Speaker 1: Can you believe it has been a year.
Speaker 2: I can't. It makes me emotional. I can't believe we've
Speaker 2: been doing this for a year.
Speaker 1: Don't try to make me cry.
Speaker 2: Our baby is one year old.
Speaker 1: Dope Labs is one year old, and it feels just right,
Speaker 1: you know, on this anniversary in Black History Month, it
Speaker 1: feels right for us to really highlight some of our
Speaker 1: favorites y'all. Yes, some of our favorites in Stem.
Speaker 2: Yes, all the black folks in Stem that are all
Speaker 2: over the world. We wanted to hear all about the
Speaker 2: work that you do.
Speaker 1: So if you listen to the end of the last episode.
Speaker 2: Or if you follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you.
Speaker 1: Would have heard a call where we said, hey, if
Speaker 1: you're black and you're in Stem, we want to hear
Speaker 1: from you. We said to record yourself kind of explaining
Speaker 1: what you do, what your field is, where you affiliated,
Speaker 1: what you like to do in your spare time. We
Speaker 1: wanted to hear all about.
Speaker 2: It, and y'all responded a lot.
Speaker 1: Yes. Now before we even get started, I want to
Speaker 1: tell y'all will thirty minutes. So we had to cut
Speaker 1: some clips.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. We could not put everybody if we did,
Speaker 2: we would need hours and hours and hours of space.
Speaker 1: But we have a couple of your fellow Dope Labs
Speaker 1: listeners who are black in stem that we really want
Speaker 1: to highlight and I can't wait. I'm Tt and I'm.
Speaker 2: Zakijah and from Spotify Studios. This is Dope Labs.
Speaker 1: So first we're going to give you a few little
Speaker 1: tidbits about Black History Months. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So Black History Month is celebrated here in the US,
Speaker 2: in the UK, Canada, and Ireland.
Speaker 1: Wow, Ireland, right, I.
Speaker 2: Was thinking the same thing. And it started with Black
Speaker 2: History Week back in nineteen twenty six. Cartigie Woodson wanted
Speaker 2: to celebrate Black history and so he designated the second
Speaker 2: week in February as Negro History Week, Okay, And so
Speaker 2: he chose the second week because it was the birthdays
Speaker 2: of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. And so then Black
Speaker 2: History Month, So we're expanding out from Negro History Week
Speaker 2: to Black History Month. That was in nineteen sixty nine,
Speaker 2: and it was first celebrated at Kent State in Ohio
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy. Yes, and then when you fast forward
Speaker 2: six years, Black History Month is being celebrated all over
Speaker 2: the country in all different types of communities.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then President Gerald Ford formally recognized Black History
Speaker 1: Month and we've been rocking with it ever since.
Speaker 2: Black Power fitth sign.
Speaker 1: So, like we said, this episode, we reached out to you,
Speaker 1: and you guys gave us some great clips about what
Speaker 1: you're doing, and I can't wait to share those with everybody.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I have to say I don't like to give engineer
Speaker 1: in Hiss props, but y'all showed out.
Speaker 2: Yes, y'all did, and I'm very proud as a fellow
Speaker 2: black and engineering person. I was very proud that that
Speaker 2: E and STEM came in strong.
Speaker 4: It was a.
Speaker 2: Capital E bold in the boldest font you can think of.
Speaker 2: So that's where we're going to start today. Yes, and
Speaker 2: so I think before we jump into our clips that
Speaker 2: we received, I think given a general overview of what
Speaker 2: engineering is and why it's important. Is important. So engineering
Speaker 2: is the how you apply science and math into the
Speaker 2: real world, into the things that we touch and feel.
Speaker 2: So engineering is important because when you look around you
Speaker 2: at pretty much everything within sight, somebody had to engineer that.
Speaker 2: So they had to understand its characteristics, it's chemical properties,
Speaker 2: its structure in order to make something work well, for
Speaker 2: it to work efficiently, and for it to be useful
Speaker 2: for you. Engineers are very very important. I don't mean
Speaker 2: to toot our own horn.
Speaker 5: But toue.
Speaker 1: I think that's called laying on the horn. I don't
Speaker 1: even think that's tooting it. Well, that's fine, that's fine,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Engineering is important.
Speaker 2: Engineers are important, and I am very proud to be
Speaker 2: an engineer and to be a black engineer.
Speaker 1: Let's get into the clips.
Speaker 4: My name is Chandler, and I'm a structural engineer in training.
Speaker 4: In my work, I take an architectural concept of a
Speaker 4: building and turn it into something that can withstand loads
Speaker 4: from people, equipment, winds, snow, earthquakes, and many other forces.
Speaker 4: Then I build structural models to analyze the forces on
Speaker 4: all of the structural members and produce drawings so that
Speaker 4: it can be built. Structural engineering is important because it
Speaker 4: allows us to enjoy the beauty of the built environment
Speaker 4: while also staying safe and protected from the elements and
Speaker 4: forces around us.
Speaker 2: Yes, the work that Chandler is doing is super important.
Speaker 2: If we think about any building, any structure that we've
Speaker 2: stepped into in our lives, a structural engineer has been
Speaker 2: a part of that. They have used their mind to
Speaker 2: make sure that that building stays up while we're in it.
Speaker 2: And the thing that we also have to consider is
Speaker 2: that what is taken into account when a structural engineer
Speaker 2: is working is not just oh, how does concrete stand up?
Speaker 2: How does rebar stand up? How do all these things
Speaker 2: stand up? Brick whatever it allbar? So rebar is a
Speaker 2: reinforcing steel that they usually put in concrete just to
Speaker 2: help it hold together. So if you were to go
Speaker 2: to any building that was recently knocked down, you could
Speaker 2: see rebar all through the concrete and things like that. Okay,
Speaker 2: they also have to consider where that building is being
Speaker 2: or that structure is being built. So let's say that
Speaker 2: they're in the northeast. We get a lot of hurricanes here,
Speaker 2: so you have to build this structure with that in mind.
Speaker 2: So you have to think, what are hurricane wins? How
Speaker 2: many miles per hour is that? And then they start
Speaker 2: to test those things out. So they might build like
Speaker 2: a mini a sample structure, and then they put it
Speaker 2: in a wind tunnel and let that wind just whip
Speaker 2: it just like how a hurricane would, and see if
Speaker 2: it stands up, if it stands up, they know that
Speaker 2: they're doing the right thing, and then they can use
Speaker 2: that material and build these buildings that protect us during
Speaker 2: those times. That's the reason why when we have all
Speaker 2: of these really really harsh weather events, we feel so
Speaker 2: lucky that our houses don't fall down, you know. And
Speaker 2: then you also have to consider time and other events
Speaker 2: that we in our every day don't think about. So
Speaker 2: you have to consider how many people are going to
Speaker 2: be in this building, what is this building going to
Speaker 2: be used for?
Speaker 1: Is how long should it last?
Speaker 2: Right, So you have to take all those things into
Speaker 2: account when you are when you are building these structures.
Speaker 2: And let's not just focus on buildings. Let's talk about tunnels,
Speaker 2: bridges and things like that. So if you're thinking about
Speaker 2: a bridge that connects two pieces of land, that's what
Speaker 2: a bridge is. They have to consider how many cars
Speaker 2: are going to be going over it's the average amount
Speaker 2: of is going to be going over this in a year.
Speaker 2: What does it need to withstand? So then you have
Speaker 2: to go through wear and tear testing for these different materials. Tunnels,
Speaker 2: is a tunnel going to be underwater? How many pounds
Speaker 2: per square inch of pressure doesn't need to withstand.
Speaker 1: These are all the.
Speaker 2: Things that structural engineers do, and this is why I
Speaker 2: love that field. I'm not a structural engineer, but I
Speaker 2: have so much respect for them.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you're not a structural engineer. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this feels obvious or not, but it just
Speaker 1: occurred to me based on the things that you're saying.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: Why you can look at something on TV that has
Speaker 1: multiple houses and you can kind of pinpoint this is
Speaker 1: where this is in America, or this is where this
Speaker 1: is in the world, right, because these structural engineers have
Speaker 1: optimized what a home should look or feel like based
Speaker 1: on what's happening in that area. Yeah, and you.
Speaker 2: Know who the first structural engineers were the indigenous people
Speaker 2: of America. Yes, yeacause if you go out to places
Speaker 2: in like the desert or Arizona and how they build
Speaker 2: their houses, the indigenous people were doing that way before
Speaker 2: the structural the modern day structural engineers came along.
Speaker 1: I was reading something about homes in Japan and how
Speaker 1: they have these narrow these narrow entry points, and something
Speaker 1: about where you spray the water on the ground so
Speaker 1: that evaporates so it feels cool and all of this
Speaker 1: stuff people were doing. I'm like, these those are structural
Speaker 1: engineer structural engineers, and I think one of the things
Speaker 1: you hit, a structural engineer has to really understand the
Speaker 1: material that they're working with toom and it feels like
Speaker 1: structural engineering is a natural partner with material science.
Speaker 2: Ooh, my other love, that's my main joint. That's my
Speaker 2: bay material science.
Speaker 6: This is Cicily speaking. I am a fifth year PhD
Speaker 6: student studying chemistry and materials science. Right now, I'm using
Speaker 6: a confocal microscope, which is a tool that I use
Speaker 6: a lot because I study colloidal particle materials. So colleors
Speaker 6: are present in many cosmetic formulations. All the lotions, creams,
Speaker 6: things like this that you use. These are made up
Speaker 6: of coloidal emulsions, as well as the droplets of water
Speaker 6: that make up clouds in the sky, the milk in
Speaker 6: your fridge, the paint on your walls, all of these
Speaker 6: things were developed using colloid chemistry. So specifically, I make
Speaker 6: solid coloidal particles, which can be thought of as really
Speaker 6: really small marbles. And this is important because, as I've mentioned,
Speaker 6: colloids are present in a lot of materials that you
Speaker 6: interact with daily and being able to manipulate the structure
Speaker 6: of the building block of these materials can give materials
Speaker 6: with really interesting property. So, for example, coloidal particles can
Speaker 6: be used to create photonic crystals, which can emulate the
Speaker 6: kinds of iridescent color and diffraction patterns that you see
Speaker 6: in things like opals and clamshells and blue moor fro butterflies.
Speaker 6: So I create new colodo building blocks so that we
Speaker 6: can have some day, you know, screens that only require
Speaker 6: the input of light rather than the input of electricity.
Speaker 6: So that's one of the applications of what I do. So, yeah,
Speaker 6: that's a bit about me material scientists.
Speaker 2: I love this because just like Cicily, I am a
Speaker 2: material scientist as well. I didn't work with materials on
Speaker 2: the micrometer scale that I worked with materials that were
Speaker 2: on the nanometer scale, so a little bit smaller. But
Speaker 2: I totally understand the colloidal chemistry that she's doing and
Speaker 2: why this is so important. Okay, So colloidal particles are spherical,
Speaker 2: and they're dispersed. It can be dispersed in a gas,
Speaker 2: a liquid, or solid. The ones that we most commonly
Speaker 2: understand are the ones that are dispersed in a liquid,
Speaker 2: and the reason why they're so cool and so important
Speaker 2: it's because when they're stable, everything looks nice and smooth,
Speaker 2: but if they're unstable, then things start to clump up
Speaker 2: and not look so great, and that balance between the
Speaker 2: two is really really hard to find. So when people
Speaker 2: like Sicily are doing really novel work to create different
Speaker 2: structures inside of a colloidal suspension, whether it be solid
Speaker 2: liquid or gas, it is very very difficult to do,
Speaker 2: especially if those particles are not spherical. So when she
Speaker 2: talks about the butterfly and clamshells and how you could
Speaker 2: see those rainbow colors when you look at them, it's
Speaker 2: the diffraction of light. And so when light hits those
Speaker 2: things because of the particle structure within the clamshell or
Speaker 2: in the butterfly wing, we see that rainbow because of
Speaker 2: how the light is reflecting back. Okay, so what she's
Speaker 2: doing is really really innovative and really really cool, and
Speaker 2: it's gonna change everything. So what you're saying is that
Speaker 2: we're getting this refraction of light and she's creating something
Speaker 2: that will probably that could do the same thing. That
Speaker 2: feels like, I mean, I'm gonna get you, give you your
Speaker 2: engineering and.
Speaker 1: Material science props. But that also feels like biomemicry, right.
Speaker 1: That feels like, okay, taking things that exist in biology
Speaker 1: and living organisms and recreating them right to advance to technology. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think we're in the biowheelhouse. I'm just gonna just
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and say this is my spoke.
Speaker 2: I see where you're going. Okay, So that we've had
Speaker 2: enough of the engineering talk, I am very excited to
Speaker 2: jump into the biosciences.
Speaker 1: Biology is the study of living organisms. And people always
Speaker 1: say like, oh, biology is that means you with plants
Speaker 1: and animals, But there's so much more to it. Just
Speaker 1: like we learned about engineering at this macro scale when
Speaker 1: we talked about structural engineering and building things up, the
Speaker 1: same parallels exist in biology. So you have people that
Speaker 1: study ecosystems and organisms and how they interact, and then
Speaker 1: you and how to build up systems and how to
Speaker 1: make them, how to make different types of organisms work together,
Speaker 1: which is what I used to be interested in, you know,
Speaker 1: so microbial symbiosis. But then also there are people that
Speaker 1: study how to break these systems down and how to
Speaker 1: look at these things that are really tiny nano or
Speaker 1: micro level you know, before we were even recording this episode,
Speaker 1: I was telling you about these African sicklets, these fish.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 1: I go down the rabbit hole.
Speaker 2: My friend she watches one video on Twitter and I
Speaker 2: saw someone give a presentation on this earlier this week,
Speaker 2: and so it has really just rocked my world. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, there's so much we don't know about fish
Speaker 2: and behavior and things we can learn. And we have
Speaker 2: someone who's who called in? Who's a marine biologist? Perfect?
Speaker 1: Perfect, let's hear it.
Speaker 7: My name is Cinda Scott, and I'm a marine biologist.
Speaker 7: I'm the director of the Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity
Speaker 7: Studies at the School for Field Studies in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Speaker 7: I'm female, I'm black. I'm originally from Boston, Massachusetts, and
Speaker 7: I live and work abroad in Panama. I chose a
Speaker 7: career in marine biology because I've always been fascinated by
Speaker 7: the fact that humans and fish have many genes in common.
Speaker 7: Fish are our oldest vertebrate ancestor, and through them we
Speaker 7: can understand more about ourselves. In addition to the fascinating
Speaker 7: world of fish, I mean, they can change colors in
Speaker 7: the blink of an eye, they can switch sexes, and
Speaker 7: they have an incredible array of adaptations that we merror
Speaker 7: humans barely understand. Fish can tell us so much about
Speaker 7: how we evolved, for example, major systems such as metabolism,
Speaker 7: and when you study fish and really see how varied
Speaker 7: their genome sizes are, you can really begin to understand
Speaker 7: how it's actually possible that so much diversity exists between species.
Speaker 2: Sinda's work is really cool. I never even thought of
Speaker 2: any of that.
Speaker 1: It feels very similar to this conversation we had with
Speaker 1: doctor Kismikia Corbett when we were preparing for the coronavirus episode.
Speaker 1: Do you remember, yes, you know, people often say, oh,
Speaker 1: why are they studying this grass opera or why are
Speaker 1: they studying bats? And why are they studying fish when
Speaker 1: there are so much human disease? But like she said,
Speaker 1: we share genetic information with these organisms, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so potentially studying those organisms and animals it could
Speaker 2: lead to us discovering potential cures for maybe diseases that
Speaker 2: we have as humans.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it just leads to broader understanding
Speaker 1: of life in general. Right, changes over time, advantageous changes,
Speaker 1: things that we can see different branch points where things
Speaker 1: have evolved in different ways. Exactly, there's so much to
Speaker 1: learn there. To quote Jay Z, here we.
Speaker 2: Go hope did that, so hopefully you wouldn't have to
Speaker 2: go through that. These animals, these animals are experiencing these
Speaker 2: things that almost directly mirror what we go through. If
Speaker 2: they have found a way to adapt or learn a
Speaker 2: way to heal themselves or anything like that, if they
Speaker 2: have the secret, why should we have to go through that.
Speaker 2: They're here to help us. We're all living in this
Speaker 2: animal kingdom together. And so that brings us to one
Speaker 2: of our next topics, which is human disease. One of
Speaker 2: my first, it was actually my second research experience, was
Speaker 2: working with this professor, doctor EMMANUELA.
Speaker 1: Taioli. It was an epidemiology lab, and I studied mammographic density,
Speaker 1: and so we would look at they would look at
Speaker 1: mammograms and based on like there was some program they
Speaker 1: had and based on how the mammogram looked, you could
Speaker 1: kind of get an idea of breast density, and so
Speaker 1: they were trying to see if there was a correlation.
Speaker 1: They were saying that it seemed like African American women
Speaker 1: their breast density was higher and they were trying to
Speaker 1: see if there was a correlation between breast density and
Speaker 1: predictions about breast cancer from the mammograms. It was like
Speaker 1: this MAM's data set. I don't know. It was my
Speaker 1: sophomore year.
Speaker 2: Girl, I still trying to learn.
Speaker 1: It was a summer research experience.
Speaker 2: That's really interesting work.
Speaker 1: Though I don't know what they found on the study.
Speaker 1: But you know, you never finish a study and never right.
Speaker 1: And this next topic is special to me. The caller, right,
Speaker 1: this is one of my really good friends and we've
Speaker 1: been friends for a really long time, and he is
Speaker 1: the reason I didn't leave Hampton the first year. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I am in the first week. Okay,
Speaker 1: it was right after Labor Day.
Speaker 5: I want to go.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what I said. And if you've been
Speaker 1: to Hampton, you know you can't have a car on campus.
Speaker 1: And I was like, well, you drive me back to
Speaker 1: North Carolina.
Speaker 2: I've got to get home.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is for me. I should have
Speaker 1: gone to A and T. And he just really helped
Speaker 1: me stay on the path. So he was a chemistry major.
Speaker 1: I was a biology major. We knew each other from
Speaker 1: high school, went to the same college and then he
Speaker 1: went to med school, and so I'll let you hear
Speaker 1: about what he does.
Speaker 5: Hi, my name is Randy Miles, and I am a
Speaker 5: doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
Speaker 5: I am a radiologist who specializes in breast imaging, which
Speaker 5: means I interpret X rays of the breast called mammograms,
Speaker 5: looking for any signs of breast cancer. So in the US,
Speaker 5: about one out of eight women will develop breast cancer
Speaker 5: over their lifetime. So it is important, I repeat very important,
Speaker 5: that women at average risk receive a mammogram every year,
Speaker 5: starting at age forty. Our goal is to find cancers
Speaker 5: if they do develop when they are small so they
Speaker 5: are easily treated. So if you're listening to this you
Speaker 5: are a woman and you are over the age of
Speaker 5: forty and are not up to date with your mammogram,
Speaker 5: don't be scared, Go get screen.
Speaker 7: Friends.
Speaker 5: Science is such a big part of my job, from
Speaker 5: X ray generation to performing procedures. Yes, I do biopsies. Two.
Speaker 5: My job is dope, just not as dope as Zakia
Speaker 5: and TT. For more information on breast cancer and breast imaging,
Speaker 5: please follow me on Twitter at our Miles.
Speaker 1: MDD Randy rand.
Speaker 2: We love Randy, we do.
Speaker 1: And the work he's doing is so important, you know.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I've been really
Speaker 1: interested in is the awareness around health, like just health
Speaker 1: awareness and prioritizing one's health, especially in the black community, right.
Speaker 1: And I think the people that are doing STEM outreach
Speaker 1: they're spreading that message too, right. They're saying like, this
Speaker 1: is important, this is what you should be doing, this
Speaker 1: is why this matters. This is how one thing is
Speaker 1: linked to another. I was talking to someone the other
Speaker 1: day and we were talking about dental health, which a
Speaker 1: lot of people think of based on how our current
Speaker 1: insurance system is as a luxury. But gum disease and
Speaker 1: bacteria in your gums can lead to heart disease because
Speaker 1: it's all linked to the same blood system. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: who knew? I mean, I knew it, But do you
Speaker 1: think about that when you think about brushing your teeth
Speaker 1: floss and do you think about heart health?
Speaker 2: That's why I brush my teeth before I eat.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's good Britsting. Okay, So we've heard from some
Speaker 1: of you, but we have some more people coming up.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break and when we come back.
Speaker 1: We're going to tell you all about STEM education and outreach.
Speaker 2: And we're back, and so now we are going to
Speaker 2: jump into something that is very important, and that is
Speaker 2: STEM education and outreach. Yeah, a lot of folks think
Speaker 2: that STEM is just in the classroom.
Speaker 1: They can be more wrong.
Speaker 2: Bunsen burners, beakers and all these things like that. There
Speaker 2: is so much more to STEM than meets the eye.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know. It's education. Yes, in the classroom,
Speaker 1: yes it's important, but it's also tying those principles to
Speaker 1: day to day things that you see, right, you understand importance,
Speaker 1: You understand, yes, the topic or the content, but then
Speaker 1: you see how it's related to all these other systems
Speaker 1: that we use every day. Like you just said about
Speaker 1: structural engineering, I don't think about that when I go
Speaker 1: in the house and walk upstairs and hope the floor
Speaker 1: doesn't I don't hope the floor doesn't fall in. It's
Speaker 1: just not gonna fall. Yeah, you know, I think about
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff with civil engineers who make sure
Speaker 1: that our water gets to us and it's not contaminated.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you, Flint, but I mean there's just
Speaker 1: so many things that are happening that are related to
Speaker 1: STEM and we don't immediately consider them STEM. And I
Speaker 1: think we can kind of raise our awareness with that.
Speaker 1: And the people that are doing that are folks that
Speaker 1: are in STEM education and in outreach.
Speaker 7: Yes.
Speaker 1: So when we think about twenty first century learning, that's
Speaker 1: not just in the classroom, that's on the apps, that's
Speaker 1: podcast like this one exactly everywhere.
Speaker 2: Yes, And with all this new technology and ways to
Speaker 2: educate ourselves, the amount of points where STEM can touch
Speaker 2: you are increasing exponentially. And so we loved hearing from
Speaker 2: people who had STEM backgrounds and are in STEM outreach,
Speaker 2: and then some that don't have STEM backgrounds and then
Speaker 2: STEM outreach and so let's listen to that now.
Speaker 3: Hi, my name is Mercedes Crawford from Houston, Texas, but
Speaker 3: currently living in Washington, DC. My STEM career is not
Speaker 3: like everyone else's. I do not have a STEM background,
Speaker 3: but my goal and my passion in life is to
Speaker 3: introduce students from K through twelve into STEM careers. I've
Speaker 3: spent the last ten years introducing our amazing students to
Speaker 3: what STEM can do for them, their families, in their communities,
Speaker 3: and I will continue to do that as long as
Speaker 3: I can. So keep up the good work, girls. I
Speaker 3: use your podcast all the time. I love it, and
Speaker 3: I hope to meet you one day.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 1: I think the K through twelve you know how I
Speaker 1: feel about that.
Speaker 8: M hmm.
Speaker 1: K through twelve is where my heart is a lot
Speaker 1: of my My first exposure to STEM education was in
Speaker 1: the K through twelve arena. Me too.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: They used to participate in this program called boost back
Speaker 1: when we read Duke and boy, those fifth graders were
Speaker 1: giving me a run for my money. Okay. We would
Speaker 1: meet these fifth graders and they would be in the
Speaker 1: program through and they would join the program for the
Speaker 1: sixth through eighth grade, and we would have these Saturday
Speaker 1: activities and we work with them and then they would
Speaker 1: build up to this one post of presentation and it
Speaker 1: would just blow my mind to see how much they
Speaker 1: learned we would do these joint activities. I still think
Speaker 1: about my boost kids all the time.
Speaker 2: That is.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: And I remember when I was in when when I
Speaker 2: was in grad school with you, I was organizing graduate
Speaker 2: students from all different backgrounds to go to this middle
Speaker 2: school and talk about the work that they do, like yeah,
Speaker 2: really relaxed and like ted talks style so that kids
Speaker 2: can see themselves in us basically and let them know
Speaker 2: like how we got there, Like a lot of people
Speaker 2: had struggle stories about how they got to being in
Speaker 2: graduate school. And it just kind of humanizes what a
Speaker 2: scientist is. Because what I would always ask in the beginning,
Speaker 2: like what do you think a scientist looks like? And
Speaker 2: they would describe this old guy with a lab coat, pocket, protector,
Speaker 2: glasses and all these they basically were describing with Albert
Speaker 2: Einstein or whatever they thought he looked like. And so
Speaker 2: I would bring these people in and say, look, I'm
Speaker 2: a scientist, they're a scientist, and we're regular. So it
Speaker 2: really I feel like it really helps to show those
Speaker 2: things to the k through twelve students. So I think, yes,
Speaker 2: it's both exposing students, exposing students to careers in science
Speaker 2: and helping them see what a scientist looks like and
Speaker 2: then just giving them a deep dive, hands on experience
Speaker 2: in science.
Speaker 1: And our next caller has done that.
Speaker 9: Hi, doctor Serena mcala, and I am the president and
Speaker 9: founder of I Research Foundation and I Research Institute. With
Speaker 9: regards to the foundation, we raise funds to support underrepresented
Speaker 9: and underprivileged young adults who are interested in science research
Speaker 9: but maybe don't have access to complete science research projects.
Speaker 9: And at the Foundation, we provide them an opportunity to
Speaker 9: work at I research institute on either learning about research
Speaker 9: methods and the steps in order to become a researcher,
Speaker 9: how to write an abstract, how to write a paper,
Speaker 9: or at the four week level where they are more
Speaker 9: advanced students, we actually help them create projects that we
Speaker 9: provide all of the reagents for and equipment for and
Speaker 9: allow them to use this arena, this laboratory to conduct
Speaker 9: novel experimentation that they could use to write again research
Speaker 9: papers or to compete in some of the scholarship money
Speaker 9: that's available for STEM students. So overall, the goal of
Speaker 9: our research institute and foundation is to really bring STEM
Speaker 9: to the masses. We want high school age students to
Speaker 9: be fully invested in the research process in any discipline
Speaker 9: of science that they're interested in, and we help them
Speaker 9: to achieve that goal through working with us.
Speaker 1: And that last caller was being really modest. Yes, listen,
Speaker 1: she is a rock star science teacher.
Speaker 2: Okay, googles, y'all do your googles.
Speaker 1: That was doctor Serena mcala, who has sends amazing projects
Speaker 1: to the International Science Fair.
Speaker 2: Not that Science Fair that y'all did.
Speaker 1: This is how a plant grows.
Speaker 2: Those kinds. We know that a plant goes with water
Speaker 2: and light. We know that. Talking about real, probably big projects.
Speaker 1: Okay, these are high schoolers and you can learn more
Speaker 1: about her work and check her out. There's a national
Speaker 1: geographic documentary called Science Fair that features her and nine
Speaker 1: of her students who go to the International Science Fair.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to watch it. The kid described it
Speaker 2: as cheer but for a science and I'm hooked already. Okay,
Speaker 2: So what Serena and Mercedes are doing is creating the
Speaker 2: future job market, yes, in the STEM field. And that
Speaker 2: leads us to our next point that STEM is not
Speaker 2: just sitting at the bench, sitting at a lab bench
Speaker 2: and mixing chemicals and dissecting things. No, STEM is an enterprise.
Speaker 1: You're so right. I think too often we get into
Speaker 1: this tunnel vision about what STEM science is. This is
Speaker 1: having on a lab coat, is having a pipette, or
Speaker 1: it's using a microscope, And I'm like, no, somebody's got
Speaker 1: to write these budgets. Somebody's got to write these grantly,
Speaker 1: somebody has.
Speaker 2: To do it with the understanding of how these fields work,
Speaker 2: so right with a lens, a STEM lens.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I think that's something that's overlooked when we
Speaker 1: think about careers in STEM. People say, not everybody can
Speaker 1: be a professor. Hey, let me tell you. I was there.
Speaker 1: That's not the only career in stam okay.
Speaker 2: And so our next caller is a perfect example of that.
Speaker 2: She went from being in a more traditional STEM career,
Speaker 2: I should say, and using those skills to make a
Speaker 2: productive STEM enterprise.
Speaker 8: Hey, Dove Levs, my name is Kierana and I'm receiving
Speaker 8: my master's in Engineering management. Now, my engineering degree is
Speaker 8: not a traditional research based engineering degree, But before I
Speaker 8: got into my master's program, I received my bachelor's in
Speaker 8: chemical engineering, where I spent some years as a research
Speaker 8: and development engineer in the nuclear industry. Being in the
Speaker 8: nuclear industry is super important because so many people don't
Speaker 8: understand it, and it's really important that once you understand
Speaker 8: how FISSI reactions work and how you work in nuclear
Speaker 8: that you're not as afraid of it. My master's program
Speaker 8: is something that's more focused on engineering management, and a
Speaker 8: lot of people don't think of management when they think
Speaker 8: of engineering. But engineering is more than just being in
Speaker 8: the lab or doing STEM research. There's so many different
Speaker 8: sizes including project management, product management, operations, and black people
Speaker 8: need to be represented on all levels. So that's what
Speaker 8: really motivated me to get into my current program.
Speaker 2: Now, being a part of this industry has been so
Speaker 2: rewarding for the both of us. That's how Dope Lab
Speaker 2: was born, you know, being black and STEM and being
Speaker 2: a part of groups that help foster our education and
Speaker 2: community and everything like that. And so we are always
Speaker 2: advocates for people finding community no matter where they are
Speaker 2: and so that they can be their very best selves.
Speaker 1: We loved hearing you guys talk about finding your true north.
Speaker 1: What drives you when it's not easy? What keeps you
Speaker 1: in the lab when those results aren't looking right? What
Speaker 1: keeps you in the field when you're tired and you
Speaker 1: know you need to collect another another data point right?
Speaker 1: What drives you to go and talk to those kids
Speaker 1: even though they're talking while you're talking them?
Speaker 2: Kids be so bad. But we honestly really loved it
Speaker 2: because it shows that this community is growing and the
Speaker 2: folks inside of it were lifting as we climb and you.
Speaker 1: Love to see it.
Speaker 2: I'd love to see it.
Speaker 4: I love being a black woman and I love being
Speaker 4: an engineer. I get to represent us, but even more
Speaker 4: than that, I get to help bringing our perspectives to
Speaker 4: the table in each of our respective sim fields, and
Speaker 4: hopefully you start a bigger conversation that can trickle down
Speaker 4: and positively affect young black boys and girls who may
Speaker 4: see themselves in us and realize that they're more than
Speaker 4: capable of excelling in any field that.
Speaker 7: I really want to encourage young people, especially students of color,
Speaker 7: out there, to get involved in our environment and to
Speaker 7: work in fields where we are severely underrepresented. Marine biology
Speaker 7: in particular is one of those fields, as is environmental
Speaker 7: studies and conservation. And I think conservation for so long
Speaker 7: has had one narrative and it usually does not even
Speaker 7: include the very people who are affected by the policies
Speaker 7: that are put in place, and that needs to change,
Speaker 7: and more voices need to be heard. And so there
Speaker 7: are some days when I'm out there doing field work
Speaker 7: and we're like the only boat out there, and I think,
Speaker 7: how is this possible that no one else is out here?
Speaker 7: Am I the only person out here? Looking at this
Speaker 7: and what is this black girl from Boston doing out
Speaker 7: in the mangroves in an isolated area of Panama, surrounded
Speaker 7: by a bunch of islands and fish, And does any
Speaker 7: of this work even matter? And the answer is absolutely yes,
Speaker 7: and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 9: I'm here now and I hope to help the next
Speaker 9: generation to achieve their goals into full and love with
Speaker 9: the science is the way I have.
Speaker 8: But at the end of the day, I'm an engineer,
Speaker 8: a stem enthusiast at heart, and a Steminus to today
Speaker 8: I die and I'm black.
Speaker 3: It be black black.
Speaker 1: That's it for Lab twenty four and Semester two.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. We're gonna miss you, guys. We're going
Speaker 2: on a.
Speaker 1: Break, yes, but we will be back. Don't begin to
Speaker 1: check our website for some links to amazing scientists who
Speaker 1: we love.
Speaker 2: Make sure you're following us on Instagram and Twitter so
Speaker 2: that you can keep up with what we're doing during
Speaker 2: our break.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we will announce when we're coming back. We
Speaker 1: want you to be the first to know. Yes. TT
Speaker 1: is on Twitter at d r underscore t Sho and.
Speaker 2: You can find Zakiya at z said so.
Speaker 1: Dope Labs is produced by Jenny Rattle at mass of
Speaker 1: Wave Runner Studios, with help from Elizabeth Nakano. Mixing and
Speaker 1: sound designed by Hannis Brown.
Speaker 2: Original theme music is by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugi Eurra,
Speaker 2: with additional music by Elijah Alex Harvey.
Speaker 1: Dope Labs is a production of Spotify Studios and Mega
Speaker 1: Own Media Group and is executive produced by us T. T.
Speaker 1: Shadiah and Zakiah Wattley. You don't think I would tell
Speaker 1: you for breath snolk stink stinkd.
Speaker 2: Jimmy, don't tell me my husband. Don't tell him.
Speaker 1: It's because he love you. I don't love you like that.
Speaker 2: I say, Hey girl, somebody needs to tell me