Life has been a little bit crazy in all the best ways lately. I keep telling people that I am at the “perfect level of stress” right now (referencing the Pressure x Performance graph below) 

Between March and now I’ve presented my yearly seminar, completed three 8+-week long experiments (setting up more ASAP), volunteered with the Rochester City School District for their Festival of Trees, finished my courses for the semester, traveled to Pittsburgh for a conference, had my pre-qual (check out my recent post regarding that), AND traveled to the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA to TA for an endocrine disrupting chemicals course. Oh yeah, and I have my program’s toxicology retreat less than 12 hours after I return from Massachusetts. It’s a lot. But it is so much fun.

I feel like the further I get into my PhD, the more excited I get about my research and where my project is heading, and, in doing so, I enjoy presenting my research to others more and more each time. I can feel my confidence growing, and I’m hoping it’s not temporary…TBD I guess.

It’s also been fun to expand my network and deepen my connections with people already in my network. The most exciting connection I’ve been able to nourish recently is one with a girl I’d met while interviewing for graduate school!! While interviewing for graduate school, I tried to connect with my fellow interviewees on LinkedIn so that I could see where they ended up, and hopefully meet them one day in person. And that day had finally come ☺️ 

We connected over our shared interests in toxicology, environmental health, human health, advocating for human and environmental rights…as well as our shared interests in “crunchy white girl activities”, reading books, and eating ice cream.

All of these experiences have reaffirmed for me that my favorite thing about science is translating it to other people: getting people excited about science, empowering others to do what we can to protect the environment, and building connections with others in the field. I just love people and building connections. It really has me thinking about what career I want next…

I told my family that I finally know what I want to do when I grow up!!! …retire to Cape Cod 😂 Which I guess narrows down my career options to those that will financially set me up to be able to do that…

These past few months have been chaotic, but I wouldn’t want it any other way 😊 I’m so excited for what is to come and (hopefully) see my confidence continue to grow. I am forever grateful to my mentor for giving me so many opportunities, my program for being committed to community engagement, and to my labmates and friends for sharing these experiences with me and helping make life fun 😊

Here’s to preparing for my qualifying exam now…