Meet the organizers!OUTreach was inspired by the #LGBTQscience hashtag, which spent a full week trending on science twitter. The outpouring of LGBTQ+ scientists at all levels was empowering for us as early career scientists. We started outreach to pass that empowerment on to the next generation of scientists at UCSB: undergraduate earth and life science majors.
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Michael P. ShahandehCurrent position: PhD Candidate, Turner lab, EEMB
Area of interest: Behavioral evolution & genetics Pick some letters (L,G,B,T,Q, etc.): G, trying to live more gender fluidly Preferred pronouns: "You can call me he, you can call me she, you can call me Regis and Cathy Lee. I don't care, as long as you call me!" -RuPaul... and also me How did you arrive at your position? I received my bachelor's degree from UCSB, where I worked in a botany lab, but I kept killing the plants. I loved my evolution and genetics courses but also neurobiology, so I wanted to find a way to combine those interests. My plant science internship recommended my current advisor's lab to me, so when I graduated, I reached out to him to express my interest. I volunteered in his lab for a while before he hired me as a lab technician. When the time came for me to apply to graduate school he was incredibly helpful, even though I was convinced I wasn't going to stay at UCSB. Lucky for him, after all my interviews, UCSB was still the best fit. Describe your average work day (Is there even such a thing?). My work days are pretty variable, but because I work with fruit flies, the one constant is that every day I have to spend at least an hour keeping them alive. On experiment days, I get to spend hours watching them get it on (brown-chicken-brown-cow!). I sporadically do wet-lab work (DNA prep, sequencing, etc.) which is always followed with a few weeks of heavy computational stuff. Other than that, I spend a lot of time developing my teaching skills and writing. SO MUCH WRITING. Papers, grant applications, emails, apology texts to your friends that you keep canceling plans with. No one tells you as an undergrad how much scientists write! Has your LGBT+ identity affected your career path? Of course. It lead me to co-create this group! I'm certain that it has impacted me professionally in other ways, but I'm honestly too focused on myself and my work to have noticed anything major. Good strategy? Stay tuned to find out! We're also quite lucky in EEMB to have an incredibly open and supportive department. I've never felt that I had to hide my queer identity. Have you had any reactions (good, bad, or funny) from co-workers/students about your LGBT+ identity? Coming out to my advisor was funny. The lab was out for drinks and got onto the topic of dating. When I somewhat nervously said, "I'm gay," he said, "Well... duh," and moved right along. It made me instantly comfortable. What are your future aspirations (career or otherwise)? I would like to stick with academia as long as it will have me. For my postdoctoral work I would love to take a neurocircuit approach to the study of evolutionarily important behaviors. Anything you'd like to plug? OUTreach!! Oh, but you're already here so you've got that. Follow me on twitter @MShahand, or at my website: michaelshahandeh.weebly.com |
Nicholai M. HensleyCurrent position: PhD Candidate, Oakley lab, EEMB
Area of interest: Evolutionary biology Pick some letters (L,G,B,T,Q, etc.): G Preferred pronouns: He/him/his How did you arrive at your position? I think I took a pretty standard route into research. I took a research-based field course in undergrad that really excited me, and then sought out more opportunities in labs afterwards. I bounced between different labs and areas of research (~ 5) until I found a group of mentors that worked well with my personality, and I think that heavily shaped my current interests. I did research for about two years in undergrad, which lead to a job as a lab technician for a year while I applied to graduate schools. Five years later, here I am. Describe your average work day (Is there even such a thing?). My average day is spent on the computer quite I bit; more than I care for in all honesty. But between reading, writing and editing all the various grants, proposals, manuscripts, and emails, it's kind of a never-ending process. Other than that, my days consist of what bits of lab work need to be done for the projects I'm working on. One day I might be polishing acrylic sheets for an aquarium, or I might be doing PCR and transforming bacteria. The one constants are my need for a computer and a morning coffee. Has your LGBT+ identity affected your career path? I've always loved science and wanted to be a scientist because I was fascinated with the natural world, long before I knew I was gay. And I was drawn to evolutionary biology because of the questions; but also because it was a very welcoming scientific field. I only knew one or two openly gay graduate students as an undergraduate, but I knew that when I was doing research with my mentors, I felt accepted and valued as a person regardless of my identity. That welcoming sense of community really helped me stick with the type of research I do. Have you had any reactions (good, bad, or funny) from co-workers/students about your LGBT+ identity? I've mostly had good reactions to my identity in science. Most people in the ecology and evolutionary biology community are very open minded and supportive as far as I've experienced. I've also had some minor negative experiences while trying to do science internationally, and dealing with the intersectionality of being gay, being a foreigner, and navigating differences in culture with regards to sexuality. Although this experience was relatively small, I only note it because I feel that science can take you as person to many places professionally, but translating that personally may not always be as smooth. What are your future aspirations (career or otherwise)? I'd love to pursue research further. Hopefully at an academic institution or museum; ideally I'd like to work somewhere that I could incorporate scientific outreach into my professional life. I think it's valuable and I find it rewarding to engage young people in the wonder of scientific discovery and I'd like to develop that while also still being able to do research. Anything you'd like to plug? The hole in the ozone, although I think that's been found to have been reversing quite successfully over the past few years. Follow me on twitter @niko_hensley |