by Elizabeth Sefton

Trust your data. Laura Marie Letellier learned this critical lesson early as a young engineer for the Navy and it has influenced her entire career.

Laura has been able to make significant contributions to engineering with the U.S. Navy and with Baxter by trusting her data. Although, she initially wanted to go to law school, she began her path to engineering before college while working for her family’s steel fabricating business. Her work with the family business enabled her to earn a scholarship through the U.S. Navy to attend Purdue University and earn a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. While in college, Laura realized that she had a gift to see the world differently and provide unique solutions, and this cemented her desire to be an engineer.

After college, Laura entered the Navy as an active duty officer and engineer. During her first assignment, she was fortunate to work with Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” and inventor of nuclear power, nuclear, submarines, and designer of the first civilian nuclear power plant. From his guidance, Laura learned the power of trusting her data and scientific tools. She says, “Admiral Rickover believed that there was no problem that we could not solve using science and engineering.” He also believed that “no matter the situation there was always 30 seconds to think about your decisions and try to do no harm with your actions”. Admiral Rickover’s lessons instilled a powerful sense of confidence in Laura and the mantra that problems can indeed be solved no matter how challenging. Following her work with nuclear power and designing nuclear ships, Laura switched to the Naval Reserve and also held a civilian engineering job. Although, her Naval Reserve work was not continuous she was able to become Executive Officer of an amphibious warfare unit. While Executive Officer, she designed and maintained the watercraft that transported marines from the main ship to shore for amphibious operations. Amphibious warfare challenged Laura differently because she had to make immediate decisions in the field. While Laura enjoyed the intellectual challenges of being an engineer for the Navy, even non-continuous Naval Reserve assignments did not mesh well with her family life; and she asked to be reassigned to a non-deploying desk job. Laura says that getting the reassignment so that her family could benefit was “extremely difficult”. Despite the challenges she encountered designing nuclear powered ships and operating amphibious warfare craft, she says that balancing work and family was her hardest assignment.

Laura claims that her largest professional achievements were the contributions she made as an engineer at Baxter. She says her switch from a military centered profession to an area that is designed to sustain life was a conscious decision. She remembers walking through a warehouse filled with components for nuclear weapons and thinking, “this is not what I went to school to do.” Indeed, at Baxter, she became a Product Design Owner and Lead Systems Designer for infusion pumps for intravenous medication, thus helping to better countless lives. She states that her technology is “responsible for about 30 million infusions each year”. Her team also developed the technology for the first FDA-approved remote sensing in medical infusion systems. The technology was aimed at helping to alleviate the understaffing of hospital floors by delivering infusions remotely and detecting medication errors. Laura also helped write the claims for nine published patent applications relating to that system for which she is a co-inventor. Laura states, “This was the work that woke me up at 2 and 3 am because of the amount of harm that could come to millions” if she made a mistake. However, the lessons that Admiral Rickover taught her enabled Laura to trust her data and create extraordinary products. This remarkable trust in her data and understanding of science enables Laura to brand herself as a scientist engineer. According to Laura, “There is nothing more gratifying than seeing something that came out of your head translated into a usable product that helps people.”

During Laura’s time at Baxter, she mentored a junior engineer named Megan Bosley through Baxter’s mentoring program. Although, Laura was ostensibly Megan’s mentor, Laura says that both women learned from each other. Laura passed along her confidence for her data to Ms. Bosley while Ms. Bosley, a biomedical engineer by training, taught Laura Organic Chemistry, and how to be comfortable using the metric system. Laura says that it feels wonderful to see Megan have the confidence to solve problems and be formally recognized by Baxter with professional promotions. Ms. Bosley has been so positively impacted by Laura that she nominated Laura for the AWIS Innovator of the Year of the Chicago chapter.

Laura retired from Baxter this year but plans to continue her collaboration with Ms. Bosley and Baxter through a contract position developing nanotechnology. Along with her planned contract position Laura is a partner with another family member in a court reporting business, Lake-Cook Reporting Ltd. Laura is responsible for organizing the technical aspects of the business, such as video conferencing and recording.

Thinking back, Laura is extremely happy that she decided to be an engineer. She firmly believes that her ability to see solutions is a gift and that her abilities serve the greater good. Her advice for young women is that “science and engineering are for you” and that women should not be receptive to the “subtle messages that science and engineering are only for men”. In my short conservation with Laura, was just as interested in my research as I was in learning about her life. She and I agreed to keep in touch and she requested to write the Scientist of the Month article about me when my time comes.

Nomination by AWIS member Megan Bosley and article written by AWIS Chicago Staff Writer Beth Sefton.  Ms. Sefton is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University.

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

Want to keep yourself up-to-date on AWIS Chicago activities? You can request to be added to our listserve by clicking here, and join the AWIS Chicago group on LinkedIn and Facebook by clicking the icons on the bottom right of this page.

by Joanna Rowell

If you ask any scientist why they chose to pursue research as a career, they will often point to an inspirational mentor or teacher. It could be a high school biology teacher showing a student how to dissect a worm, or an undergraduate professor demonstrating how our ancient hominid ancestors made stone tools out of flint. These crucial moments can generate in us a sense of wonder about how our world works, which can provide the foundation for a successful career in science.

Perhaps the very best teachers are able to change our perception of what we think we are capable of doing with our lives. Ami LeFevre, a high school biology and chemistry teacher at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois and recipient of the 2012 AWIS Chicago Motivator Award, is one such teacher. Although she started out studying marine biology, and then had aspirations to become a medical doctor, she said that, “eventually I found my way into education.” This turned into a lasting and fulfilling career as a science educator.

LeFevre loves teaching high school students. One challenge she faces as a teacher is to get students to think critically, and, in her words, “to understand that it’s not just about straight memorization, but what you do with that information.” LeFevre also enjoys that she is always learning new things as a science teacher. Part of her job is “keeping up to date with the science and bringing that information to the kids,” which is a part of teaching she finds very intellectually challenging. One of her favorite aspects of her job, however, is helping her students figure out what they want to do after high school, and exposing them to the world of science beyond the classroom.

To do this, LeFevre organizes several career development programs, such as the Girls Empowered by Math and Science (GEMS) conference. This program brings together women from various points in their scientific education, including girls in grades 4 through 6, high school students, university students, and women with established careers in science. Past sessions have included a Motorola engineer who guided the girls in the dissection of old cell phones, and an anthropology major from Indiana University who discussed her research on non-human primates. One of LeFevre’s colleagues, Margaret Donnelly, mentioned that at the GEMS conference “the energy and enthusiasm was contagious.” She went on to state that her daughter “began to see how exciting and fun science can be.”

LeFevre is also the main faculty sponsor of the Niles West Chemistry Club. This club allows students to have fun with science by, for example, making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. LeFevre also provides her students with opportunities for science outreach. For example, this year they performed a forensic chemistry demonstration for the younger students at Edison Elementary School. “If you see their faces, you see just how much fun they’ve had,” LeFevre said. “They feel like they’ve done something really special for the younger kids.” The students also reach out to the international community, organizing relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti and tsunami in Japan. They also shadowed graduate research assistants at Chicago universities such as Loyola and Columbia, and attended the Argonne National Laboratory Women in Science Day.

During our interview, LeFevre told me a striking story that really emphasized the importance of programs such as GEMS. After having performed a chemistry demonstration at her son’s elementary school, LeFevre ran into the mother of a girl in the second grade. This woman told LeFevre that after the chemistry demonstration her daughter said that she “didn’t know that women could be scientists.” The mother thanked LeFevre for changing her daughter’s perception of what women are capable of doing with their lives.

LeFevre is very much aware of these gender stereotypes. “It’s amazing to me that a lot of the girls still believe that boys are better at math than they are,” she said. “Even though they’re great at math, often times they don’t have that self confidence.” By showing girls that women can excel at math and science through programs like GEMS, LeFevre is making a big difference their lives. These programs show conclusively that women can excel at science and that science matters. LeFevre is a true motivator, and we could not be more thrilled that she is this year’s recipient of the AWIS Chicago Motivator Award.

by Joanna Rowell

Counting our Blessings: How Language Shapes Mathematical Thought

“There are three types of people – those who can count, and those who can’t.”

We take so much for granted. Human behaviors such as walking down the street, eating an apple, speaking our native language, or counting to ten seem so simple and easy. When you delve deeper, however, it becomes evident that these actions are actually incredibly complex. Take, for example, walking. As we walk we have many muscles in our legs moving synchronously. Those muscles are controlled by motoneurons in our spinal cord, which in turn are regulated by complicated networks of neurons in brain regions such as the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Meanwhile, we are monitoring our environment with our eyes, and that visual information is processed and integrated to prevent us from tripping over rocks or other such impediments. Not to mention the fact that our legs were patterned during embryological development, and evolved over geologic time. When you really think about it, it’s amazing that we can walk at all.

Studying what we take for granted, such as walking or counting, can teach us a lot about the world and about ourselves. For instance, counting feels so straightforward that it seems safe to assume that every human being can count. But how valid is this assumption? Is the ability to count genetically encoded in our brains, or is it a learned behavior that relies on linguistic or cultural input? Dr. Liesje Spaepen, a post-doctoral fellow who works with University of Chicago psychology professor Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow, is currently studying how language shapes the way we think about numbers and mathematics. For example, she is asking whether it is possible to understand the concept of exactly seven without a word or linguistic symbol for ‘seven.’

These fundamental psychological questions cannot be studied in a laboratory setting using animal models. Instead, Spaepen looks to a remarkable population of humans known as ‘homesigners.’ These are people that were born deaf but never had the opportunity to learn a sign language, often for economic or geographical reasons. As a result, they are among the only humans on the planet who do not receive conventional language input. To communicate with family and community members, each individual homesigner develops his own gesture system, which are collectively called ‘home’ or ‘kitchen’ signs. Although home signs are not a conventional language, they allow homesigners to live remarkably normal lives within their communities. “They do have some ways of getting around in the world, communicating with the world, and picking up the cultural milieu,” Spaepen explained, “but what they aren’t given is a conventionalized way of communicating.” Spaepen’s studies address whether these cognitively normal adults, who are exposed to every aspect of human culture except language, have developed a way of conceptualizing exact numbers.

To address this question, Spaepen works with adult homesigners living in Nicaragua. With them, she performs simple but incredibly informative exercises. For example, she places a specific number of poker chips on a table, covers the chips, and asks the homesigner to match exactly that number of chips. In another experiment, she knocks fists with the homesigner, and asks them to knock her first an equal number of times. Amazingly, the homesigners were only able to complete these tasks successfully when presented with one, two, or three poker chips or fist-knocks, and for numbers greater than three they were only approximately correct. For example, if Spaepen knocked their fist eight times, they might knock her fist seven or nine times. “It’s because he has no way of counting,” explained Spaepen. “He doesn’t have a way of clarifying how seven is somehow different from eight.” This fascinating result suggests that we need language to understand the concept of exact numbers beyond three.

This raises some intriguing questions. First, how do homesigners get by in this world, holding down jobs, using money, and even gambling, without being able to count beyond three? Spaepen explained that although understanding exact numbers is critical for learning mathematics, in our day-to-day lives we approximate most of the time. Homesigners even have a reasonable grasp of money, which inherently is a number-based system. According to Spaepen’s research, homesigners are able to use money in part because Nicaraguan denominations are different in terms of color and size, and homesigners learn that, for example, “the orange one gets me more stuff than the red one.” Homesigners are also supported by their families and communities, and Spaepen mentioned that it was unlikely they would be cheated because, “the people they’re buying goods from know their whole family.”  Nevertheless, the resourcefulness of the homesigners is remarkable, and Spaepen stated that, “I stand in awe of what they are able to do all the time.”

Another question brought up by Spaepen’s work involves how these findings relate to how children learn to count during normal human development. It turns out that children learn counting very gradually, first learning to recite the count list by rote, and then very slowly learning what each number actually means. “They learn what the word ‘one’ means,” Spaepen explained, “and six to nine months later they learn what the word ‘two’ means.” The last thing they learn is why the numbers are in order, which is known as the ‘successor function.’ The successor function basically means that for every number n there is an n + 1, and implies that counting goes on forever. Learning the successor function requires the most language input for children, and Spaepen has found that is this aspect of counting that the homesigners never learn.

To better understand how language shapes our understanding of mathematics during childhood development, Spaepen has recently started working with Chicago preschool children from homes of varying socio-economic status (SES). Children from high SES homes generally hear a lot about numbers from their educated parents, as they are often asked to, for example, count the number of cheerios in their afternoon snack. Low SES children, conversely, get less counting input from their parents, and this can result in their being two years behind the high SES children in terms of counting by the time they are four or five years old. Spaepen’s preliminary studies suggest that the low SES children develop non-counting compensation strategies, such as using one-to-one correspondence between fingers and objects in the world, that are similar to those used by the homesigners. This demonstrates that there are common strategies used by those with less or no language input when thinking about numbers.

Spaepen’s studies highlight both the amazing resourcefulness of the human mind and the injustice of our world. It is troubling that there are people on our planet who do not have access to language, and it is hard to imagine the feelings of isolation they may experience. “I definitely don’t think it’s OK that the homesigners are stuck in this situation,” Spaepen emphasized. “Learning language is a human right.” Similarly, it seems wrong that some children in Chicago are disadvantaged to the point that they get substantially behind in learning how to count. Overall, despite how easy it might feel for many to count, after speaking with Spaepen it now seems foolish to take counting for granted. In fact, the ability to understand a concept like the number seven is a gift not given out equally to people in our world, and we should perhaps count it a blessing.

Profile and nomination by Joanna Rowell.

by Heather M King

When you visit Chi-Chi at the 5710 Building on the University of Chicago Campus, you follow a winding sidewalk, and see a variety of terra cotta pots containing plants in various stages of growth. You enter the recently renovated building, and see a peaceful space full of plush, grass-green chairs and blonde wooden tables, laid out and ready for students to use. Overall, it is a relaxing and pleasant space, perfect for Chi-Chi to thrive in the newly-created position of Director of Graduate Diversity Recruitment at the University of Chicago, a position intended to increase the population of traditionally underrepresented groups in the graduate population.

Though Chi-Chi now works in higher education administration, she earned a PhD in pathology from the University of Chicago in 2009. Though biology became her passion, it wasn’t always her focus. In high school, she had many interests and abilities, and at one point wanted to be a choreographer. It wasn’t until college, when she took a human physiology course and realized that biology could satisfy both her thirst for knowledge and her desire to help others that she committed to biochemistry as an undergraduate major at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne (UIUC). Chi-Chi described her path, “Science was like a drug to me. First you get learn about cool stuff, then you get to play with cool equipment, and then you’re addicted!”

Through research opportunities as an undergraduate, Chi-Chi realized that lab work provided the intellectual freedom she craved, and through work in several human-disease centered labs, such as Christian Raetz’s lab at Duke University and Paul Worley’s lab at Johns Hopkins, she also realized her vision of attaining a career that would help make peoples’ lives better.

This desire to help heal people led Chi-Chi to a graduate career in Stephen Kron’s lab at University of Chicago, where she studied cell cycle checkpoints and DNA damage signaling cascades within the context of epigenetic regulation in baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This research had applications to cancer biology. As time went on, however, she felt a disconnect between the research she was doing and a sense of helping people within the greater community. During her time at University of Chicago, she explored career options that would allow her to impact the community on a larger scale. “Sometimes people think that when you leave the bench, it’s because you don’t like science – that’s not true. It’s about finding the right path for you,” she said.

After earning her PhD in 2009, Chi-Chi tried her hand at consulting, but soon found herself back at the University of Chicago. Through a conversation with the Deputy Provost of Research and Minority Issues, Bill McDade, she learned of a newly created position: the Director of Graduate Diversity Recruitment.

“As an African-American woman in science, I am acutely aware of how few of me there are,” Chi-Chi says, and she hopes to change the landscape of graduate education at the University of Chicago to make this imbalance disappear. “My job is to work myself out of a job,” she jokes, meaning that when she accomplishes her vision of establishing a sustainable recruitment strategy and consistent infrastructure for identifying and recruiting talented minority students, her goal will be achieved. “I want to get more stellar minority students into our applicant pools and help them identify the University of Chicago as a great fit.”

We wish Chi-Chi luck in her new position, and look forward to watching the changing landscape of higher education in science.

by Eun Ji Chung, Ph.D.

Tracy Gluckman has been a Clinical Veterinarian and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Northwestern University since 2008. In high school, Tracy knew she was interested in science and took seminar-based courses in science for 2-3 years in which the goal was to develop scientific thinking and present scientific posters at local or state level competitions. Although she found studying science interesting, she had always gravitated more towards animals. She frequently visited the zoo, loved watching nature specials, and often read National Geographic articles on animals; however, Tracy had never considered pursuing this passion as a profession, nor that her interests in science and animals could merge as a veterinarian.

When considering colleges, Tracy decided to pursue a major in marine biology, and chose to attend Occidental College, a liberal arts college in Southern California with a strong departmental program. She took courses such as oceanography and ichthyology (study of fish), and conducted field work throughout college. In particular, she recalls her time on the college-owned marine research vessel, the R/V Vantuna, to be particularly fulfilling. The courses taken on this vessel were designed to utilize the  live research laboratory was onboard. Students were able to participate in a “hands-on” study of marine biology and oceanology through water sampling and marine biota collections. Tracy was actively involved as a student in the marine biology courses but was also employed as a student instructor for visiting grade school, high school, and undergraduate students.

Although Tracy loved teaching others about marine biology, by her junior year she realized that a career in marine biology may not be the path for her. By examing what had drawn her to study marine biology, Tracy realized that her passion was for working with animals. Since Occidental did not have a pre-veterinary track, she completed all the pre-med courses as a biology major and started actively volunteering in veterinary clinics and at the Los Angeles Zoo with the veterinary staff. In order to gain more animal experience, after college, Tracy worked as a laboratory technician in an independent research group in Pasadena, CA and studied cardiac ischemia in a rabbit model. This was Tracy’s first interaction with mammals and she considers this experience as influential in her career path as she was able to work closely with the veterinary consultant. This consulting veterinarian was also the attending veterinarian at The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and made Tracy aware of the role of veterinarians in providing care for research animals. Tracy decided to explore this path by taking courses in animal handling and care offered at Caltech. She soon realized this was an amazing opportunity to merge her passion for animals and her interest in science, while also serving as an advocate for animal welfare and an educator to researchers who had little experience with animals. Tracy recalls how valuable the mentorship of this veterinarian was to her.

Tracy received a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before starting veterinary school at the UW-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine. She finished her internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at Kansas State University, College of Veterinarian Medicine before heading to The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for a residency program in Laboratory Animal Medicine. After completing the board certification examination in Laboratory Animal Medicine, Tracy relocated to Chicago to accept her first position as a clinical veterinarian at Northwestern University

“Every day is different and there are a lot of opportunities to teach, learn, and provide the highest quality of care for our animals,”  Tracy says when explaining why her career fits her so perfectly. She also emphasizes that utilizing her knowledge in comparative anatomy and physiology in order to help researchers work efficiently and effectively to answer their scientific questions, while minimizing animal use and promoting strong animal welfare is extremely rewarding and are the reasons why she gravitated towards laboratory animal medicine over private practice. In addition to preparing researchers to work with animal models of human disease or disabilities, Tracy also provides the most recent advances in anesthesia, analgesia, surgical techniques, and medical care for those animals. Another important aspect of Tracy’s position is the review of study protocols that are required for investigators  proposing to work with animals. “Most people don’t realize the intense scrutiny study protocols go under when researchers propose to work with animals.” All protocols are carefully reviewed by a committee composed of veterinarians, scientists, and even members of the Chicago community to ensure that procedures are performed properly, animal health is being closely monitored, and federal regulations of animal care are being followed. As a veterinarian, Tracy works closely with researchers to help write the study protocols to ensure the the researchers maintain the health and welfare of the animals  and properly work with the animals under their care.

Tracy feels that there are occasionally challenges working with animals in a research environment, but understands that valuable knowledge has been and continues to be gained from such work.   She believes that researchers that work with animals, herself included, should always be aware of the privilege they are afforded by conducting such work.. Tracy realizes that her passion to provide the optimal care and oversight for animals in the research environment and being able to provide a bridge between scientific research and animal health and welfare makes her job meaningful and constantly fulfilling.

Despite her dedication to her career as a veterinarian, Tracy also appreciates and strives for a good work-life balance. She admits that while pursuing her education, she didn’t recognize what her hobbies actually were because her time was mostly spent either in classes or studying in the library. Now out of school, she has a dog, strong personal relationships, and has finally discovered some hobbies, such as rock climbing, wheel throwing, yoga, and knitting. She emphasizes the importance of making time for herself and separating her work from her personal life. Tracy is looking forward to having a family, now that her formal educational training is completed.

From her experience, Tracy sees no gender-specific limitations in the veterinarian field, and has seen a rise in women veterinarians in the current generations. She continues to see herself in clinical care for animals while educating scientists, and hopes to be involved in creating a veterinarian residency program in Laboratory Animal Medicine at Northwestern University, training the next generation of laboratory animal veterinarians.

I’ve known Tracy since 2008 and have continued to work with her for various research projects. Tracy always expected excellence, preparation, thoughtfulness, and integrity when working with animals, and my research, as well as I, have benefited from it. She was also opened to mentoring and working with an undergraduate student I TA’ed who also wanted to find out more about clinical veterinary science. I have witnessed firsthand her passions to advocate for animal welfare and to educate scientists, the fruits of a dedicated clinical veterinarian.

Article and nomination by Eunji Chung-Yoo

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

Elsa in Yellowstone National Park

By Heather King

Elsa Rodriguez is currently the Girls Programs Coordinator at the Chicago non-profit Project Exploration (PE).  She brings professional scientists and middle school girls together in the south-side of Chicago during the after-school program Sisters4Science, and runs a number of summer programs, including the nationally recognized All Girls Expedition and Junior Paleontologists programs.

Elsa’s love of science and learning was fostered early in childhood.  Elsa’s parents are Mexican immigrants, who brought with them to Chicago a deep knowledge and appreciation of the outdoors and the power of nature to support human lives.  Elsa says that the knowledge of rural living she learned from her parents contrasted with the urban environment that surrounded her while growing up in Chicago.  “This led to curiosity and lots of questions asked about the natural world,” Elsa says. This curiosity led Elsa to discover science as a way of knowing, beginning with a kindergarten science project about how rainbows form.

While a student at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, Elsa became involved with Project Exploration.  “They gave me a direction within science, and helped me discover the steps I needed to take to become a scientist,” Elsa says of PE.  During their programs, she met professional scientists and not only learned scientific concepts, but the steps the scientists took in their own lives to succeed.

Elsa enrolled at Dartmouth College, and was set on becoming a paleontologist.  She majored in geology, and enjoyed many field experiences during her college experience.  At the end of her sophomore year, she acted as a mentor in the Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth (SEAD) program, which allows high school students from under-resourced backgrounds to spend time on the Dartmouth campus, interacting with college students.  Elsa’s mentee was a first generation Chinese student from the San Francisco/Bay Area with whom Elsa had a lot in common.  “This was my first experience with education and outreach, and I loved it!” says Elsa of her SEAD experience that summer.  Elsa became more involved in education outreach during the rest of her time in college, including a spring break spent on a South Dakota reservation doing afterschool outreach and working as SEAD staff.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Elsa returned to Chicago, ready to work full time on helping students achieve their goals.  She worked for City Year, a non-profit that partners 18-24 year olds with urban students, and helps the students stay on track to graduate from high school.  Elsa tutored six 4^th graders in Bronzeville for a year, and helped them improve their literacy skills.  She also planned afterschool sessions and got first-hand teaching and classroom management experience.   “At City Year, I further understood what it meant to be a student in an urban area, and saw everything that goes into educating a child,” Elsa says.  “This piqued my interest in working to help students that are falling behind.”

A mantra at Project Exploration is “once you’re part of PE, you’re always part of PE,” and Elsa was no exception.  She had kept in touch with Gabe Lyon, the cofounder, since graduating from high school.  When Elsa’s year at City Year drew to a close, she heard that PE was looking for a Girls’ Programs Coordinator.  “The position was a perfect combination of everything I was interested in, including science, discovery, mentoring, education, and the sharing of different perspectives,” says Elsa.  “And the idea of coming back to the place that sparked my path to science was really cool.”  Elsa applied for the position and landed it, coming full circle in her Project Exploration experience.

Elsa has some advice for aspiring young women scientists, based on her own journey and on what she’s learned from the many students she’s mentored.  “Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” she says.  “It took me a long time to understand who to ask for help, and how, in college, and that was really isolating.”  She also says to find what you’re most passionate about, to figure out what the end game to that passion is, and to learn what steps to take to reach that goal.  “Sometimes people have a romantic vision of what it means to be a scientist, and that can leave you unprepared for reality.  Learning what steps other scientists took to reach their career goals can really help you stay on track.”  Elsa’s final piece of advice applies to all of us: “Never stop wondering and never forget what it’s like to discover.  That feeling keeps you inspired and makes our work meaningful.”

Sometime in the future, Elsa hopes to build on her experiences teaching urban youth by pursuing a graduate degree in urban sociology.  We wish her luck in this and all future endeavors!

Elsa is always looking for scientists to share their knowledge and experiences with urban Chicago middle and high school students.  If you are interested, contact Elsa at erodriguez@projectexploration.org

Article and nomination by Heather King

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

by Eun Ji Chung, Ph.D.

Ramille N. Shah has been an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University in the departments of Material Science and Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery since 2009. Dr. Shah is a native of the Chicago area and graduated with a B.S. in Material Science and Engineering from Northwestern before moving to MIT to pursue her Ph.D.

In high school, Ramille knew her strengths were in art and math and had a desire to pursue architectural engineering in college. She first attended a local community college during freshmen year in order to save costs before transferring to Northwestern as a sophomore. Northwestern didn’t have an architectural engineering major, so she declared her major as civil engineering. However, through her first research experience with Dr. Hamlin Jennings, her interest in materials was ignited. By studying highly flowable cement, she was quickly drawn to the structural, processing, and property relationships of materials and felt this field had more opportunities for her. She switched majors and took her first biomaterials class with Dr. Samuel I. Stupp during her senior year. The class immediately sparked her interest in the field and she asked for an opportunity to work in Dr. Stupp’s lab for her senior thesis project. It was during this experience where her enthusiasm for biomaterials and tissue engineering research became evident. Studying biomaterials was not only exciting, but it had a direct connection to health and provided an opportunity to improve the quality of life for patients. In addition, Ramille’s then boyfriend, now husband, was pursuing a career in medicine. Through both personal and educational influences, it became clear to her that developing technologies for regenerative medicine was her passion.

At MIT, Ramille studied cartilage tissue engineering with Dr. Myron Spector, first at the Brigham and Women’s hospital and later at the VA Medical Center when the lab relocated. Not only did these settings provide an ideal environment for collaborations between medical and research scientists, but it also provided a great motivation for her research because patients who may one day benefit from the type of research she was pursuing were also present. At the same time, back in Chicago, her boyfriend’s medical interests were also in orthopaedics (which would eventually lead to collaborative projects together). As both interests converged and Ramille finished graduate school, she decided to return back to Chicago for both professional and personal reasons. There was an opportunity to continue research in orthopaedic tissue engineering with her former advisor Sam Stupp, and she also wanted to be in the same location as her boyfriend to continue to develop their relationship.

Although unsure of whether academia or industry would be her career path, she knew the post-doc experience in the Stupp group would be ideal. During her time in Boston, the Stupp group had developed a research presence in the field of bionanotechnology, especially regarding the development of self-assembling peptide amphiphiles for applications in regenerative medicine. This was a research area in which Ramille wanted to expand her knowledge and skill set. After a year and half as a post-doc, Dr. Stupp promoted Ramille to a research assistant professor position in his laboratory, and also appointed her as the assistant director for research at IBNAM (Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine), where he is still currently the director. In these new roles, Ramille took on more administrative responsibilities and acted as a liason between scientists and administrators, making decisions on various aspects such as space allocation, equipment purchasing, and staff hiring. She also played a significant role in preparing applications for grant submissions.

Dr. Stupp gave Ramille many opportunities to expand her network and develop her leadership skills. For instance, not only was she able to attend conferences and meetings to present her own research, but she also gave talks on behalf of Dr. Stupp, presenting the group’s research as well.  This ultimately became great practice for giving more comprehensive talks, and exposed her to many different areas in regenerative medicine. In addition, these experiences allowed her to gain a sense of confidence in herself that contributed to her  decision to pursue a career in academia.

Six months later, with significant publications under her belt, an opportunity arose to attend Rice University’s workshop about negotiating a faculty position. Fortuitously, the workshop was led by committee members who were looking to hire a faculty member within the field of tissue engineering. Ramille applied for the position and was invited for an interview that eventually led to a job offer. In the mean time, Ramille applied for the NIH Pathway to Independence grant. Although not granted, her application fell into the hands of a reviewer from John’s Hopkins University where they were looking to hire a new faculty member in the Biomedical Engineering department, and another interview resulted.

With momentum and timing on her side, but accepting the reality that her life was more than just herself (she was soon to be married) and that Chicago would be the ideal location, she sought out the Chair of the Material Science and Engineering department at Northwestern and presented her case for a position. The Chair responded positively, and an official interview and negotiations resulted in the faculty position she holds today.

Ramille attributes her success to always taking advantage of important opportunities and making the most out of experiences. She believes in making your own luck by proactively seeking opportunities and knowing what you are worth. Especially “for women researchers, developing a sense of what you are worth and asking for what you deserve would help females move up into higher positions,” she says. Instead of waiting for opportunities to be offered to us, Ramille encourages everyone to seek out opportunities to be had.

She also stresses the importance of networking and collaborating with many people. In addition to being a new faculty member, Ramille is also a new mom with a 5-month old baby girl. These combined new roles have been extremely rewarding and pivotal, but at the same time, test her time-management skills. Although she could have waited to start a family until after receiving tenure, Ramille did not want to compromise a smooth pregnancy or risk potential complications. In the end, she counts this as the most satisfying decision of her life, and speaking to many others who have experienced it beforehand helped make the decision clear. Although her to-do list includes researching neighborhoods with good school systems as well as applying for grant funding for supporting her group’s research – which all at once can be overwhelming – Ramille gets through this busy time by disciplining herself to take care of urgent matters well while making sure she doesn’t miss out on her constantly changing daughter. In addition, she realizes that being a good delegator and giving up control in various areas is necessary.

Ramille feels lucky to have a supportive work environment and talented research group that allows her to be creative in science while giving her the flexibility needed during this time of transition. Looking onward professionally, she strives to attain tenure and become a scientist respected in the field. She also looks forward to the future discoveries and technological developments made in her lab that can eventually lead to clinical applications. On a more personal level, she wishes her family to be healthy and happy, and is looking forward to reaching that state of equilibrium where she can have time to take a breath and enjoy the simple things in life.

Article and nomination by Eunji Chung-Yoo:

“I recently graduated from Northwestern and am currently a post-doc in Ramille’s lab. Part of my decision in coming to a smaller lab was because I also wanted to understand, learn, and prepare for how a female assistant professor balances the critical and urgent nature of both professional and personal life. I feel fortunate to have Ramille as my PI and friend because not only does she give me the freedom to be creative scientifically, but she is open and transparent about the busyness in this chapter of her life. With pursuing academia as part of my future ambition, my month in the lab has already proved to provide much insight into managing professional and personal life well. Like Ramille mentioned, learning and talking to others who have gone before you may just be what is needed to prepare you for your next big step.”

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.

By Marina Pazin

In science, success is often measured not by one’s ambition and determination, but rather by the more easily quantifiable evidence of conferences attended, manuscripts accepted to prestigious journals, and the number of awards and grants received. Judging by the work she’s done thus far, Isabel Rodriguez, a senior majoring in biology, with a concentration in biophysiology, at Northwestern University, is well on her way towards achieving success, no matter how it is measured. She fell in love with science in middle school and started doing research in her father’s lab at just sixteen years of age. At first, the ‘research’ performed by Isabel consisted of nothing more than learning basic laboratory techniques. Pipetting solutions was originally a project of its own, as she tried to pipette as much soap solution as she could into the pipette without creating bubbles. However, she quickly moved on from learning techniques and procedures to elucidating protein-protein signaling mechanisms in various disease models. For her persistence and dedication to biomedical research, Isabel is September’s ‘Scientist of the Month.’

For her first research assignment, Isabel was asked to analyze the effect of different stimuli on apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells. As she got more comfortable in the lab, the questions she was addressing became more sophisticated. While a high school student, she spent most breaks from school in her father’s lab in Evanston Hospital analyzing the differential signaling mechanisms by which progesterone and omega-3-fatty acids regulate ovarian cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis. Three years ago, as a freshman in college, Isabel joined the lab of Drs. Tamas Jilling and Michael Caplan as a summer student. This allowed her to experience a different area of research from what she had been working on. “I work with rat intestinal epithelial cells, and have been concentrating on the interactions between different cell surface receptors. My first two summers in this lab I looked at the interaction between TLR4 and NOD2 receptors. This summer I’m focusing on the effect of stimulating TLR4 on cell migration.” Though her current research topic is very specific, Isabel ultimately is hopping to identify how pro-inflammatory molecules (in this case, TLR4) regulate cell migration, a process necessary for proper immune response, organ development, and tissue regeneration after injury.

Being able to contribute to multitude of research projects around her is just one reason why Isabel keeps coming back summer after summer to work in lab despite her commitments to her sorority, crew team, and course work. “I enjoy the act of doing research. I genuinely like running experiments and analyzing results and trying to figure out what to do next. In a lot of ways, research is a really complicated puzzle.” Although this eager senior is nervous and excited about starting medical school next year (where she hopes to focus on oncology), she in no way wants to forget about the basic science research in which she has invested so much time. “I’m looking forward to learning about the clinical side of medicine, but think that my background in research will help me understand the many dimensions of disease. I do hope to do research during med school, and am looking at a lot of programs that have a research thesis as a graduation requirement.” With her dedication to research, it is likely that Isabel will make great contributions to science as she embarks upon her career.

Nomination and article submitted by AWIS Chicago Staff Writer Marina Pazin.  Ms. Pazin is a PhD candidate at NorthShore University Health System.

Know a scientist you think should be featured in an upcoming “Scientist of the Month” article?  Send nominations to communications@awis-chicago.org. Your nominee does not need to be an AWIS member or a woman, but should promote the advancement of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering.