Day 323: Skype a Scientist!

Today is going to be fun, I’ve got a ton of meetings, but I also get to do outreach. If you’re a scientist, you can do it too, no matter where you are in the field, sign up at Skype a Scientist. While I wanted to write this post before my sessions I ended up having to write it afterwards so let’s get into what I talk about and how it went.

Sometimes I’m asked to talk to multiple classes. You don’t have to do that, but I didn’t mind so this time I was talking to two different groups. They were pretty awesome too. The groups had some great questions too and I’m happy they seemed to get a lot out of it. My talks are pretty much consistent these days and I touch on research, difficulties I’ve had with my journey, and the reasons behind my drive and motivation.

I also mention that my schooling is paid for and more importantly I get paid to do my research. Sometimes that’s overlooked. Most people don’t realize that you shouldn’t be paying for your PhD and I’m always excited to share that bit because I feel like it makes getting a PhD more accessible.

I got a lot of prosthetics questions, but I also got a lot of biomechanical questions that I didn’t expect to get. It makes me happy when I get surprising questions, it keeps me on my toes. Like one of the students asked me about my biggest failure! That was as funny as it somewhat traumatic (not really).

I also invited one of the undergrads I’m mentoring to come sit in and see what my outreach looks like. What she didn’t know was that she was going to get dragged into presenting on her work! She did awesomely of course, but it was fun to get to watch her talk about her work and inspire others to get involved. Overall, it was a LOT of fun!

Bottomline, outresearch is probably my favorite thing ever!