Be A Scientist program

In early 2017, with only my doctoral thesis to focus on at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and no teaching commitments at Berkeley campus, I realized I could put my spare time to good use (and keep myself sane). And that was when I came across an opportunity to be part of an outreach program in Berkeley middle schools. The program was offered by the Community Resources for Science.

As a volunteer scientist mentor, I got an opportunity to guide a group of six 7th graders through the process of choosing an independent scientific question, design an appropriate experiment, gather and analyze data. This experience was extremely special on two levels:

a) guiding the kids through the process helped me reconnect with the fundamentals and simplicity of what it takes and means to be a scientist myself; and

b) despite varying levels of energy, interests and curiosities among the kids, I got to see that Eureka! moment on their faces when their experiments worked. And trust me, in terms of the PhD timeline, it almost felt like instant gratification watching their transformation.