Illuminating STEM Stories

In today's episode, I chat with Yale University student Emmeline Laurence. She is is a rising junior at Yale University from Greenland, New Hampshire. At Yale she studies biology, and is a member of the Division I Varsity Rowing Team. She is currently finishing up a year off from school that she has spent creating a tutoring business, getting her EMT license, and working in a pediatric immunology lab at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In today's episode, I chat with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student Sheetal Bapu. She is currently a rising junior in the Accelerated Physician-Scientist program and majors in biology. She's glad to escape the Northern California heat as she's spending her summer at Albany Medical Center conducting research at the Stephens Lab. Apart from her aspirations to become a physician, she manages two competitive, self-arranged A Cappella groups at RPI and loves to sing anything from Bollywood music to Indie Pop. Like many others, she is a big fan of sunsets and puppies!

Listen to today's episode to her about her experience trying to complete college and medical school in only 7 years and the advice she has for other students who know they want to become a doctor. 

In today's episode, I chat with Harvard University student Varshini Odayar. She is a sophomore concentrating in Social Anthropology and History of Science (Mind, Brain, and Behavior) with a secondary in global health and health policy. Varshini is very interested in the intersection of healthcare and social justice. She is involved in Harvard CrimsonEMS, Harvard Institute of Politics Health Policy Team, the South Asian Association, and Camp Kesem. Outside of school, she loves social justice photography and drawing.

In today's episode, I chat with Brown University student Ashley Knebel. She is a junior at Brown University studying English and Cognitive Neuroscience. She is also apart of Brown's Program in Liberal Medical Education, meaning that she will attend Alpert Medical School immediately after graduation. At Brown, she works on campus as an emergency medical technician, a camp counselor for Camp Kesem, and a coordinator for Brown's high school Model United Nations conference. Ashley is also currently doing research on trends in Medicare reimbursement in psychology. Outside of school, she loves to run, cook, read, and recently embroider!

Follow Ashley Knebel's journey on Instagram: @ashleyknebel

Listen to today's episode to her about her incredible experiences, ideas, and advice.

Welcome to Season 2 of Illuminating STEM Stories! 

Stay tuned for new episodes featuring incredible college students who are pursuing their dreams in STEM.

In today's episode, I chat with Stanford University student Audrey Pe.  Audrey is a freshman at Stanford University and the founder and executive director of WiTech (@witechorg) -- a nonprofit organization based in the Philippines that aims to educate, inspire, and empower youth to break gender barriers and use tech to make a difference in society. Through WiTech, she has been working on projects at the intersection of technology and education since she launched the organization at age 15. Now 19, her time is mostly spent going on partnership calls, speaking at webinars, and coordinating with WiTech’s 15+ chapters in 6+ countries on how to break the gender and accessibility gaps in tech. She has been recognized as a 2020 Gen.T Leader of Tomorrow and 2019 Global Teen Leader as well as been featured on publications such as Forbes, Insider, and Elite Daily.

Follow Audrey Pe's journey on Instagram: @audreyisabelpe

Listen to today's episode to her about her incredible experiences, ideas, and advice. 

In today's episode, I chat with Dr. Imari Walker. She is a PhD Candidate at Duke University investigating the fate, occurrence, and transformation of plastic additives within freshwater environments. In particular, her dissertation work focuses on endocrine disrupting chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA) that are of concern to human health and the environment. Before Duke, Dr.Walker completed her Bachelors in Marine Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Alongside her PhD work, Dr. Walker uses her science communication based youtube channel to share information about plastic pollution, microplastics, and chemicals associated with these consumer products.

Website: imariwalker.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calimari93

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/imariwalker100

In today's episode, I chat with Dr. Leilah Choobineh. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York. She received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is passionate about her research on thermal management of things like microelectronics and glass interposer based systems. Even still, she find time to guide the next generation of female engineers that step into her classroom. Women only hold 5% of all Professor in Engineering positions in the United States, so Dr. Choobineh’s story is indeed a valuable one.

In today's episode, I chat with Dr. Carrie Anderson. She is a planetary astronomer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Her research focuses on the remote sensing of planetary atmospheres, primarily in the areas of thermal structure and composition, using space- and ground-based data. Dr. Anderson's research has also expanded to include transmission spectroscopy measurements of thin ice films using her SPECtroscospy of Titan-Related ice AnaLogs (SPECTRAL) high-vacuum chamber located at NASA GSFC. She is most known for her role as a Cassini CIRS Co-Investigator, in which she discovered numerous chemically-different organic ice clouds in Titan’s stratosphere.

Dr. Anderson believes that if men continue to dominate certain STEM fields, people will unconsciously continue to accept this as the standard, which only reinforces this male-dominated cycle we are trapped in. Thus, she asserts that increasing the number of women in these fields can slowly modify this mentioned cycle. She advocates for role models because they show people what is achievable, despite what the “norm” currently is.

Make sure to check out Dr. Anderson's appearance on BBC and NOVA's 5-episode miniseries called "The Planets."