Career Corners
Learn more about STEM professionals through our Career Corner videos and highlights! In our videos, hear as professionals share what they love best about their field of work and answer student questions.
Do you have questions for a STEM professional about their career journey or the work they do? Send us your questions for the chance to have your question featured in a future video!
AStronomy & Space
Exploring Galaxies with Sam Garza
Meet Sam Garza, a PhD student at the University of Washington, studying astronomy.
Sam uses tools, such as the Hubble Space Telescope and space data, to investigate how a key part of galaxies plays a major role in shaping stars and possibly even supermassive black holes.
Searching for Life in Space with Megan Gialluca
Meet Megan Gialluca, a PhD student at the University of Washington, studying astronomy and astrobiology.
Megan uses tools like spectroscopy and data from telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, to search for signs of life in the atmosphere of exoplanets found in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
Traveling To Mars With Tanya Harrison
Meet Dr. Tanya Harrison, Co-Founder and CEO of the Earth and Planetary Institute of Canada.
Dr. Harrison has worked on multiple NASA missions to Mars, including the Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers. Hear Dr. Harrison explain her career journey into planetary science and answer student questions about how we send robots to Mars, what happens when robots break, and what it would be like to live on another planet.
Aviation
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.
Biology
Biology: Communicating Scientific Research with Helen Anderson
Meet Helen Anderson, a scientific content liaison who uses her love of biology to help share research from Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
Learn how communication and teamwork help Helen explain science to others as she answers students’ questions about genetics, siblings, and cancer treatment.
Biology: Finding Patterns and Helping Patients with Katie Neimeyer
Meet Katie Neimeyer, a genetic counselor who uses her understanding of genes and relationships to care for patients at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
Discover how her detective skills help uncover the best ways to support others as she answers students’ questions about genetics and cancer treatment.
Earth Science
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.
Ecology
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.
Energy
Powering Our Community with Brian Tyson
Meet Brian Tyson, the Manager of Clean Energy Planning and Implementation at Puget Sound Energy.
Learn about Brian’s path into STEAM and working with our community’s energy grid.
Calculating a Sustainable Future with Rachel Yeh
Meet Rachel, an applied mathematician working as an analyst at Puget Sound Energy.
Learn about Rachel’s journey into STEAM and how her love of math is helping our community make the best investments in clean energy technology.
Engineering
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!
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.
Geography
Mapping Arctic Changes with Katie Braun
Meet Katie Braun, an Earth Systems Geographer using her data visualization skills to map permafrost change in the Arctic.
Discover how field observations and remote sensing tools are helping scientists better understand changes to the climate systems that shape our planet.
Immunology
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.
Indigenous Studies
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.
Math
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.
Neuroscience
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
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!
Psychology
Creating Video Games with Melissa Boone
Meet Melissa Boone, the chief of staff at 343 Industries, and a video games researcher. Melissa uses math and psychology to help video game developers create games that are fun and accessible for people of all ages.
Hear Melissa share her journey discovering a type of science she loves and answer student questions about how video games are made!
Sports Medicine
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.
Zoology
Animal Care with Rachel Nelson
Meet Rachel Nelson, Animal Care Supervisor at Pacific Science Center.
Discover how science and teamwork are essential to caring for the creatures in PacSci’s Tidepool and Tropical Butterfly House. Hear Rachel answer student questions about animal diets, creating healthy habitats and the career path to becoming an animal caretaker.