially, Bibas pursued an undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences because she aspired to attend medical school. However, this all changed in her third year when she took Astrobiology as an elective saying she fell in love with it, later adding Biology to her major while looking for graduate programs in Astrobiology. “I have always been intrigued by the concept of life and the existence of life beyond planet Earth, but I never considered it as a potential career path before taking this course,” said Bibas. “The course material really opened my eyes to the amount of knowledge that is still unknown and awaiting to be discovered. Since then, my focus has shifted to Earth and Space Sciences, and I have been reading and learning about these topics as much as I can, both in school and in my free time.” Bibas credits Carl Sagan as being her inspiration, saying both his writings and research gives her so much fulfillment. Like her hero, Bibas also believes there is life beyond the Earth and her goal is to dedicate her life to finding it. “By pursuing a master’s degree, I am provided with the knowledge, experience, and network required to achieve my career objectives,” said Bibas. “I hope to make contributions to the emerging field of Astrobiology and believe that a master’s of science degree in this field will ultimately lead me to the next step in my academic and professional career.” Bibas gives enormous praise to both Western University’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration and her advisor, Dr. Gordon Osinski, saying his research is what drew her to the program. She adds his enthusiasm and passion for his work is “truly contagious”, and she feels fortunate to have the opportunity to work with him. Even with this, Bibas says that time management, work-life balance, and other associated stresses from academia are possibly the hardest challenges for graduate students in science. “I personally struggle with feeling like I need to be constantly studying while also maintaining a social life, said Bibas. “Keeping motivation and avoiding burnouts can also be difficult. Furthermore, finding a job that doesn’t require years of work experience is a very common challenge for students in my field today.” Bibas says she aspires to earn a PhD with the goal of being involved in both industry and academia, as she sees herself possibly teaching at the university level while conducting industry research. “In 5-10 years from now, I would like to be an entrepreneur focusing on several projects,” said Bibas. “I am passionate about educating; hence, I would love to teach at a university level and share my knowledge via my own books or podcast. I hope to contribute to the space exploration industry, whether that’s helping plan a NASA sample-return mission or design a future Mars base. In addition, I also want to be a consultant for space-related ventures, such as terraforming Mars or attempting to contact potential intelligent life beyond Earth, and for accurate science in media, such as science fiction movies or documentaries about life on Earth and in the cosmos.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Mara Nutt (they/them/theirs) is a Hydrology Master’s Degree student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences (GPHS) at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) working for Dr. Joel Scheingross, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, and is slated to graduate this December. They are pursuing a “two-part” master’s degree, with one portion consisting of their science research project and the other portion consisting of an outreach project. Their science research project focuses on the processes behind the changing topography of the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara, CA, specifically pertaining to the sedimentary rocks that comprise the Santa Ynez Mountains and how erosion rates could increase as these rocks experience ongoing weathering processes, resulting in geological hazards, including the 2018 Montecito mudslides and the flooding and debris flow experienced earlier this year. Mara Nutt in the field August 2023, on a campaign to determine rock strength of different rocks in the Santa Ynez Mountains. (Credit: Mara Nutt) In terms of inspirational figures that led Mara down this path, they say their parents doing geology in both undergrad and grad school enabled them to grow up with science as the only path they saw themselves pursuing, which culminated in them earning a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geology/Earth Science at Mills College in Oakland, CA, under the tutelage of Dr. Kristina Faul. “She was a major supporter of me doing me,” Mara tells Labroots. “I ended up taking a gap year working in climate science, and then coming to UNR for a PhD with Joel, with whom I connected with over zoom during the pandemic and knew he was the advisor for me. A year and a half into grad school, I realized my career goals had changed drastically. I attended a diversity in critical zone (where rock, water, air, ecosystems interact) science workshop. After a few months of struggling with my desire to have my own project with a PhD and to go into public outreach, I ended up switching to a master’s degree with a heavier outreach section.” Mara gives enormous credit to Dr. Scheingross for helping them with the switch between a PhD to a masters. Mara Nutt at one of the rainbow rides in Sacramento, CA in June 2023. (Credit: Mara Nutt) Mara tells Labroots they chose to pursue graduate school with the goal of teaching at the collegiate level while simultaneously working on their own project, and says they chose UNR since Dr. Scheingross’ research was a cross between geochemistry and geomorphology, which touched upon Mara’s love of geosciences. Mara tells Labroots they’ve had a lot of self-reflection, both personally and professionally, and they are very excited to be graduating with a master’s degree and pursuing a totally new career field. They say what drew them to GPHS at UNR was the diversity and collaboration with other departments, as Mara has friends throughout various departments, including geology, policy, hydrology, and biology. Mara tells Labroots the biggest challenge facing graduate students isn’t just the sub-minimum wage stipends, but specifically the lack of transparency pertaining to the amount each student will receive and that this varies every semester, referring to them as a “crap shoot”. For instance, they note this is dependent on the advisor and that some graduate students don’t get paid at all, which they say the graduate school claims as legal practice. As far as after grad school, Mara enthusiastically tells Labroots, “I’m going to be going into STEM public outreach and am super excited! I want to be using all the ‘hard science’ knowledge and background to bring academia/industry and the public to be more cohesive. I would love to be helping more scientific articles to be completely open access to everyone so that knowledge can be shared easily.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Watching the sunset on a camping trip in the desert. (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) Mariana "Mari" Webb is a 3rd-year Hydrology PhD student at the Universty of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and the Desert Science Institute (DRI) whose research focuses on climate extremes, with an emphasis on the drivers and impacts of flooding. Webb is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), and is under the advisement of Dr. Christine Albano. This comes after earning her Bachelor's Degree in Geogrpahy and Environmental Earth Science from Dartmouth College, followed by working at Denali National Park in Alaska through the National Park Service's Geoscientists-in-the-Park program, then a water resource engineering firm on FEMA flood mapping. "While I enjoyed the variety of the work I was exposed to, I continually wished I could delve deeper into the scientific questions at the root of the projects we were working on," says Webb. "It was after a year of working for the firm that I knew I wanted to pursue an advanced degree so I would have the skills and scientific understanding to answer the complex questions that continued to arise during my work." For her current research, Webb is studying how antecedent conditions can enhance flooding from atmospheric rivers. Climbing near Mammoth Lakes, California. (Credit: Mariana Webb) "This work is especially relevant right now as the West Coast is being battered by a parade of atmospheric rivers, resulting in widespread flooding across California," says Webb. "My results suggest that wet antecedent conditions can increase peak flow volumes by an order of magnitude. I’m also looking at how inundation from a modern megastorm, modeled after the month-long storm that flooded California’s Central Valley in 1862, would impact people and infrastructure in the Truckee River Watershed. This is exciting work and I’m grateful for the opportunity to study it." Webb says she got interested in her field of study in her very first semester of undergrad when one of her professors invited her into their research group processing ice samples from Greenland, and Webb was immediately hooked. She proceeded to gain experience via multiple labs, an internship with the NASA DEVELOP capacity building program in partnership with the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture, after which she wrote her senior honors thesis about estimations regarding snow and glacier contributions to agricultural irrigation in Central Chile. "My senior year, I had the opportunity to fly to Washington D.C. and present some of my work to stakeholders at the NASA Headquarters," says Webb. "By this point, I was hooked on research and excited about a career focused understanding the connections between the climate system, water resources, and natural hazards within the larger context of global climatic change to help communities build resiliency and mitigate risk. My dad, also a scientist, has consistently been an inspirational figure and supporter along the way. He has built his career on connecting science to people and I am motivated to do the same." Hiking to Gem Lake in Inyo National Forest. (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) Webb points out schedule flexbility as something she appreciates about grad school, saying self-structuring will become a valuable skill she will use the rest of her life. She also enjoys spending time outdoors in the surrounding Reno area, noting her ability to get into running, backcountry skiing, and climbing. "I have a wonderful advisor who is a big advocate for me," says Webb. "I really appreciate that my advisor is helping me to get exactly what I want out of my grad school experience. Ultimately, I see grad school as step along the path towards a future career. I want to have a research-based career, and a Ph.D. is the experience I feel will set me up best for that. So, when there are challenges, I try to think about the bigger picture." Webb says one challenge that sge believes faces both grad students and herself is the ability to connect their work back to people and applications, noting it's something she considers a priority and has wrestled with, as well. Watching the Great Reno Balloon Race with graduate school friends. (Credit: Mariana Webb) "I am shifting into developing my research questions alongside decision makers and practitioners," says Webb. "I want my research to have a purpose and measurable impact, which I am learning can be achieved via effective science communication and collaboration from the start. I know I want to integrate citizen science, science policy, and science grounded in real-world applications into my work." Webb says upon earning her PhD, she aspires for a water management research career somewhere on the West Coast, saying she doesn't consider academia as the part of her path. "Working in an applied science setting would be a great way to engage with interesting questions that are relevant to communities and decision makers," says Webb. "It seems like there is good job security in hydrology, as water issues are only growing in their importance and severity."
Cole giving a talk on the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals at the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute. (Credit: Cole Butler) Cole Butler is a 3rd-year PhD student in the Biomathematics Graduate Program at North Carolina State University (NC State) whose research focuses on using computational models to study the spread of diseases, which comes after earning his undergraduate degree in Mathematics at the University of Maine in 2020. Butler notes several factors were responsible for getting him interested in his field of study, with no one factor standing out. “Growing up in Maine, I appreciated being in the outdoors,” says Butler. “Unfortunately, this also meant getting bit by mosquitoes. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I eventually learned that mosquitoes are vectors of some pretty dangerous diseases. What a terrifying realization---the insect responsible for the itchy welts on my arms could transmit malaria! Of course, I had nothing to worry about all the way up in Maine, but it did kickstart my fascination with mosquitoes.” While in grammar school, Butler says he would sit in the back of the classroom and read up on mosquitoes and their diseases on an iMac G3 computer. He eventually came upon the works of Richard Preston, particularly The Demon in the Freezer and The Hot Zone. Butler also notes his affinity for math from an early age, saying he built a “deep appreciation” for mathematics from traversing between public and magnet schools, and even worked with one of his teachers on a variety of mathematical subjects ranging from differential equations to abstract algebra. Butler says it was at college that he met a department professor who used mathematical and computational models for studying the spread of disease, and Butler says he’s been hooked ever since. I tried pursuing alternative paths but constantly found myself distracted by math or programming fun models on my laptop,” says Butler. “I eventually caved and committed myself full-time to the pursuit of mathematics and eventually biomathematics.” Cole working at his desk. Much of his work involves the use of computational models to better understand how biological systems operate. (Credit: Cole Butler) He says it was while conducting summer undergraduate research in Arizona which that he learned about his current program, saying NC State had begun a new initiative called the Genetics and Genomics (GG) Scholars Program where he could enroll as a Biomathematics PhD student while simultaneously conducting interdisciplinary research in an immersive life sciences program. “Beyond the many opportunities at NC State, I am most grateful for my peers,” says Butler. “I am lucky to be surrounded by some exceptional graduate students, both in the Biomathematics Graduate Program and the GG Scholars, who continue to inspire me every day.” As far as challenges facing graduate students in his field today, Butler stresses the importance of paying them a living wage, referring to it as “an often-talked-about but little-addressed matter at most universities”, which he says includes NC State. “How can graduate students, the lifeblood of any healthy graduate program, succeed if they face such financial hardships?” Butler stresses. “Financial stresses detract from research and can incur a heavy toll on one’s mental health. The pandemic and recent inflation have brought these issues to the forefront at many universities. While there has been progress, I think that we are still far from solving the problem.” As far as his aspirations after earning his PhD, Butler says he’s still currently unsure, saying he finds both teaching and research appealing but knows they’re not limited to strictly academia. “I want to answer interesting questions that have a meaningful impact on communities affected by disease,” says Butler. “I especially want to focus my efforts on underserved and neglected regions.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Drake at the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland before heading onto the ice to drill the Tunu ice core in May 2022 (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) Drake McCrimmon is a 3rd-year Hydrology PhD student in the Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) whose research focus involves studying the use of chemistry trapped in ice cores in hopes of better understanding aspects of past climate while employed as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Ice Core Lab and the Desert Research Institute (DRI). This comes after earning a B.S. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University in 2015, followed by an M.S. in Geology from the University of South Carolina in 2017. Upon earning his M.S., McCrimmon made the decision to take a break from both academia and research to travel and better understand certain parts of his life. After building out a pickup truck with a camper shell, he spent the next year traveling throughout the United States and parts of Canada where he feels he gained some life experience by exploring the outdoors such as the Appalachian Trail while working odd jobs to support himself. “I eventually ended up back in Louisiana and lived in New Orleans for the next few years, where I was employed as a water chemist at the city’s drinking water purification plant,” says McCrimmon. “My time living in Louisiana, both in Baton Rouge for my undergrad and New Orleans later on, inspired a love for water science. Learning all about the unique challenges that southeast Louisiana faces when it comes to excess water and all that goes into water management in this area was incredibly interesting to me. I knew that New Orleans was not where I wanted to live forever, and that I had always wanted to live in the western US, so I began looking for opportunities to move west while engaging in interesting science and advancing my career.” In terms of what got McCrimmon interested his field, he says he straddles the line between hydrology and ice core science, saying his interest in hydrology came from living in southeast Louisiana while working to manage water in “one of the wettest places in the country”, while his interest in ice core science comes from many places, to include studying glaciers during in his M.S. program, and even the film The Day After Tomorrow. As far as grad school, McCrimmon says he looks at it as an opportunity to engage in science he’s been passionate about his entire life while developing critical science skills, challenging his brain, and have the freedom dig deep and explore science as opposed to rote responsibility. Drake on Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, AK collecting samples for his MS research in 2016. (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) In an ice cave below Mendenhall Glacier (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) The night shift crew at the Tunu2022 drill site standing next to the bottom-most section of the Tunu ice core. (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) Drake scanning a 1-m section of the Tunu ice core on the Greenland Ice Sheet for volcanic signals (Credit: Drake McCrimmon) “I enjoyed my industry job in New Orleans, but I found that my brain was not stimulated as much as I needed while completing the same chemical analyses day after day,” he says. “While I’m not sure ultimately where I will end up after my PhD, I knew that I wanted to further develop my research skills and challenge myself while I have the flexibility and time in life to do so.” McCrimmon says he was drawn to UNR due to his hydrology and ice core interests, along with easy access to the outdoors, to include the Sierra Nevada’s, calling UNR a “no-brainer” for him. He says along with the great science opportunities and to be outdoors, he’s also built strong friendships along the way, as well. “I want to emphasize that you can have a non-traditional route and still be successful in graduate school,” says McCrimmon. “There is no need to go to grad school directly out of undergrad if the timing isn’t right, if you don’t feel ready, or if you seek other opportunities first. Life is long and there are many possible routes to take, even in science.” McCrimmon says the biggest challenge facing grad students in the field of ice core science is the very small size, noting the high entry barrier due to limited opportunities due to there only being a few hundred scientists and grad students worldwide who are engaged in ice core science. He also notes the “same issues that affect all geoscience graduate fields”, to include low pay, lack of diversity, mental health, and feelings of isolation. As far as his post-PhD aspirations are concerned, McCrimmon says he’s fully open to all possibilities and hasn’t decided on the result. He says while he loves ice core work, he admits research opportunities don’t really exist outside of academia, which he also admits is a system he sometimes struggles with. He expresses his enormous gratitude to both the Ice Core Lab and DRI, noting the training and connections he’s obtained are invaluable. McCrimmon says he’s very interested in water management for the future, but notes that academia can feel “too removed from ‘real life’ solutions”. He says regardless of where he lands for a career, he aspires for a job where he can do research and be solution-oriented, but also has an interest in the environmental justice side of water management, and science communication, as well. “I would like to be in a position that stimulates my brain, incorporates scientific communication, provides a comfortable living wage, and is in a location with ample access to the outdoors,” McCrimmon concludes. “I want to be answering important scientific questions about climate and water, and I want to be actively involved in actionable solutions to climate and water issues.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! About This Series: This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest!
Kerri at the Desert Research Institute. (Credit: Kerri Minatre) Kerri Minatre is a first-gen, non-traditional, 4th-year PhD Candidate in the Ecology, Evolution & Conservation Biology program at the University of Nevada, Reno. This comes after earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, followed by a Master’s Degree in Ecology from Colorado State University. Minatre says that while her academic path has been somewhat non-linear, she has embraced the experience she has gained from a multitude of disciplines. “My father worked for the State Department when I was growing up, so I was raised in the Philippines, South Africa, and Germany, with brief stints in Washington DC between postings,” says Minatre. “Growing up overseas influenced me to study Anthropology originally, but different work experiences such as tracking bighorn sheep in Wyoming and Montana and doing soil and vegetation surveys broadened my interests and I was really looking for interdisciplinary programs for graduate school.” Minatre’s current research project uses infrared spectroscopy to infer the combustion temperatures of charcoal from wildfires. Her goal is to be able to reconstruct historic fire regimes from charcoal removed from lake core sediments. She says they are also attempting a novel approach for this technology with the goal of determining soil repellency, or how soil reacts to certain temperatures. Minatre recognizes her parents as inspirational figures who helped her realize this was the path she wanted to pursue. “When I first moved back to the United States in high school, my parents took me on a road trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks,” says Minatre. “This was quite a few years after the historic 1988 Yellowstone fires, and you could still see the impacts to the ecosystem. I had never seen anything like it and started my obsession with fire. Monica Turner’s research that was done after the Yellowstone fires made me realize how some ecosystems evolved with these large-scale disturbances (although this all changes with climate change). For my master’s research I was able to work with the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins and work on a project using biochar for rehabilitation of a post-wildfire site, which really solidified my love for working in fire ecology.” While Minatre says she had initial plans of stopping her academic career after earning her master’s degree, but realized after starting work at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) that she desired more control over projects she both worked on and the colleagues she worked with. She says her current advisor, Monica Arienzo, and previous co-advisor, Adam Watts (who now works at the Forest Service), were pursuing their first student and inquired if she’d be interested in applying to the program and working for them. Fall 2022 Klamath Prescribed Fire Training Exchange in Orleans, CA located in Karuk Territory. (Credit: Kerri Minatre) “I chose EECB and DRI because I really like the interdisciplinary aspect of it,” says Minatre. “You have faculty from many different fields, and I think this enables better collaborative opportunities for students.” As far as issues facing graduate students in her field, Minatre notes that dropping the GRE and application fees have allowed for greater inclusivity, but says “it still feels like we have a long way to go.” “Another is paying graduate students a living wage,” says Minatre. “In some European countries, graduate students are paid as if they are employees, with wages and benefits befitting their experience. It is really difficult as a non-traditional student without additional financial help to go back to school on such a low salary. The leaky pipeline for women is also a huge issue in academia, and although steps have been taken to address sexual harassment and discrimination, again it has a long way to go.” As far as post-PhD aspirations, Minatre says she’s enjoying her wildfire work, noting her recent training with the Klamath Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (KTREX), since it allows her to gain more experience in prescribed burning and working with local tribes and individuals from different backgrounds. “I would love to get more involved in the prescribed fire realm and also be able to do research that informs land managers on both wildfire and prescribed fire,” says Minatre. “The fire world has been traditionally male, and I think it is important that women and indigenous peoples have more of a voice at the table.” As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! About This Series: This interview series is focused on the graduate student experience across all STEM fields that allows them to get their research, or corresponding graduate coursework, out in front of a large global audience and share their experiences in graduate school. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of STEM students to pursue graduate studies for a myriad of disciplines, and we hope you enjoy reading these amazing stories! If you'd like to be featured in this series, feel free to send an email to laurence.tognetti@labroots.com, Subject Line: Grad Student Highlights Interest!
Sushrut Karmarkar is a 5th-year PhD Candidate in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University whose research focuses on structures and materials. Sushrut is originally from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, and completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad in 2016 followed by a Master’s Degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering (AAE) from Purdue University in 2018. Inner Tracker Support Tube - Carbon Composite structure for the CMS-HL Upgrade for CERN. (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) Sushrut currently conducts research in two labs, the Interfacial Multiphysics Lab at Purdue where he studies the development of terahertz time domain spectroscopy for interface strain-stress mapping within composite materials and coatings, and the High-Luminosity Upgrade project for the CMS Collaboration with CERN where he’s a composite engineer working to design, manufacture, validate, and install carbon fiber composite structures for the Phase-II Tracker Detector. “As a kid growing up in a small city in India, I remember visiting science centers and labs and always being awed with people in white lab coats!” Sushrut tells Labroots. “I had the opportunity to visit on multiple occasions the research center my mom used to work in and also ‘play’ in the HVAC manufacturing plant, courtesy of my dad. I also remember that Sundays were spent watching a show on DD India (a TV channel) called ‘Turning Point’ which predominantly talked about space exploration and technological advancements.” Boundary Timing Layer Support Tube - Sushrut with advisor Dr. Jung - This is a prototype of the largest structure being built at Purdue University for the CMS High-Luminosity (HL) Upgrade (Link) (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) Being a part of the Indian space program was something Sushrut aspired to do as he grew up during a decade when it was picking up steam, ultimately finding his motivation to study science-related topics in school after being fascinated by the engineering of cars and airplanes. Sushrut credits his father for getting him interested in mechanical engineering, saying his dad hopes Sushrut can come work for his company and replace him in HVAC design and manufacturing, but Sushrut tells Labroots he “keeps disappointing him in this regard!” Sushrut credits his undergraduate advisor, Dr. Abhay Kulkarni, for being his “largest chunk of inspiration” for pursuing his field, noting that Dr. Kulkarni instilled the meaning of discipline and hard work into Sushrut and his fellow classmates, and is grateful for Dr. Kulkarni for being responsible for allowing Sushrut to meet Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who served as the 11th President of India and an early pioneer of the Indian space program, and Sushrut says meeting Dr. Kalam was the final piece of motivation to pursue graduate studies in aerospace engineering. Sushrut at the P5 CMS assembly area at CERN, France. (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) “Grad school is a place where you learn what research is about in a setting where it is okay to fail and where you have real responsibilities, but you also have an advisor who helps you achieve them,” Sushrut tells Labroots. Sushrut offers nothing but praise for both the labs he works in and his advisors, Dr. Vikas Tomar and Dr. Andreas Jung, who he says let him explore a great deal in the field of composite design and remote sensing. “The best part still about my program here is that I get to go to CERN and work in one of the largest technical collaborations in the world,” Sushrut tells Labroots. “As a part of my research, I am developing terahertz time domain spectroscopy techniques to evaluate the degradation and cracking in the interface materials between silicon detector modules and base composite support structures for the Tracker Forward Pixel Detector for CMS collaboration. We are also designing and building large composite structures for sustaining the high radiation environment of the particle collider.” Internal laser optic set-up for generation of terahertz (THz) probe and pump beams for material characterization. (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) Bi-material interface strain measurement setup using THz-TDS. (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) Sushrut tells Labroots one of the main challenges for him and his classmates in grad school is finances, especially with rising costs and inflation, which he says makes it difficult to save in grad school and barely getting by every month with the stipend they receive. “The other big challenge to grad students in AAE is that the field is changing at a rapid pace and to keep up in this race we definitely need to spend a lot of time understanding the work of others,” Sushrut tells Labroots. “The quality of research papers and data is degrading quite a bit. When compared to papers from 10 years ago and today, there are certainly more papers that have been published where the claims made/experiments shown are almost impossible to replicate. Hence grad students, including me, need to be very, very critical of the work being cited and read as a part of the literature review that guides your contribution to the field.” Various composite structure prototypes for the CMS - HL - Upgrade manufactured at Purdue University. (Credit: Sushrut Karmarkar) As for his plans after getting his PhD, Sushrut aspires to remain as a research engineer on the CERN project in the years following graduation in hopes of finishing the project he’s currently working on, along with wanting to install the detector in the CERN tunnel, which is anticipated to happen in 2027. In 5-10 years, Sushrut aspires to be a design engineering lead on particle accelerator projects like EPIC at Brookhaven National Labs and FCC at CERN. He was introduced to these projects at the Seattle Snowmass Summer Meeting 2022 and hopes to see how this research can be applied to outer space missions but is excited that his degree will allow him to work on structures 150 meters (~500 feet) underground. You can connect with Sushrut Karmarkar on LinkedIn and read more about his research here.
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