Women in Science

When people ask me what I do. I always hesitate a bit before I answer. Obviously I hesitate not because I am ashamed of job. I hesitate because it's hard for people outside of science field to comprehend what I actually do. If I say, "I am a scientist", the most precise imagery is delivered, and the least explaination I will need to do to make people comprehend what I do. However, I am not officially a "scientist" yet.

There are several ways to state my titles, but none of which makes sense to non-scientists.

I am a PhD student in Neuroscience. I usually get a woo and ahh with that, follwed by "you must be very smart". I dont quite feel flattered with that because I feel stupid everyday among all my genius colleagues. Worse is that I get a presumption that I take classes for a living. That's completely the opposite. I teach classes.

I am a Teaching Fellow in a University. That's one of my job title. That is, described in more common terms, a TA who needs to teach rather than just marking papers and exams, and answeing questions. If I say that then people would think I am a teacher, which is only 10% of what I do. And for good reason I feel undermined, if people consider me as a teacher.

Another proper job title is Graduate Research Assistant. That sounds the suckiest of all. First of, what on earth does that mean? Second, for people who didn't attend grad school, "graduate student" sounds unfamiliar to them. I have friends from all kinds of backgrounds. I respect people with all types of jobs so long you work hard. Therefore, I would hate to make some of my friends without high school diploma feel bad when I had to explain to them the differences between undergraduates and graduates. I feel like a jerk doing that.

This is one of the reason why I started this blog: "scientists" for the general public seems like a job of mystery. Be it the fancy labs you see on TV. Jurassic Park DNA manipulations. Drug discoveries. Animal rights people go against our animal testing protocols. Churches go against our "radical" evolution theory. Some of them are true. Part of them are exaggerated. And most of them...are misunderstood.

Time to time I will get ethusiastic undergrad students (or those who aren't familiar with the term, undergrads are those who work on their Bacholars degree) ask me how it's like to be in research. It's a long story, I often say. Those who loves it would not want to work in any other field. Those who hate it can not stand a moment of it. "How do you find out?" they ask.
"you just have to spend time in it to find out for yourself"

For some 4th year undergrad, they don't have the time to try and find out. The application for grad school is fiercely competitive and due a year before the start date - just like the MD programs. A lot of them thought of grad school as an alternative way too late into their BSc. training. That's very unfortunate. As from my personal experience, I didn't discover my passion for research until I had an unexpected opprtunity to have a taste of it.

I was hooked ever since.

But it's not until I was immersed in research for a year or two then I find out what it is really all about.

This is the second reason that I started this blog. Young people out there who may have a dream to become a scientst. You can have a better idea of the life of a scientist before you commit to a minimal 15 years of education (from BSc to PhD to Post-Doc).
For those who may have never consider to be a scientist. You will discover how diverse, fast paced, fulfilling, and pleasantly challenging a scientist's life is. MD is not the only way out after a BSc. Scientist, might actually be your dream job!


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