Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), Department of Physics and Astronomy (College of Natural Science)
1. How long have you been at your institution?
1 Year
2. Who is your favorite STEM character in a book, movie or TV show?
Murphy Cooper from Interstellar
3. What inspired you to get involved in S-STEM work?
My experience as a community college student inspired me to study how we can make the process better. So many students start at community college and many of them, like myself, are non-traditional students who have additional challenges to overcome because the system was not made for them. I deeply want to help change this so that the system works for everyone.
4. What skills or knowledge are you learning throughout the program that you find most useful in your career?
The networking skills and the experience of collaborating with people across institutions has been incredibly helpful for figuring out where in this space I want to be.
5. What advice would you give to students who transfer from 2YC to 4YC?
You are never asking for too much help or being annoying when you reach out to people on either end of the transfer process. There are so many rules and confusing policies that the institutions just expect you to know or find for yourself. Never be afraid to keep asking questions and for connections with resources. It is so normal to not be able to go through this process alone.
6. Is your involvement in S-STEM work worthwhile to your graduate school journey? If so, please elaborate.
S-STEM work directly relates to my passion of helping improve the transfer process, so I would also say it's more than worthwhile to my graduate school journey. My aim is to remain deeply involved in this type of work and these types of spaces long after I graduate.
7. What skill do you think is most valuable for students considering a STEM career?
Make sure to give yourself the grace you give others. Often we are so understanding of how hard various parts of this career path are for others but don’t give ourselves the same forgiveness for not living up to the often impossible standards.
8. Tell us about the most rewarding experience that you have had during your STEM career.
The most rewarding experience of my STEM career was getting the opportunity to work with students and administrators to help build new degree pathways for my community college. Getting to better understand how deeply complex the process can be and how even the smallest decisions can impact so many people gave me so much appreciation for how important this work is and inspired me to pursue similar opportunities and has led me to where I am now.