Blog

Just before the Covid-19 pandemic brought our world to a halt, I took a one-day weaving class at my local yarn shop. The next day I bought a loom. Though an experienced knitter, it was a somewhat impulsive purchase to quell curiosities I had about the art. Little did I know the pandemic would soon provide a lot of time to experiment. What I didn’t anticipate was how challenging it would be to do that experimentation without access to support from a community of fellow weavers.

Neurodivergent children and young adults can struggle with mainstream school requirements. For example, people with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will often have a special skill or focus. They can excel in this subject at school, more so than other students, but further education requires students to have a well-rounded skill set, which can exclude neurodivergent people from studying their passion further.

As I stepped into Meridian Mall on a bright Saturday morning, the hum of bustling shoppers and local produce sellers filled the halls. With support from the Government of Meridian Township, this venue would serve as the backdrop for our engagement activity aimed at spreading awareness about the practical benefits of solar energy.

I recently had the opportunity to host an engaging and interactive lesson on electrochemistry and electron-transfer reactions at the Saint Louis City Museum on September 30, 2023. The goal of the event was to teach the participant about electrochemistry and electron-transfer reactions while at the same time providing them with a lesson about why we make things and how electrosynthesis (and synthetic chemistry in general) allows us to probe the world around us.

Where can you get fresh produce from local farmers and build a battery from the 1800’s? The Playa Vista farmer’s market. Farmer’s markets were an important place to learn about the people in my community when I was growing up, so when the STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP) gave me the opportunity to work with a focus group to organize an engagement activity, I knew I wanted to work with a farmer’s market.

As scientists, we are eager to engage with the public, especially with the younger generation, by sharing our knowledge in a way that is both accessible and motivating. Sharing the thrill of scientific exploration can spark curiosity and a passion for learning among children.

As a scientist, it’s our job to think both creatively and analytically to advance scientific knowledge and solve problems. Sometimes, I find myself so caught up in the details of my research that I can forget how truly beautiful and inspiring science can be. Science is for everyone, and everyone can do science.

I fell in love with chemistry and all of its possibilities when my high school chemistry teacher taught each unit by combining fun hobbies and relatable anecdotes with what we were learning in that class. She made me begin to think about chemical terms in the context of my everyday life–when I brush my teeth, when I cook my food, when I turn on my lights. After that, I began dedicating myself to making others love it as much as I do.

As we awaited the arrival of our audience, a myriad of thoughts raced through our minds. Would they be receptive to our message? Could we effectively capture their imaginations and spark their curiosity? Our audience, a diverse group of teenagers from the Rhode Island 4-H Center, entered the room with a mix of excitement and curiosity, ready to embark on a journey into the fascinating realm of electrochemistry and batteries.

During my sophomore year of college, I told my friends about my declared majors: data science and chemistry. The most common response from my non-science friends was: “Why do you do it to yourself?”. This anecdote is one of my few examples reflecting on the notion that to those not in STEM, chemistry, or science in general, is challenging to logic through, and only few can understand it.