Career Corners

Priyamvada Natarajan

Current Job: Priyamvada teaches astronomy and physics at Yale University

Background & Education: Born and raised in India, she was obsessed with atlases and celestial and terrestrial maps.

She received her bachelor’s degrees in both physics and mathematics from MIT, and her PhD from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.

Her research covers mapping dark matter and dark energy using gravitational lensing, and supermassive black holes.

Other Work: She is currently a member of the Science Advisory Board for the PBS series, NOVA.

Flight Instructing with Marcus English

Meet Marcus English, Certified Flight Instructor and youth mentor at Red Tailed Hawks Flying Club.

Hear Marcus answer student questions about how planes work, what it takes to be a pilot, and his experience flying helicopters in the army.

Earyn McGee

Current Job: Herpetologist Science Communicator

Background & Education: She earned an undergraduate degree in Biology from Howard University, as well as both a Master’s degree and PhD in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Wildlife Conservation and Management from the University of Arizona.

Earyn’s graduate studies focused on the impact of stream drying on the lizard population.

Other Work: Committed to diversity and inclusion, Earyn was graduate student mentor to the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars program. She’s also exploring ways to get more Black women into natural resources careers.

Kaeli Swift

Current Job: Visiting Lecturer at UW teaching a vareity of ornithology and wildlife ecology courses

Background & Education: Kaeli got her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Willamette University and her Master’s degree and PhD from UW.

She dedicated her research to avian ecologist and ethologist specializing in corvids (crows, jays, ravens, and magpies).

Her graduate research included both field-based projects observing wild crows, and non-invasive/non-lethal functional imaging studies aimed at understanding what was going on in the crow brain during these experiences.

Other Work: Her research has been featured by National Geographic, PBS, the New York Times, The Atlantic, Ologies podcast, Science Friday and many others.

Jessica Hernandez

Current Job: Jessica currently serves as a Board Member at Sustainable Seattle and a Climate Justice Policy Strategist at the International Mayan League, while supporting City of Seattle’s Urban Forestry Commission.

Background & Education: Jessica grew up in South Central Los Angeles and was raised by Indigenous immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico and El Salvador.

Jessica has a strong educational background in marine sciences and environmental physics at the University of Washington (UW).

Other Work: She wrote ​Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science and is currently writing her second book, Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots of Climate Displacement & Justice.

Jessica was named by Forbes to be one of the “100 Most Powerful & Influential Women of Central America.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Current Job: Robin is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment

Background & Education: She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Botany from SUNY ESF as well as a Master’s degree and a PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin. Her research interests include restoration of ecological communities.

Other Work: As an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Dr. Kimmerer is the author of the New York Times-bestseller, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.

In 2022, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Rae Wynn-Grant

Current Jobs: Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management leading carnivore research on the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve

Research fellow with National Geographic Society focusing on carnivore conservation in partnership with the American Prairie Reserve and a visiting scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History

Background & Education: As an ecologist, Rae has an expertise in uncovering how human activity influences carnivore behavior and ecology.

She attributes her interest in wildlife and conservation from the television shows she watched as a child. She was introduced to the field of conservation biology as an undergraduate.

Rae received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory University, her M.S. in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University.

Other Work: Working in the central coast of California, she is studying the unique ecology of carnivores in coastal zones as well as the role of protected areas in connectivity of high-quality habitat for large carnivores.

Bisi Ezerioha

Current Job: CEO and chief engineer of his company, Bisimoto Engineering

Background & Education: After a year of studies in West Africa, Bisi graduated with honors in applied and natural science associate degrees and obtained his bachelors in chemical engineering and engineering management from California State University.

Other Work: After a decade of pharmaceutical research and sales, he opened Bisimoto Engineering, focusing on design, manufacturing and sales of high performance parts for motorsports.

Exploring the Power Grid with Malini Ghosal

Meet Malini Ghosal, a power systems engineer with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Discover how electricity flows through the power grid to make our lives possible, and hear Malini answer student questions about what it’s like to be a power systems engineer, how electricity travels long distances, and more!

Scarlin Hernandez, Spacecraft Engineer

Current Job: Scarlin is a NASA contractor on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program. She wrote command scripts for Webb prior to the launch.

Background & Education: She was born in 1991 in the Dominican Republic, before moving to Brooklyn at age 4. She studied computer science in Capitol Technology University in Maryland.

She studied Computer Engineering at Capitol Technology University. While many aspects of her college experience were positive – a full scholarship from the National Science Foundation, hands-on experience, and small class sizes, she struggled to find female peers to connect with in a male-dominated environment. So, she helped start a chapter of the Society for Women Engineers.

Other Work: Scarlin is a bilingual motivational speaker and aims to inspire students from any background to pursue careers in STEM. She cites several of her own role models as inspiring her in her own journey: Ellen Ochoa (the first Hispanic woman to go to space), her middle school science teacher, and her mother.

Baking Outside The Box With Jacob Swiezy

Meet Jacob Swiezy, an electrical engineer and bakineer!

Hear Jacob answer student questions about what got him interested in engineering, and about his experience combining baking and engineering as a bakineer on Netflix’s show Baking Impossible.

Stephanie Wilson

Current Job: Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Background & Education: Born in Boston, Stephanie attended high school in Pittsfield, Mass., earned her Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1988, and earned her Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1992 from the University of Texas at Austin. She has served as the Space Station Integration Branch Chief from 2010 to 2012, and in 2013 she completed a 9-month detail to NASA’s Glenn Research Center as the Acting Chief of Program and Project Integration in the Spaceflight Systems Directorate. In 2021, she served as a Back-up to the Crew-3 ISS Mission Specialists and she is currently the Deputy of the Assigned Crew Branch.

NASA Work: Stephanie is a veteran of three spaceflights and has logged more than 42 days in space. She is a member of the Artemis Team, a select group of astronauts charged with focusing on the development and training efforts for early Artemis missions.

kizzmekia Corbett

Current Job: Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University’s Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Background & Education: Kizzmekia received a B.S. in Biological Sciences, with a secondary major in Sociology, in 2008 from the University of Maryland–Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar and an NIH undergraduate scholar. She then enrolled at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2014.

Other Work: She led the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center.

Her and her team created the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. She has more than 15 years studying dengue virus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, and coronaviruses.

Corbett also invests her time in underserved communities as an advocate of STEM education and vaccine awareness.

Miranda Belarde-Lewis

Current Job: Assistant Professor and Joe & Jill McKinstry Endowed Faculty Fellow in Native North American Indigenous Knowledge at UW’s Information School in Seattle. She specializes in indigenous systems of knowledge, tribal museums and indigenous curation, and Native American art and artifacts.

Miranda currently researches the ways that social media affects the distribution of Native information and knowledge. 

Background & Education: Miranda is a proud member of the Takdeintáan Clan of the Tlingit Nation in the Pacific Northwest, and is enrolled at Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Her mission is to celebrate Native artists and the complex processes that help shape their work.

She earned a Bachelors of Arts in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Arizona in 2002 before getting a Masters of Arts in Museology and a PhD in Information Science at UW.

Other Work: She previously worked at tribal, city, state, and federal museums where she helped create educational programming that is centered around Native people. Outside of work, she enjoys being a basketball mom.

Tiffany Kelly

Current Job: Founder and CEO of Curastory as well as the Co-Founder and Chief Algorithms Officer of Break the Love

Background & Education: Tiffany Kelly is a self-taught programmer. Her love for data and math grew after she connected it with sports. She studied Sport & Recreation Management, Statistics, and Computer Science from Nova Southeastern University. Before her startups, she joined ESPN Stats & Information Group as a Sports Analytics Associate. She was the first African-American analyst to join the team. She created the ESPN College Football Fan Happiness Index, which tracks what sports team fans are the happiest.

Other Work: As an ambassador of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – Lyda Hill Philanthropies IF/THEN Initiative, she seeks to inspire youth and women in STEM through sports analytics educational programs provided in inner city secondary schooling throughout the country, and mentoring middle school girls in STEM so they can then be the change.

Sound in the Brain with Christina Zhao

Meet Christina Zhao, an auditory neuroscientist studying how babies’ brains react to speech and music.

Discover the tools she uses to do her work, and hear Christina answer student questions asking if babies are smarter than we think, how we could test animal brains, and what the best part of her job is.

Sense of Touch with Samantha Sun

Meet Samantha Sun, PhD candidate and student researcher at University of Washington (UW).

Samantha is studying the brain’s role in sense of touch and answers student questions about sleep, hydration and brain superpowers!

Epilepsy with Asad Beck

Meet Asad Beck, PhD candidate and student researcher at UW.

Asad is studying epilepsy and answers student questions about brain size, human intelligence and brain cells!

Brain Communication with Elizabeth Crummey

Meet Elizabeth Crummey, PhD candidate and student researcher at UW.

Elizabeth studies the way the brain communicates as well as how we feel emotion and make decisions. She answers student questions about how the brain works, why brains are pink and slimy, and what subjects to study to become a neuroscientist.

Physics: Searching For The Axion with Michaela Guzzetti

Meet Michaela Guzzetti, a PhD student at the University of Washington studying physics.

Learn about Michaela’s research searching for the mysterious axion, a theoretical dark matter particle. See them demonstrate some of the tools that are used for this research and discover how physicists are “listening” for dark matter and why their experiments have to be kept at super cold temperatures.

Hear Michaela answer PacSci camper questions about what dark matter is and what it’s like to be a physics researcher!

Monica Rho, Physiatrist

Current Job: Chief of Muscoloskeletal Medicine at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago as well as the Director of Residency Training and Director of Women’s Sport Medicine.

Also Monica is the Team Physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and travelled with them to the 2019 World Cup in France.

Background & Education: She grew up in Chicago and got her bachelor’s in psychology from Northwestern University and her MD from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her residency at Northwestern’s McGaw Medical Center and did her fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine. She is board certified in both Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine.

Other Achievements: In 2019, she was chosen as an Ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)’s IF/THEM Initiative, which seeks to further the place of women in STEM fields by empowering current innovators and inspiring girls to be the next generation of pioneers.