Pathways to STEM Success
- Animals
Dancing spiders inspired this biologist to teach others
Inspired by his research in animal communication, Echeverri began exploring ways to teach others about science while finishing his Ph.D. Today, he shares his passion for spiders as a science communicator.
- Space
This space physicist uses radios to study eclipses
Nathaniel Frissell uses radio data to study how eclipses affect a layer of the atmosphere called the ionosphere.
- Environment
This ecologist is looking at the Amazon’s past to save its future
Carolina Levis researches how local communities influence the Amazon. She’s interested in how Indigenous knowledge can help protect the rainforest.
- Chemistry
This forensic scientist is taking crime science out of the lab
Kelly Knight uses her past struggles and passion for forensics to inspire her students.
- Math
Lack of diversity in his field has troubled this mathematician
As a kid, Edray Goins didn’t like math. But he fell in love with the subject in college and is now training the next generation of minority mathematicians.
- Space
Before working on spacecraft, this engineer overcame self-doubt
Tiera Fletcher once dreamed of working on spacecraft. Gaining confidence helped her become an engineer who designs vehicles for moon or Mars travel.
- Earth
Desert trails and microbial life excite this soil scientist
To help her desert community, Lydia Jennings focuses her research on how mining affects soil microbes.
- Health & Medicine
This scientist wants to know how racial discrimination gets ‘under the skin’
Racism could have derailed Leticia Márquez-Magaña’s path to science. Now she studies the biological impact of stress faced by underrepresented groups.
- Earth
Weight lifting is this planetary scientist’s pastime
Beck Strauss uses magnetic fields to explore the makeup of Earth and other planets.
- Earth
An accident didn’t stop this geologist from doing field work
Anita Marshall works to make it easier for other people with physical disabilities to pursue a research career.
- Animals
How an encounter with this odd-looking bird inspired a career
Kevin Burgio overcame many hardships to become a scientist. Now he studies how animals like the Carolina parakeet and Tasmanian tiger went extinct.
- Brain
Curiosity drives this neuroscientist and artist
Christine Liu studies the brain on nicotine — and used Instagram to bring together women doing incredible science.
