2022 Best Bits (Part 1)

In this podcast episode, you'll hear some best bits from the STEM Untapped podcast in 2022. In particular we focus on what got our role models interested in STEM, and how important it was for them to have role models growing up. 

If you know a group of students who would like to interview female or non-binary role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Follow us on Instagram @STEMUntapped
Check out our website

If you know a group of students who would like to interview one of our role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com

Follow us on Instagram @STEMUntapped
Connect with us on LinkedIn @STEMUntappedCIC
Check out our website

Transcript

Intro 00:00

Hi, I’m Izzy host of the STEM Untapped podcast. This week, we're releasing an episode with some of our best bits from the last year. Coming up, you'll hear how our role models became interested in STEM, and the importance of role models in their lives.

Student Interviewers 00:21

What got you interested in STEM? 

Tolúlọpẹ́ Ògúnrẹ̀mí 00:24

I think I was interested in STEM before I knew what STEM was, I've always been interested in, I just had like a natural inkling as a child to take things apart and put them back together. But because of my parents at home, I was scared that I would not put them back together correctly and get into a lot of trouble if I like tries to take the toaster apart, and then stop the toaster from working. So I kind of let that live there and didn't really explore that until I found out about software engineering. And I found out I could take things apart and put them back together digitally, and that stays on my computer, my computer doesn't break and nothing breaks. And I was like, I loved it.

Sharon Strugnell 01:01

I thought I wanted to be an architect. And one of our family friends at the time was a civil engineer. And he was asking me why I wanted to be an architect. And I said, you know, just, I love knowing how things work in the built environment around me. And you know, you see these big skyscrapers, and I'd love to be involved in the design and the construction of them. And he actually said, Have you come across civil engineering? And I said, No, I don't know what civil engineering is, you know, architecture is a, you know, it's a popular topic. So I went away, I did a bit of a Google search on civil engineering. And the more I read upon the subject, I was like, wow, that's exactly what I want to do. I'm not artistic, like what an architect needs to be. I'm definitely more mathematical and science minded and wanting to understand a little bit more about how things work and come together.

Dr Megan Kenny 01:54

So I studied psychology and law at A level as well. And I was in the same position really, where I didn't know whether to pursue law and become you know, like a barrister be really heavily involved in criminal justice system, or whether I wanted to do more a career that were based in psychology. So I ended up choosing to do psychology with criminology at university, and that were really useful because it combines both really you get the psychology side, but you also get to focus on criminology and the criminal aspect of things. And so when I could choose electives at university, forensic psychology was one of them. And I picked that and it was my absolute favourite module that I'd ever done at uni, I got my highest grade in it. So I thought that seemed like a good reason to continue. And so when I finished uni, when I graduated, graduate from me undergrad degree, I thought that it'd be a good idea to pursue that. And then that's when I started to work in forensic settings.

Dr Elisa Smit 02:55

So what I really enjoyed was all the practical elements, because I don't know how you learn these days. But we got to do all these experiments and all the practical elements. And I really enjoyed that. And we'd even go out and sort of do little experiments. Again, I'm not entirely sure how you guys get taught now, but that's what kept me going.

Student Interviewers 03:22

Did you always want to pursue this career? And if not, how did you come to choose this path?

Yesim Kunter 03:28

I always want to stay as a child. So I think I became a professional child. So that's how I would say it. I don't think I can imagine myself in any other role. It did change, I transition to different parts of it. But I think I always want to be in this title, I would say. 

Aminat Amoo 03:52

Essentially, I got into tech, it wasn't the most traditional way. So I didn't actually do computer science when I went to university. I studied chemistry. And by my fourth year, I decided to pivot into tech. So I met someone else who had gone to the same university as me and she had done a STEM degree. And she ended up being a software engineer at bank. So that was the first time I realised that this was a career path that was viable for me. And so I went to a lot of tech networking events and tried to learn a lot more about what a career in tech looks like. And from there, I stumbled across an opportunity to join a boot camp that was targeting and essentially marketed to women. And joined 30 lovely women on a boot camp with BT learning how to code. And that ended up getting me into my first role as a software engineer at BT.

Dr Ananthi Ramachandran 04:47

So when I was younger, I was quite into medicine. So I liked all the medical programmes. So there used to be a programme called Children's Hospital that I used to watch. It was a real life thing. So it wasn't like a drama or anything, it was like a documentary. And the cameras would go into the Children's Hospital, and you'd see all these little, unfortunately, some very sick children and the doctors and nurses like treating them. And I quite enjoyed watching that. And there were a lot of happy endings. Unfortunately, there were that few sad endings as well. But I did enjoy watching that. So at that point, I would say the helping people has always kind of been in my nature.

Dr Megan Sumeracki 05:34

I really wanted to become a lawyer. I picked psychology because psychology was something that seemed interesting and could feed into law. So you can major in psychology, and then take the LSAT in the US and that helps you get into law school. But during my first semester in college, I started thinking about what I actually wanted to do as a lawyer. And what I was really most interested in was criminal law. But when I thought about actually engaging in criminal law myself, I realised that probably it wasn't a good fit for me. So I decided to just explore psychology. Since I was already majoring in psychology, I figured, alright, let's see what I can what else I could do with psychology. And I learned about all different types of careers, like becoming an industrial Organisational Psychologist, and I could have become a consultant and travelled all over working with companies and how to maximise their performance, or working with little kids developmental. And I just realised that psychology was so broad that I could stick with psychology, but try a lot of different things. And it wasn't until my third year in college, so junior year for us, that I landed on cognitive psychology. And it was really because I continued to be interested in working with kids. And I continue to be interested in learning. And it seemed like cognitive psychology could be a good fit. I honestly didn't even plan to apply to PhD programmes in cognitive psychology until my fourth year, that's when I finally said, Okay, I'm going to make them, I’m going to apply to these programmes.

Isabel Rogers 07:17

I've always been interested in animals. And when I was younger, it was a cross between wanting to work with animals when everyone, you know, when you're young all the adults always tell me, you're going to be a vet or something, because that was the only one that, when people think of working with animals that was that sort of limited options that people could think of. I knew I didn't want to be a vet at the time, but I wasn't sure what it was that I wanted to do. I just knew wanted to work with animals. But I also was really into art and creating. I think I was around 15 or 16, where I was getting quite obsessed with documentaries, wildlife documentaries. And I was thinking about doing about that. But it wasn't really sure do it as a career. I did some photography classes, like extra classes in school, we had like, extracurricular, and that was really good. So getting involved with the camera. But still doing my degree was still also focused on thinking that I would maybe just work in conservation, the field of conservation, and studying in animals doing field work. And then it was only really sort of year or so in. A friend and I were both interested in filming. And so together, we sort of just decided to make a bit of a film. And I've yo yoed after graduating between doing a bit of conservation work and then trying to get into filmmaking and then with a lot of a lot of talking to people and trying to get experience. They got me in there eventually it does take a long time. So yeah, I think I definitely I knew always knew that there was always elements that made me think of other things.

Charlotte Pitt  08:54

I think I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I think I had some friends at school who absolutely knew what direction they wanted to go in and I didn't so I was very lucky where I didn't sort of have pressures on me. I didn't put pressure on myself or didn't have pressures to find the career I wanted. So I looked on the internet and looked and looked and looked and found, or stumbled across psychotherapy, and did some research as to into different places where I could learn about psychotherapy, and then applied at the Birmingham trust for psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and started my training.

Student Interviewers 09:38

So do you have any role models that have inspired you?

Sharon Strugnell 09:42

Initially, my role models were my parents. Yeah, I have very hard working parents both worked full time. Both of them had no degree education. But both had a really good work ethic. And my dad is from an engineering type of career. And he always kind of influenced me and made me realise just how rewarding engineering is. The business that I've recently joined has a director who recently served as the ICE president, which is the Institution of Civil Engineers. And she is a big advocate for net zero and shaping the industry to consider carbon and the sustainability part of our jobs. And I've always found her energy and drive towards that really quite inspiring. So at the moment, she's definitely one of the role models.

Tolúlọpẹ́ Ògúnrẹ̀mí 10:28

Yes, I think role models are so important. I grew up with parents who I just knew did not know, you know, and it's not their fault. And they tried their best with everything else that they could, but they just weren't, they just didn't know anyone. And sometimes I see people like, Oh, my dad's friend worked in tech. I didn't know that, you know, I didn't have that at all. Then, I would have my own accord at 15/16. go to these conferences in London go to these hackathons. And I deliberately be looking for a 20 something year old black woman, because I know I'm not the only one, you know, I'm not self-absorbed. I don't think I'm like the first person on earth who's been interested in computer science as a black woman. So where have they gone? You know, I was thinking, have they dropped off? Have they been scared off by the industry? What happened? And I always had that. But I do have role models now. Like, they're all my friends, which is even better, right? In setting up Coders of Colour, in going through doing all this stuff and meeting people. I've met people who are doing amazing things, similar things to me. And the fact that I can just hop on a call with my role models is something that's even better than, you know, the situation I was in 5-10 years ago, and I had no one to look up to. Number one, because she also loves maths and computer science is Anne-Marie Imafidon, who's the founder, co founder of STEMettes. She's great. And yeah, like, yeah, that's basically all I can say she's, she's great. Look her up. She's wonderful. But then there's also like Charlene Hunter from Coding Black Females. There’s Deborah Okenla, from YSYS, and these are all black women, you know, who are a little bit older than me, to be honest, who are doing great things and who have done great things. Someone like Charlene, Charlene’s similar to me. She, she was coding from day one, you know, and she existed when I was 13. I didn't know who she was, because she wasn't made visible. So they do exist, they're out there. They're just not made visible.

Dr Megan Kenny 12:41

If I'm really honest with you, the person who inspired me to become a forensic psychologist was absolutely Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. I can trace it absolutely back to that and thinking that she was the most badass, coolest person, that maybe one day I could work for the FBI, although you can't do that if you've not been born in America. So she were a big inspiration for me going down the forensic path. But I think in terms of that inspiration and role models, now, I would have to say that it's the women that I work with in academia, who I think are really inspiring. Like I've got a research mentor, Professor Julia, Hirst, who, she's amazing. And she's got a really long academic publishing career. And she's really made massive strides in the field of sex education in schools. And she's really inspirational to me. And yeah, just the women that I work with. They're all really inspiring and doing really amazing things that are not always as recognised as they should be.

Dr Elisa Smit 13:35

I must say at your stage I really can't recall having any role models. Because there was no internet. There was no, there was a bit of internet, but it wasn't like as broad, I couldn't really go and look up things like you guys can do now. So can't really recall it your stage having role models. But throughout my career, I've definitely had people that I looked up to or that I thought, Gosh, I really want to be like you. In particular, I remember is a professor that I worked with. She's Norwegian, but she worked in the UK. And she did a lot of brain research in babies. So obviously that's how I've come to be what I am now. And I really looked up to her but she was quite approachable. So I think if you're looking at role models, find someone that is approachable that is quite close to where you are. And that you can just easily ask questions to say, look, I'm really struggling with this, what should I do? Or what how did you get to what you are now. So, I guess all throughout, I found people, but so many, if you start looking there are so many female scientists out there that definitely are role models, it definitely shows that you can be whatever you want to be, I think.

Student Interviewers 14:42

Who inspired you in your life?

Aminat Amoo 14:45

It might be cheesy, but my mum was probably like the biggest role model to me. So like, my mum came from Nigeria, and she came and she had like four kids, and she sacrificed everything, basically, to make sure that they were in a position to have the opportunities that I've had in terms of going to university and joining a boot camp and, and getting into tech. Another role model is someone that I worked with at BT, my first role. It was a software engineer, and she was a woman, another woman in tech. So when I joined BT, and I walked into the office, it was just men. All I could see was men, there was barely any women. And then I could see why they created a boot camp to get more women into the company, because there were barely any. But she was one of the few women that was working at BT. And she was just killing it. She was great at her role. And I was at a point where I was like, I want to be that, I want to be amazing at what I do. I want to be a really good software engineer.

Yesim Kunter 15:40

These days, I'm talking to Ursula LeGuin. In my mind, I love her mind I think. I'm reading her memoirs. So it's quite interesting to read them and articles while she had written. You know, I'm kind of having conversations in my mind with her. So that's one person, definitely. And then if I have to go in very personal, I think, you know, you get inspired from your own family. Definitely. So my grandmother was very much in love with nature. And I think her enthusiasm of life actually gave me this kind of space that I have to enjoy and have fun and be open to curiosity. And then my mum actually gave me space to explore. She didn't limit me and her best two friends actually inspired me because one of them is an architect and the other one is a psychologist. So I kind of get very much inspired by them. So that's what I would say they were very much my inspiration.

Dr Ananthi Ramachadran 16:38

There is a lady called Henrietta Lacks. She's a lady close to my heart, because I worked with cells that came from this lady during my PhD. So basically, this lady had cancer. And she just an ordinary lady. People extracted the cancer cells from her. And they basically multiplied them and froze them without her permission without her knowing. And without any of her family knowing, they, no one knew that they've done this. And those cells from this original lady are still being used in research to this day. And it's only more recently that she's getting credit for it. So those cells are called HeLa cells. So they're now named after her because she's Henrietta Lacks, so that they're called HeLa cells. So these play a massive role in cancer research now. So I would say, because she was like, not from any research that she did. She was just being a wonderful female. Unfortunately, she got ill. But she has made a huge, huge difference in the world of research, not even for cancer research. I didn't do cancer research for my PhD, but I still use those cells for other things. So it's helping biology in so many ways I would say.

Dr Megan Sumeracki 18:01

I think my main role model really was my mom, even though she wasn't in a STEM career. And she actually stayed home with us for many years until our parents got divorced. And then she went back to work, but she really sort of has lived her life in a way that's, I think, really lovely, just sort of treat others the way you want to be treated and try to help as many people succeed as much as possible. And she was just an excellent mom. I also look up to a lot of female politicians. So in the US, not, not all of them. But Hillary Clinton, I think, even though I know she has a bit of a bad reputation among many, for my generation, she's done a lot of really good things. And I think that some people in our country have really focused on a couple of things that maybe we're not perfect, and you know, nobody's perfect. And certainly it's not that we should sweep those things under the rug, but I don't think we need to constantly talk about her emails. That's, you know, maybe not the most important thing she's done. But Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, who's our first female in the White House. I really I like Dr. Jill Biden as well and I, she's the current president’s wife and she is more than just a first lady right? She has her PhD and I love that a lot of us in the States are insistent that we call her Dr. Jill Biden. Not just Mrs. Joe Biden or whatever. So I look up to a lot of a lot of those women, again not all but certainly we have some good ones.

Outro 18:39

Thank you for joining another STEM Untapped podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, then subscribe for free on your podcast app. You can follow us on Instagram @STEMuntapped. If you know of a school or group of students who would like to interview female or non-binary role models do get in touch. Likewise, if you know of anyone who would be a great role model then let us know. Our details are all documented in the show notes.