Reinvented Magazine Issue No. 11

REINVENTED ISSUE 11

SPRING 2022

Kimberly Fiock on a Career in Pathology

Team Credits EDITOR IN CHIEF Caeley Looney

WRITING Officer: Aparna Rajesh

FINANCE Manager: Niyati Patel

Director: Emily Miller

Director: Christine Ao

Manager: Madeline Day

CMO: Varija Mehta Director: Ayushi Kumar Manager: Anika Garg Manager: Hansa

Aysia Torres

Director: Megan Jacob

PUBLISHING

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Officer: Laura Peckyno

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COO: Aly Trevino

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COO: Renee Becker-Blau

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ISSN 2770-6672 2 | Team Credits

LETTER

Dear Readers,

from the Editor

Wow, okay, this year has already gone by so soon. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote a Letter from the Editor while not in the middle of a pandemic, and this work-from-home burnout is real. I want to start off by simply saying that I’m so proud of all of you for surviving through all of the toughness that these last few months (years, really) have brought.

What I had initially thought would be a temporaty adjustment has seemed to turn into a permanent newnormal that I'm normal that I’m still struggling to get used to, as I imagine all of you are as well. But hey! We’ve survived 100% of our bad days together, and I’d say that’s a pretty solid track record.

Next, I just want to say thank you. No, really, thank you. Reinvented, like all other nonprofits during the pandemic, has not been immune to hard times and tough decisions, but your constant support has allowed us to continue printing this magazine and making an impact for girls in STEM. We moved into a new office space, had a successful Galentine’s Day campaign, attended our first in-person Princesses with Powertools event this year, and celebrated Women’s History Month with our “Stay Curious” t-shirts. We wouldn’t have been able to do any of that without you by our side.

Now, let’s talk about this issue. As you are all approaching midterms and final exams, our team wanted to make sure that you were set up to succeed. This magazine features an entire section on our favorite study tips, from a study playlist guaranteed to have a song on it for everyone to tips on how to create a study space that will keep you focused. The interviews, as per usual, are inspiring. I think that this issue features the most diverse set of individuals in STEM in terms of their job titles. From transportation engineers to astrophysicists to pathologists, we have an interview to inspire just about everyone. So, I truly hope that you find a story that you resonate with and can use as a motivator to push through the rest of the semester.

Well, I won’t keep you from reading this issue’s awesome content any longer. So, let me just end with this reminder, which I hope you keep in your mind especially as study season comes around. It’s so easy to get caught up in the need or desire to be successful, but you are so much more than your grades, and your mental health is so much more important than that A+. Study hard, but don’t forget to carve time out of your schedule to take care of yourself and do things that make you happy.

To Infinity & Beyond, Caeley Looney

Letter from the Editor | 3

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

31

KIMBERLY FIOCK

7 11 21 28 39 43 48

Women in STEM History Timeline Everyday Changemakers Study Tips

Debugged Podcast Biostatistics

Sustainable Fashion James Webb Space Telescope

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800 A.D.

WOMEN IN STEM

2020 TIMELINE

800 A.D. Hypatia of Alexandria becomes the head of the Platonist school of philosophy in Alexandria, Egypt, which was the cultural and intellectual center of the Mediterranean at the time.

She invented the astrolabe, an astronomical instrument often used to navigate ships, and made important mathematical contributions to the study of conics.

1759 Angélique du Coudray teaches midwifery to rural peasant women to reduce infant mortality in France.

She developed the first lifesize obstetrical mannequin and wrote the midwifery textbook ​Abrégé de l’art des accouchements to aid her lessons to an estimated 10,000 students.

1816 Sophie Germain submits an anonymous memoir to the French Academy of Sciences containing a mathematical explanation of physicist Ernst F.F. Chladni’s research on vibrating plates, winning an award from the Academy for her work.

1786 ~1122 Dobrodeia of Kyiv formulates and tests efficiency of medical salves, which she documents in "Ointments," believed to be the first medical treatise written by a woman.

8 | Women in STEM History

Caroline Herschel, considered the first professional female astronomer, is the first woman to discover a comet. In the next 11 years, she would find seven more comets and be recognized for her work with the King of Prussia’s Gold Medal of Science.

1843 Ada Lovelace writes a sequence of mathematical operations that would allow a machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers, creating the world’s first computer program.

1868 Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States and champion for women in medicine, opens a women's medical college in New York City.

1943 Grace Hopper joins the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. Here, Hopper would design a program that translates programming code to machine language—the world’s first compiler.

1952 Rosalind Franklin uses Xray crystallography to produce an image of DNA, which would provide the basis for the doublestranded helix model for DNA that would later win a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1903 Marie Curie receives her first of two Nobel Prizes, becoming the first woman to receive the recognition, for her research on radiation— namely, extracting the radioactive elements radium and polonium.

1905 Nettie Stevens conducts research on mealworms and discovers that there are two types of sex-determining chromosomes referred to today as the X and Y chromosomes. Stevens’ work provided key evidence for Mendelian gene inheritance.

1950s Katherine Johnson starts her work as an aerospace technologist in NASA’s Spacecraft Control Branch, where she provides mathematical calculations that would determine the flight trajectory of the first American flight to space and the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

1962 Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, denouncing the harmful impacts of pesticides and spearheading modern environmental activism.

While her work was faced with staunch opposition, in part due to her gender, Silent Spring eventually prompted broad changes in the United States’ pesticide policies, including banning the use of the pesticide DDT. 9 | Women in STEM History

1963 Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space, aboard the Soviet Union’s Vostok 6 spacecraft.

1985 Flossie Wong-Staal and her team of researchers clone HIV and construct a genetic map of the virus, prompting the development of the first blood tests for HIV and providing key support for the link between HIV and AIDS.

2014 Maryam Mirzakhani becomes the first (and to date, only) woman to receive the Fields Medal, established in 1936 and one of the highest honors in mathematics, for her work on the theory of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces.

1992

1983 Barbara McClintock becomes the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of genes that can change locations on chromosomes, also called “jumping genes,” in maize.

10 | Women in STEM History

Mae Jemison is the first Black woman to travel into space aboard the Endeavor, acting as the science mission specialist.

Jemison conducted a range of research in space, including on bone cell function and weakening in zero gravity.

2020 Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in developing CRISPR, a revolutionary gene editing technology that has since become a staple in genomic research.

A Dance with Fate Inspired by the results of a career aptitude test she had taken a few days prior in English class, Abi Youngker donned a NASA shirt and space buns for career day at her high school. Her outfit caught the attention of her geometry teacher, who introduced her to the Go For Launch program that was holding a space camp at their school that weekend.

Abi Youngker A Journey to the Stars

When we ponder potential career paths, we often reflect on the ones our parents and the adult figures around us chose. Aerospace engineering major Abi Youngker grew up in a household with few role models in STEM— her journey with aerospace engineering began with a chance occurrence.

12 | Abi Youngker

Abi owes much of her introduction to the aerospace industry to Higher Orbits, a nonprofit organization that encourages 8-12th grade students to get involved in space exploration and STEM through their Go For Launch space camps. “At camp, you’re given an allotted amount of time to work with a team of entirely new people, and you have to design an experiment proposal within the constraints of microgravity (an environment of weightlessness),” Abi describes.

After winning at the series level, Abi and her team received the chance to attend two different rocket launches, one of which sent their project to the International Space Station where it was tested by aeronautical professionals.

Abi now serves as a student ambassador for the Higher Orbits organization and has been doing so for the past five years. Through this role, she advocates for and promotes the program to students with an interest in STEM and aerospace science. Abi was also a featured speaker representing Higher Orbits at the “What’s on Board'' conference, a pre-launch press assembly for NASA’s OA-8 resupply mission.

“It was an absolutely incredible experience to work with Higher Orbits,” she emphasizes. “It has honestly set my life on a completely different path, all because I decided to wear a NASA shirt to school and a teacher happened to notice.”

All About Aerospace Engineering As a sophomore at the University of Colorado Boulder, Abi continues her interests through a major in aerospace engineering.

Aerospace engineering is a multidisciplinary field that utilizes math and aerodynamics to design, test, and build vehicles made to withstand environments beyond the surface of Earth. Within aerospace engineering, there are two main disciplines: aeronautics and astronautics. “In aero, you work on designs and vehicles that will remain within the atmosphere of Earth,” Abi explains, “and astro means that you will work on designs that are made to go beyond the atmosphere of Earth.”

Aerospace engineering is all about innovation and creativity. “We don’t just build rockets for the fun of it,” Abi says. “We build rockets to house equipment that will study the history of our universe.”

One of Abi’s favorite quotes is from astronaut Tim Peake’s book, Ask An Astronaut: My Guide To Life In Space: “Academic requirements only get you so far; it is your drive, your enthusiasm, and above all, your personality and character that will enable you to succeed.”

Despite experiencing challenges on her journey to becoming an aerospace engineer, Abi contributed to many groundbreaking projects, including an electronic measuring tool that generated a 3D graph of objects in her freshman-year “Engineering Projects” course. “It was awesome to see the whole process come together through manufacturing,” she emphasizes. “This was when I truly felt like an engineer for the first time.”

Mission In Progress Abi advises that in order to be successful in the world of engineering, “you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable, as these moments are the ones in which we learn the most.” The main piece of advice she gives to girls in STEM is to be confident and to not feel inferior to your peers: “There are going to be countless times in your career that you feel like you are the only person struggling. I’m here to tell you that you’re not.”

As an engineer with a future in computer-aided-design, Abi Youngker believes that the future of aerospace engineering lies in accessibility and diversity: “Space is for everyone, and it has been incredible to be a part of the generation that is living through aerospace history.”

Encountering Turbulence In her STEM classes, Abi describes constantly feeling invalidated and second-guessed by her male peers. So, what kept her going? “I know many women in STEM have felt this way, and I have had wonderful individuals reach out to me through social media to support me during this time,” she said.

Abi Youngker | 13

Vanessa: San Diego's

BY SOPHIA STEFANAKIS

Though she possessed a keenness for mathematics and science as a teenager, Vanessa never considered engineering as a career. In fact, she was unaware that the profession was even an option for her until a family friend suggested it when she was in high school. Although Vanessa initially faced indecision when contemplating a career path, it was this recommendation—kept safe in the back pocket of her mind—along with her own growing curiosity that led her to enroll in an “Intro to Engineering” course at her local community college.

Vanessa was intrigued by nearly every engineering field she learned about in the course. After reflecting on the potential impact she could make within each of these fields, Vanessa decided to focus on civil (transportation) engineering. The ability to work on projects that could improve transit safety for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians appealed to both her moral and intellectual taste buds.

After joining the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at her university, Vanessa was introduced to new companies, volunteering and fundraising opportunities, and social events that sparked years-long friendships. A specific memorable event hosted by the ASCE—the Pacific Southwest Conference—encouraged friendly competition against nearby universities, holding challenges that fused engineering principles with general bonding, including concrete canoe, steel bridge, geo-wall, environmental transportation, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and concrete bowling. Through serving as the competition’s steel bridge coordinating chair, secretary, and ambassador, Vanessa was able to strengthen her teamwork and leadership skills.

14 | Vanessa: San Diego's Civil Transportation Engineer

Today, Vanessa works to improve the safety and design of pedestrian, bike, and railroad crossings. Vanessa spends much of her workday outlining the physical logistics of projects in AutoCAD, a computer-aided-drafting program.

Her designs are often repurposed for similar projects across multiple communities. She designed a project to protect cyclists that involved building cycle tracks with median curb buffers. Buffered bicycle lanes are . conventional bike paths paired with buffer space that separates bikeways from adjacent motor lanes, minimizing rates of collison.

Civil Transportation Engineer Upon joining Instagram to share her journey, she became acquainted with a supportive community of female engineers. Vanessa shares, “I didn’t know too many female civil engineers throughout my entire college career, but that is the reason why I started posting on social media: maybe someone will find my page and want to pursue what I’m doing.” She hopes to empower young girls who are interested in STEM fields.

In the future, Vanessa is excited to earn her professional engineering license and eventually become a project manager. She understands the intimidating nature of a career in a male-dominated industry and urges others to persevere in the face of discouragement, emphasizing, “Engineering is difficult, but never impossible.”

Vanessa also worked on designing a pedestrian undercrossing. Concerned about the dangers children faced while crossing railroad tracks in an elementary school zone, she assisted in designing a railway bridge American Disability Act (ADA)-approved pathway for kids to cross risk-free. The best part of her job, says Vanessa, is “knowing that the projects [she works] on helps improve the public’s ability to get from one place to another safely.”

Aside from employing her creative mind on AutoCAD’s detail-oriented system, Vanessa takes pleasure in hip-hop dancing, using her 3D printer to construct self-watering or hanging plant pots for friends, and posting about her engineering experiences on social media. While starting out in civil engineering, Vanessa couldn’t identify any relatable mentors whose trails she could follow. Now, Vanessa wishes to change that—she’s utilizing her social media platform to inspire others.

Vanessa: San Diego's Civil Transportation Engineer | 15

G N I OT

for the stars: a m r

O H S

BY: ISABEL POWELL

a ie- l i i s

Trilingual Estonian astrophysicist Marie-Liis Aru worked at the European Space Agency (ESA) for two years, analyzing the impact of meteorite fragments on the Gaia spacecraft at the Lagrange 2 Point, a special gravitational balance point for spacecraft to orbit. The Gaia project has mapped over 1 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, information which “revolutionized modern astronomy” by providing thousands of astronomers with enormous amounts of original, raw data.

The Gaia project explores the same space environment as the James Webb Space Telescope will and provides crucial information regarding crumbs of asteroids and comets in this area. Marie’s work at ESA inspired her to pursue a PhD in asteroid science, and she is interested in developing planetary defense technology that can redirect asteroids approaching Earth.

Preserved from erosion, asteroids are “pristine, ancient relics of the solar system” that provide an unparalleled

ru

insight into the chemistry of the solar system when it was first formed.

Despite her early success in astrophysics, Marie only became interested in astronomy by chance. “I never thought that I would work with equations when I was in school,” she explains. “I always thought I would study languages.” Growing up in Estonia, Marie learned to speak English and Russian in addition to her native Estonian.

Since then, she has mastered French and has begun to learn Japanese. The prevalence of these distinct cultures 16 | Marie Liis-Aru

and the importance of multilingualism in Estonia cultivated an interest in languages that Marie believed would translate into a career. Marie never considered studying natural sciences because she “wasn’t exposed to the whole world of science and didn’t know who could be a scientist.”

However, Marie was first intrigued by astronomy when, in high school, a family member told her about the expansive size of the Milky Way and the sheer abundance of stars. From first learning about stars and galaxies, Marie’s interest in astronomy skyrocketed. “This one piece of information changed my life forever,” she recounts. Marie quickly began to pursue any scientific opportunity she could find, hoping to actively enhance her knowledge and learn more about the awe-inspiring universe before her.

Instead of aiming for perfection, aim for progress instead.

At every step of her professional journey, from her first internship to an elite scholarship, Marie designed her own future through hard work and unrivaled dedication. “I was so eager to work in space science that I wrote to the local observatory myself in high school and asked them if there were any opportunities for me to do anything,” she remembers. “I just wrote an email describing my passion in astronomy and that actually worked!” Although there were opportunities for astronomy projects during her undergraduate education, she could work on them only as part of a physics degree, as there was no separate astronomy degree available in Estonia. In order to major or specialize in astronomy and the study of the solar system, Marie researched European universities at which she could pursue a master’s degree. She won a competitive national scholarship that was offered to only one Estonian student per year. This self-initiative and active dedication to advancing her career made it academically and financially possible for her to study in Belgium, and later to work at ESA. After completing her work at ESA, Marie was driven to science outreach as a result of the profound influence of the single conversation with her family member that sparked her interest in science. Hoping to be the

catalyst for another young scientist’s interest, she now uses her social media pages for science communication and to share milestones in her own career. She also travels to participate in panel discussions and seminars. Coming from Estonia, a small northern European country with a total population of just 1.3 million people, Marie recognizes “the importance for people from different countries and different backgrounds to show that they exist in science.” Through her outreach efforts, Marie hopes to inspire others, especially girls, to pursue their dreams and to provide an example based on her own journey. She offers personal, academic, and professional advice to aspiring women in STEM. She emphasizes that almost everyone will feel overwhelmed or underqualified at some point, and that this should never discourage someone from reaching their goals: “Each person has their own preferences and ways to navigate problems. Don’t give up if it feels too hard.

Usually, you just need a plan to learn well and to take some time to figure out what works best for you.”

Above all, Marie recognizes the importance of reflecting on your accomplishments rather than fixating on your struggles: “Instead of aiming for perfection, aim for progress instead. With every day that you have finished tasks, you have made progress toward your goals. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t perfect. Remember everything you have finished, rather than everything you have left to accomplish. Recognize the steps you have made because you are always moving forward.”

“Each person has their own preferences and ways to navigate problems. Don’t give up if it feels too hard. Usually, you just need a plan to learn well and to take some time to figure out what works best for you.”

Marie Liis-Aru | 17

Neeka Sewnath: From working in a honey bee ecotoxicology laboratory to developing data analysis tools for the U.S Census Bureau, Neeka Sewnath has expertise across multiple sectors of science. As a data scientist and PhD student studying bioinformatics, she builds computational models to summarize large sets of data that would otherwise be impossible to decipher. Most importantly, Sewnath navigates an increasingly technology-driven world with a “have-fun” philosophy that allows her to find joy in every step of her journey.

Follow the Fun “I always knew I was going to be in STEM,” remarks Sewnath. She believes that biology was part of her destiny.

Growing up with an environmental scientist as a mother and a computer engineer as a father, Sewnath was drawn to STEM from a young age. Sewnath’s take on life is to “operate on the basis of whatever is the most fun.” Thus, the STEM field became a beacon that she followed, and she went on to earn an undergraduate degree in biology.

During her first two years of college at the University of Florida, Sewnath took the required biology courses, but felt like something was missing. In that time she worked as an independent researcher within the Florida Museum of Natural History. Towards the end of her sophomore year, the principal investigator of her museum lab handed her information about a bioinformatics bootcamp in New Hampshire. Though Sewnath did not have much experience with data science, she “followed the fun” and attended the bootcamp, spending an entire weekend “drinking coffee, sitting in the dark, and typing” ferociously on the computer.

18 | Neeka Sewnath

BY MADELINE DAY

Upon her return to Florida, she immediately enrolled in computer science classes, certain that she had found the “click” in biology that she sought. With computer software, Sewnath could go farther in biology, freed from the practical limitations of the laboratory. Sewnath’s new interest also allowed her to travel across the country, competing in 24 to 36 hour long hackathons that increased her skill and opened her up to new experiences. After graduating with her undergraduate degree, she began working in a professional honey bee ecotoxicology laboratory, but found she was ill-suited for the long hours and repetitive tasks required for research. However, she is still glad that she took on the role, as the job trained her for the professionalism necessary to excel in graduate school.

A Deep Dive into Data Science Data science is a fascinating field, but Sewnath notes that it was not until her third year as a Ph.D. student when she grasped its broader meaning. So, what exactly is data science? According to Sewnath, it’s “building computational tools and mathematical models…in a way that helps researchers synthesize data into a beautiful story.” Rather than view data science as just crunching numbers, Sewnath views it as a way to communicate complex ideas and aid scientific research. “Data is not boring!” she emphasizes. In fact, one of Sewnath’s favorite data science projects involved analyzing changes in the genome of domestic turkeys from ancient to modern times. The evolution of the domesticated turkey genome also tells a human story: patterns in the genome can reflect the behavior of ancient human civilizations.

Finding Fun from Honey Bee Biology to Bioinformatics and Data Science

Finding Direction in Data Science and Beyond:

For example, the prevalence of specific feather color genes in domesticated turkeys from Central Mexico reveals what was “important to the people at the time,” giving insight to the use of certain feathers for religious ceremonies. She also compared the DNA of wild turkey species to domesticated turkey species, shedding light on how domestic turkeys have genetically diverged. Sewnath’s graduate work consists of diverse projects, ranging from nitrogen fixation in plants to bird call recognition.

Sewnath’s work as a data scientist at the U.S Census Bureau also focuses on discovering patterns in large sets of information. She builds tools to research “and filter through millions of rows of data,” primarily using Python and R on a Linux-based system. By creating user-friendly dashboards that can ingest and summarize data, Sewnath makes research more accessible, saving time and resources. The magic of data science, she notes, is that “you can [take it] anywhere you want, from astrobiology and NASA to population dynamics and the Census Bureau.” The common denominator is the ability to empower others and “make people’s lives easier.”

One of Sewnath’s favorite memories is of receiving a job offer from the Census Bureau, the culmination of years of learning. The moment she received the offer was a tangible manifestation of her growth and just “really cool,” she remarks with a grin. Reflecting back on her data science journey, Sewnath notes the challenges she overcame. As a biology major, she had to unlearn perfectionism when transitioning to computer science and become “really good at being the person who didn’t know the most.” She realized that only through “constantly relearning and constructively criticizing” would she be able to improve.

Even when faced with learning curves, Sewnath persevered.

Her biggest piece of advice? Just keep having fun. Sewnath is a firm believer in the idea that “it does not matter what point in life you are at, if you want something, you can do it.” Her belief applies to all aspects of life, but is an especially refreshing perspective when applied to academia. Whether a big or small task, Sewnath advises young people in STEM to find something they enjoy and be excited about the challenges that will come.

Neeka Sewnath | 19

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REINVENTED TIPS STUDY

it h t io n s w a i c o s ect e as ! C onn “C r e a t w o n k you ou’re t h in g s e r ia l y t a m ou r th e g s in y n i h t o in g t r e v ie w life.” i P. - N iy a t

“D o n ’t s p e nd m 30 m o r e th in u t e an s s tu d sam e y in g t o p ic th e . Take fo r 1 0 a bre to 1 5 ak m in u go ba te s , t c k to h en s tu d y r e t a in in g ; y m ore o u ’l l in fo r m a ti - Yes o n .” s e n ia L.

“Don’t just gloss over your notes. Try using the active recall method to explain the concepts yo u’re studying out lou d or teach the materials to others to retain more info rmation.”

- Sharafa M.

22 | Reinvented's Top Study Tips

“Don’t s

tu d y o n an em p s to m a c ty h! You’l l f in you rse l d f gettin g easily distract ed.”

- Varija M.

“Change location every 2 to 3 hours! You’ll have a lot more energy if you physically move to a new place, give yourself a brief break, and then restart.”

- Isabel P.

g . B r in d e t a a ny h ydr e —or e “S ta y f f o c of r a nd era ge v e w a te b d you in a t e w it h — c a ffe e c i .” ch o you r s tu d y u o y w h il e T. - A ly

studying for “Spread your t ov e r a big test ou It will take several days. rall and less time ove tain more make you re information.”

- Grace P.

“Just try somethin g for 5 min u te s . A h a rd task will b e com e m u ch ea sier once you g e t s ta r t ed.”

- Avika P .

e w a y to it r o v a f “My n is ormatio f in e iz r o u t, m em o riting it w , it g hat readin e with t is c r e x e n doing a d th e n tion, an a m r o f in g.” repeatin .

- Amy L

“The Pomodoro Techniq ue really does work, especially if you have trouble paying attention .”

- Jacleen N.

b ig d o in g a e ’r u o y “I f hat n ou t w a l p , w e rev i n t to you w a s t p e c con a lot can be t I . n o u gh fo c u s a th o r o o d o t r s ta r t e a s ie n if y o u o i s s e s ind.” s tu d y a l in m o g r a e l w it h a c gZ - Lu yan

“If you’re distr acted or bore d when studyin g and find you rself staring at you r wall, try find ing a different land scape. I like to sit facing window s with trees, . buildings, or w alking people so my periphera l view is dyna mic, but you can a lso try YouTub e videos with g ood ambient landscapes lik e fireplaces, la kes, or even fantasy castles.”

- Allison M.

Reinvented's Top Study Tips | 23

Creating a Super Study Space Even though COVID restrictions are slowly loosening up, studying from home may continue as the new normal. There’s no right or wrong way to create a super study space; ultimately, it’s all up to you. Before getting started, ask yourself one question: what helps you concentrate? To figure it out, here are a few study habits that you can try out to see what helps you focus the most.

BY CAELEY LOONEY

Background Music or Silence?

When I’m feeling extra anxious or jittery, playing soft music goes a long way in keeping my headspace clear enough for me to study without being too much of a distraction. One of my favorite artists to listen to is Dan + Shay—they make songs with consistent, soft beats. Some days, however, any little noise can throw me off balance, so it’s best to leave my phone and music outside of my study space.

Find a noise level and tune (or white noise) that syncs with your brain and puts you in the right headspace to concentrate on your study materials.

To Burrito or Not to Burrito?

This tip is all about comfort, and for me that usually means wrapping myself up in my favorite soft blanket to help keep me calm while I’m studying. Trying to understand a difficult topic can lead to panic or anxiety, but having a soft blanket around helps me feel safer in my study space.

However, it’s important to remember that your space has to reflect your needs. You might find more comfort playing fidget cubes or laying on a big pillow on the floor instead.

24 | Creating a Super Study Space

Easy on the Eyes

Your eyes play a big role in your ability to study successfully. Find a place with plenty of natural light so there’s less strain on your eyes while you study. Consider adding a plant or two to bring some serenity to your space and help remind you to breathe. Finally, don’t forget your whiteboard if drawing pictures helps you learn!

Remove Distractions This one might seem obvious, but remove distractions from your space. That includes your phone (yup, no chance for a Netflix binge session) and Xbox–anything that can lead to you procrastinating the entire day!

But remember that small breaks and distractions are more than okay; they’re actually really helpful for staying sane during finals season, as long as they don’t consume all of your study time!

Nom Nom Let’s talk about study food. For some, bringing food into a study space can be a major distraction, but for others, it can be a fuel source that’s vital to staying on track. Stay away from bringing entire meals into your study space, but don’t shy away from small snacks or brain food, such as dark chocolate, almonds, or anything that helps you stay fueled and focused.

Hot tea or coffee can also help you concentrate.

Creating a Super Study Space | 25

Reinvented's Ultimate Study Playlist

BY CHANTELLE FARIA

Letter from Yokosuka by Nujabes This song is instrumental, which can help prevent you from getting distracted while reading or studying. Plus, the music sounds so beautiful.

High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco This song is the perfect motivator and reminder to never give up and reach for the stars.

All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)

by Taylor Swift This song’s soft tone and consistent beat allows you to play it mindlessly in the background while you work, so you can keep studying without sitting in silence or getting too distracted.

Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara This song’s upbeat tempo can help you power through challenging work. Plus, we love the uplifting message!

Feel u by okayceci This is the perfect song to listen to when you are taking a break. It’s not so loud that it will make you anxious, but not so soft that it won’t motivate you to get back to work.

Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran ft. Khalid Play this song when you’re starting to feel yourself drifting away from your textbook. There’s just something about Ed Sheeran that pushes us to get through those last few pages of notes.

Over Hill from The Hobbit (especially the version from YouTube channel Ambient Worlds) This song is engaging and motivating without being too distracting (most of the movie’s soundtrack is similar in this sense).

The music video combines nature sounds, other songs, and a calming landscape, which can really pull you into your study space and away from distractions.

That’s My Girl by Fifth Harmony We suggest playing this song while you’re headed into your exam. It’s guaranteed to build your confidence after a long night of studying, and will set you up to ace that test!

Work by Britney Spears How could we not include this one? Britney will always keep us pumped up while studying even the most boring subjects.

Video game soundtracks, including instrumental versions of songs, the Halo soundtrack, or anything from Nintendo Video game soundtracks are made to help you focus on completing different missions and tasks. They can help you do the same thing while studying!

Reinvented's Study Playlist | 27

T G E U C B H E D

with the Debugged Podcast

BY MACKENZIE HILL

Hi Reinvented readers! We're Debugged: a podcast initiative of the Congressional App Challenge, that connects the country’s youth with tech by *debugging* the intricate world of Computer Science. The Congressional App Challenge is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that allows Members of Congress to host app challenges for youth, encouraging them to learn to code and pursue careers in STEM. By highlighting trends, simplifying complex concepts, and speaking with high profile guests, Debugged allows its listeners to delve into tech in an analytical yet relatable way. Hosted by Medha Gupta, a Computer Science student at New York University, and backed by a team of Congressional App Challenge alumni, Debugged is a unique podcast experience that seeks to redefine STEM education, highlight diverse voices, and further the narrative around a myriad of Computer Science topics

Episode 7 Ruthe Farmer has focused on tech inclusion since 2001.

She is the founder and CEO of the Last Mile Education Fund. She previously served as chief evangelist at CSforALL, served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, and led programs at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).

As a Reinvented Magazine exclusive sneak peek, we’ll be highlighting some of our future episodes; featuring inspiring women who are leaders in tech, non-profit founders, and engineers — you don’t want to miss out!

Episode 6 Dee Nickerson is a Managing Director and Oracle/PeopleSoft consultant at Bart & Associates (B&A) who works on Federal Government contracts. Dee is a Project Management Professional with over 30 years of IT experience and serves as the Vice Chair for Girls in Technology.

Debugged Podcast | 29

Episode 9

Episode 10

Caeley Looney is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. After completing her degree, she began working as a Space Mission Analyst at L3 Harris Technologies, where she currently supports their small satellite programs. As the Founder and CEO of the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Reinvented Inc., Caeley works to empower girls to pursue STEM fields through Reinvented’s core programs (Fun fact: One of those programs is this magazine).

Trisha Prabhu is the Founder & CEO of ReThink™, a patented app tackling cyberbullying. She is a Rhodes Scholar and student at Harvard University. Outside of ReThink, Trisha volunteers her time to advancing gender equality, particularly in the tech world.

Although Debugged is a Computer Science focused podcast, we have a broad demographic and an interdisciplinary STEM focus. Debugged covers topics ranging from non-profit leadership and tech policy, to quantum computing and competitive coding. This is why Debugged is a great option for educators, students, and listeners from all backgrounds! We hope you'll listen to Debugged and tune in for Episode 9 with Reinvented's own, Caeley Looney.

Check out our social media!

Listen to the Podcast Now 30 | Debugged Podcast

@cacdebugged @cacdebugged

KIMBE RLY FIOCK

anything but a

Kimberly Fiock

on a career in pathology

dying profession: For as long as she can remember, Kimberly Fiock has had an unusual fascination with disease. As a young girl, she was frequently sick and often wondered why certain people were more prone to certain illnesses. When Kimberly was five years old, that fascination became deeply personal as her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I decided at that point that I was going to cure cancer, so no one else had to go through what she went through," Kimberly recalls. “My mom’s cancer provided the initial spark that got me interested in pathology.”

Kimberly’s love for science grew with age. After graduating high school, she completed a research internship in a chronic pain lab where she was introduced to drug development. Afterwards, she pursued a degree in neuroscience and psychology at The University of Texas at Dallas. Kimberly credits a post-freshman year neuropathology internship for changing the course of her career: “I fell in love with the work I was doing on neurodegenerative diseases and realized that my lifelong interest in disease actually had a name - pathology. I got to hold a human brain, assist in an autopsy, and physically see disease under a microscope, all for the first time.”

Pathology, explains Kimberly, is the study of disease in living organisms. “There are lots of different subspecialities in pathology, such as neuropathology, cancer biology, immunology, veterinary pathology, blood banking, and plant pathology. It’s an incredibly diverse field - so many people conduct pathology research and don’t even know it!”

Kimberly completed a master’s in pathology in 2020 and is now working toward her doctorate in the same field. Her research focuses on neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration - specifically, the role of the tau protein, which is heavily involved in the inception and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, called tauopathies, and best known for its role in Alzheimer’s disease.

The accumulation of tau protein aggregates is known to interfere with neuronal signal propagation and lead to neuronal death. Through her research, Kimberly hopes to uncover tau’s role in a variety of other neurodegenerative diseases.

“Every day, we’re learning more about the similarities between neurodegenerative diseases,” notes Kimberly. “What were once considered vastly different diseases have now been shown to lie along the same spectrum of causality. We still have so much more to learn about proteinopathies (diseases caused by proteins).”

Kimberly expects her work will provide new insight into the mechanisms behind lesser-studied diseases. She notes, due to the fact that Alzheimer’s disease makes up about 70% of dementia cases, other forms of dementia don’t receive as much attention or research funding. Kimberly is Kimberly Fiock | 33 also hopeful her research can eventually lead to breakthroughs in scientists’ understanding of why certain people are more likely to develop certain tauopathies. “I hope to become one of the leaders

if you love puzzles, challenges, and mysteries, pathology may just be the field for you cases, other forms of dementia don’t receive as much attention or research funding. Kimberly is also hopeful her research can eventually lead to breakthroughs in scientists’ understanding of why certain people are more likely to develop certain tauopathies. “I hope to become one of the leaders in my field that people feel confident turning to for advice,” she remarks.

Kimberly is hopeful that the future holds new therapeutic targets for tau-specific neurodegenerative diseases. She anticipates researchers will be able to better understand the characteristics that separate diseases from one another, as well as the mechanistic similarities between proteinopathies.

“Ideally, if we figure out a common mechanism, we could apply the same treatment to multiple diseases,” she notes.

Through her work and activism, Kimberly aims to encourage more young people to consider a career in pathology. Not only is pathology “the coolest career to exist,” but it’s also one of the best fields to pursue to make a positive impact.

Though pathology intersects with nearly every facet of biological research, most scientists aren’t explicitly trained to 34 | Kimberly Fiock

analyze data from the lens of a pathologist. For example, a biologist who studies methods to slow down disease progression in an animal cell may struggle to quantify how effective each of those methods are - they’ll turn to a pathologist to help them interpret the data. Pathology is, as a result, one of the most collaborative fields in science. In addition, diseases emerge and evolve constantly, keeping pathologists on their toes: “It’s a field that you’ll never get bored with! If you love puzzles, challenges, and mysteries, pathology may just be the field for you.”

kimberly in action!

Kimberly Fiock | 35

“Study what brings you joy and makes you feel like you’re making a difference!”

Those interested in pathology should research different subfields and learn about what diseases interest them, suggests Kimberly. It’s also a good idea to email researchers or pathologists and ask them questions about their career path. “Most importantly, follow your passion,” she advises. “Study what brings you joy and makes you feel like you’re making a difference!”

In addition to promoting pathology and science, Kimberly is an outspoken advocate for mental illness.

She openly speaks about her struggles with bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders, particularly on how they’ve impacted her journey as a scientist. When it comes to learning to live with a mental illness, says Kimberly, accepting the inevitable ups and downs is key. “Mental illness doesn’t make you inherently broken, and embracing that it’s a part of who you are allows you to work with it and not against it,” Kimberly explains. “It’s much easier for people to say, ‘you can’t do that because of your mental illness,’ than it is to say, ‘you CAN do that, it may just look different from how other people do it.’”

Growing up with a bipolar father who rarely spoke about his illness, Kimberly didn’t fully grasp the implications of the diagnosis. When she received the same diagnosis a few years after her father’s passing, she felt lost and alone. “I vowed that I was never going to hide my mental illness from anyone. It’s not a shameful thing, and by speaking about what I go through, I hope people can see that.” ## |36 delete | Kimberly if rightFiock page

“I encountered a lot of people along my path that didn’t believe in me,” recalls Kimberly. “A lot of that had to do with my mental health and how much I struggled to manage it as an adult, on my own, for the very first time in my life. But I believed in myself. I also recognized that I would have to work harder than most to overcome the obstacles with my mental health and be viewed like everyone else.”

Whether it’s in regards to school, a job, or a relationship, Kimberly recommends that anyone struggling with mental health spend extra time learning about themselves and what they need to be successful. Habits and systems that promote success can look very different

look very different for different people, and it takes trial and error to learn what’s most effective, she says.

“There are going to be a lot of people who underestimate you, who doubt your abilities, and who are downright convinced you won’t be successful,” Kimberly says. “Don’t waste your energy trying to convince them otherwise.

Instead, invest in yourself. You have a finite amount of energy and time to get yourself where you want to go, spend it wisely on things that will really help you get there. And remember that all it takes is one ‘yes’ to change your path."

Kimberly Fiock | 37

BIOSTATISTICS: LIFE IN NUMBERS

BY RACHEL LYNN MASON

Many people, myself included, cringe a little upon hearing the word “math.” After years of classes and tests, it’s easy to feel like math is detached from reality, existing only to frustrate students and help determine how many watermelons an imaginary person could buy with two hundred dollars. Despite its less than favorable reputation, math is, at its core, a useful tool for understanding and changing the world around us. Humans are excellent at finding patterns, and statistics translate these patterns into facts that can be easily shared, evaluated, and acted upon.

Statistics, while complicated in itself, has the power to process massive amounts of data - billions of individual stories - and clarify the connections between them.

Biology, for example, is a complicated subject. Something as intricate as life itself is hard to break down into simple patterns, which is why the field of biostatistics is so fascinating. Biostatistics includes analysis of a wide variety of fields, including ecology, genetics, and human disease.

Still, in the past couple of years, it has gained wide attention for its role in public health.

In the field of public health, statisticians track the prevalence of various diseases across different demographics. Biostatistics is essential to this process: when analyses are poor, it can lead to catastrophic miscommunication. Data collected on COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, for example, has been frequently misinterpreted. High case numbers without corresponding high hospitalization and mortality rates led some people to infer that variants like Delta were less severe than public health experts had warned, when, in reality, death counts simply lagged behind case counts by a few weeks. Biostatistics utilized effectively, on the other hand, can inform policy. By evaluating the efficacy of different types of masks, biostatisticians have made recommendations that have prevented more cases.

Biostatistics can also incorporate aspects of computer science. Statisticians often use computer models to predict circumstances like the growth of an endangered species population to the spread of an infectious disease. It is a multifaceted field that requires an understanding of

Biostatistics: Life In Numbers | 41

biology, mathematics, and ideally, computer science and artificial intelligence. As computers become increasingly advanced, capabilities within biostatistics are likely to follow. Historically, sequencing a human genome consumed a massive amount of time and resources.

Now, thanks to advanced technology and computers, sequencing is relatively fast. The implications of AI and biostatistics are powerful. For example, an unprecedented project called AlphaFold2 allows scientists to predict the shape of proteins, given an amino acid sequence, with near-perfect accuracy; it’s a development that can revolutionize drug design and molecular biology and save time and money.

Biostatistics connects us to the natural world through numbers and computers. Whether we want to sequence a genome or analyze the dynamics of a microbiome, biostatistics is an incredibly powerful tool that allows us to unmask the complexities of life.

42 | Biostatistics: Life In Numbers

FASHION O ut

fits

BY: LUYANG ZHANG

w it h

a n O uts

ize I m p a ct

Seven hundred seventy gallons of water is enough to sustain the average American household — this includes showering, brushing teeth, cooking, and everything in between — for two and a half days. 20 CO2-e (carbon dioxide equivalent) is generated by the amount of fuel required to drive 41.3 miles in a standard US car. And 10.3 m² of land can grow enough wheat to produce ten loaves of bread.

So, it may surprise you that 770 gallons of water, 20 CO2-e, and 10.3 m2 of land combined will only be enough to manufacture and transport a single pair of Levi’s 501 jeans to a retailer — and this doesn’t even include the energy required to wash and dry the jeans or the space they will inevitably take up in a landfill after they find their way out of a consumer’s wardrobe. It would be an understatement to say that the lifecycle of jeans, from cotton production, fabric weaving, garment assembly, and distribution, is an environmentally costly process.

What’s more, some fast fashion factories pressure workers to churn out mass quantities of clothing during long working shifts in unsafe and unclean working spaces in exchange for paltry sums of money. Especially after events like the 2013 Rana Plaza clothing factory collapse that killed 1,132 workers, it’s hardly surprising that these unsustainable, exploitative production methods — termed “fast” fashion for the trendy, low-quality, and often quickly discarded garments it produces — have repeatedly come under scrutiny from activists and the public. And jeans are far from the only fast fashion culprit. In fact, they are just the beginning of an unsustainable fashion empire.

44 | Sustainable Fasion

Fast Fashion’s Fast Rise The roots of American fast fashion can be traced back to the first Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. The popularization of assembly lines, the bulk production of clothes with a preset sizing system, and the patenting of technologies like the sewing machine in 1846 created a clothing industry that was far more efficient than before. While a seamstress could sew 23 stitches in a minute, a sewing machine could finish 250 in the same period. After spinning thread and weaving fabric by hand, a shirt could take fourteen hours to sew by hand, but the process could be cut down to just one hour with a sewing machine handy. With factories producing more clothing than ever before, the prices for clothing dropped — but so did the wages for the surplus of new unskilled workers.

And later, as a 1960s-era generation of young adults gravitated towards cheaper clothes and began using fashion trends as a means of self-expression, a wave of familiar fast fashion giants (like Zara and H&M) with continuously improving clothing production technology emerged. These fast-fashion companies offered customers an unprecedented amount of choice, releasing styles inspired by every fleeting trend. Today, Zara releases about 10,000 different clothing designs in its retail outlets annually, greatly outperforming the industry average of 2,0004,000 pieces per year.

The average American today purchases 68 articles of clothing a year, 56 more than they did in the 1980s. This desire for new clothes mirrors the uptick in “haul culture,” a phenomenon in which customers feel the need to purchase large amounts of clothing at once in a show of overconsumption popular in online videos and blogs.

This consumer demand for disposable, low-priced clothing that mirrors trends enables and incentivizes companies to cut corners by mass-producing poorquality products. Fast fashion brands, such as Zara, H&M, Forever 21, and GAP are developing textile mills across the world to outsource the growing price of labor. This strategy has brought immense wealth to the companies dominating the industry. H&M sells 20.2 billion dollars worth of fast fashion-forged clothes each year, with Zara not far behind at $13 billion.

The size of fast fashion’s profits are rivaled only by the size of the environmental and social costs its practices incur. In 2015, the textile industry produced more greenhouse gases than all international flights and shipping combined. Vast quantities of water and petroleum (at times sourced from endangered forests) continue to be invested into clothing production, which itself is a process filled with wasteful byproducts. In factories, garment workers can work as much as 1416 hours a day and seven days a week to meet unrealistically high quotas and face firing and physical and verbal abuse if they fall short. They are generally not paid a living wage and are exposed to harmful chemicals, fiber dust, and workplace fires in buildings without proper ventilation.

45 | Sustainable Fashion

The Future of Fashion Pressure from advocacy groups and the public has started a movement toward sustainable fashion practices. Sustainable fashion refers to a joint effort from consumers and manufacturers to reduce their ecological footprint and mitigate social injustices associated with producing and consuming clothing. It’s a movement that promotes creating higher quality, longer-lasting products while reducing emissions, water use, animal product use, and paying livable wages and providing healthier work conditions.

The idea of circular fashion, which involves maximizing the utility of clothes, shoes, and accessories and creating safe ways for products to be disposed of, is also emphasized in sustainable fashion. To promote circular fashion, some clothing brands have introduced textile recycling programs that provide incentives for customers to recycle their old clothes so they can be recycled into new clothing. Other brands use recycled materials that require less energy to produce garments from as the basis for their products. Some companies even use greener methods — like swapping solar power for fossil fuels and laser cleaning for washing with water — to produce clothing.

While these changes may be a step in the right direction, it is important to understand the true impact of these “green” habits.

Some companies that market themselves as sustainable quietly omit certain factories in waste calculations to present a better narrative. Certain ad campaigns, and even clothing labels that boast of a brand’s commitment to environmental consciousness, deliberately use vague buzz words and make statements that don’t fairly encapsulate production methods to covertly mislead customers into believing they are making responsible purchases.

Take H&M, for example. Despite having a popular clothing recycling system, the company fails to actually reuse most recycled clothing — about 90% ends up in landfills or is burned.

46 | Sustainable Fasion

Sustainable fashion also puts accountability back in the hands of the consumer. Upcycling fashion, for example, involves reusing and repurposing clothing rather than allowing it to enter landfills. Shopping at thrift stores, buying secondhand, and renting clothes for special occasions are also becoming more popular options for a more sustainable and often cheaper way to obtain clothing. Take a few extra minutes to do research for brands that are Fair Trade Certified or have a B Corp certification. Companies that have passed similar inspections from independent inspectors can also provide a valuable starting point for more sustainable shopping.

After purchasing new clothes, the way that customers complete the life cycle of clothing — namely, how they maintain their clothes and how quickly they discard their outfits — is equally critical in creating a more sustainable fashion industry. Even small habit shifts can have a tremendous impact. Washing jeans in cold rather than hot water, for example, could reduce nonrenewable energy usage in America by as much as 21% and the climate impact by 24%. Wearing a piece of clothing for just nine months longer could reduce its carbon footprint by 30%.

Fashion is an essential vehicle for self-expression and a universal language that connects and uplifts. Our passion for fashion is a dynamic landscape, a testament to human ingenuity and artistry.

It’s important to realize that our enthusiasm for style doesn't need to be compromised by a commitment to make better shopping choices. Whether we choose to don dresses or jumpsuits, leggings or jeans, we have a wide range of choices on what we wear and a growing power to make a fashion statement while remaining environmentally conscious.

When the time comes to expand our wardrobes, keeping environmentally friendly clothing sources in mind and opting to keep our clothes out of the landfill will mean a greener future. If we all chip in, there is hope that the jeans we wear in the future will be a little kinder to our planet.

47 | Sustainable Fashion

WOMEN &

The Women Behind the Introducing the James Webb Telescope Launched from Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on Christmas morning of 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an engineering milestone as the largest, most powerful, and most complex space telescope ever built. Initially proposed to be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope after its decommissioning, the JWST has now been designed to work in tandem with Hubble (which is still going strong and is predicted to last until 2030-2040). The JWST launch is the result of a 30 year, 10 billion dollar effort between scientists and engineers from NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency (ESA). Beginning in September 1989 at the Next Generation Space Telescope Workshop and initially slated to launch in 2007, the telescope was finally given the green light last year after various delays, primarily due to budget cuts, including a near cancellation

by U.S. Congress in 2011. JWST is designed to answer some of the questions raised by the discoveries made on the Hubble and Kepler missions.

48 | Women & Webb

As an infrared telescope, the JWST will allow astronomers and cosmologists to explore planetary systems up to 13.5 billion light years away. Unlike Hubble, which is a Cassegrain reflector telescope that can observe visible and near-infrared light, Webb will use infrared detection.

Because it is difficult for the short wavelengths of visible light to escape from gas and dust clouds or dense nebulae, some celestial bodies are difficult to detect with a telescope like Hubble. Webb’s instruments, however, will be able to see through dust and debris that Hubble cannot. Some objects— including those that are cool and do not emit much visible light or energy—are better observed with an infrared telescope like Webb since they still emit infrared radiation.

WEBB

BY AYSIA TORRES

Long-Awaited Space Telescope

infrared telescope like Webb since they still emit infrared radiation.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s observatory flight system is composed of three main elements: the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), the Optical Telescope Element (OTE), and the Spacecraft Element.

The ISIM is the heart and main payload of the JWST and is composed of four complex instruments: the NearInfrared Camera (NIRCam), Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), and the Fine Guidance Sensor/Near-Infrared Imager and Stiltless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS). The eye of Webb, OTE consists of the telescope structure, including the 21.3 ft.

(6.5 m) wide primary mirror–which is made up of 18 gold-plated beryllium hexagonal segments, the 2.4 ft.(0.74

consists of the telescope structure, including the 21.3 ft (6.5 m) wide primary mirror–which is made up of 18 gold-plated beryllium hexagonal segments, the 2.4 ft.

(0.74 m.) round convex secondary mirror, and the tertiary mirror.

It gathers the light coming from space and provides it to the ISIM instruments. The Spacecraft Element includes the Spacecraft Bus and the tennis court-sized sunshield, which protects the telescope from stray heat and light from the sun (Webb needs to be kept cold in order to prevent unwanted sources of infrared radiation from interfering with the observable light).

Women & Webb | 49

The Women Who Made Webb a Reality Over 1200 scientists, engineers, and technicians worked on the James Webb Telescope. While there were a lot of men working on this project, there were quite a few women who played key roles in the development of Webb and its instruments. Each of the ISIM’s four instruments had its own lead researcher, two of which were women: UK Astronomy Technology Center director, Gillian Wright, who worked on MIRI as the European principal investigator and astronomy professor from the University of Arizona, Marcia Rieke, who worked on the NIRCam as principal investigator. Other women who worked on the Webb project include Dr. Amber Straughn, Dr. Begoña Vila, and Emily Van Campen. Dr. Straughn is an astrophysicist who has worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center since earning her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in 2008. She currently works as the JWST Deputy Project Scientist for Communications. Dr. Vila, also an astrophysicist, works as an instrument systems engineer and previously directed the cryogenic testing of the telescope's instruments. She began her work with NASA in 2006 and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Achievement Medal ten years later for her contributions to the organization. Engineer Julie Van Campen has worked on Webb in some capacity since 2003, with a majority of that tenure spent as the ISIM’s Instrument Systems Engineer, working on both NIRCam and NIRSpec.

50 | Women & Webb

Webbs First Year On January 8th, after it unfolded without a hitch while its primary mirror’s 18 segments were all locked into place, the James Webb Space Telescope reached the end of its deployment phase, marking another engineering milestone. On January 23rd, Webb finished its month-long deployment to its final destination, Legrange point 2 (L2), an area of overlapping gravity wells of the Earth and the Sun nearly one million miles away from Earth in the exact opposite direction of the sun. (For comparison, Hubble is in low-Earth orbit, about 340 miles above Earth). After reaching L2, Webb began the six-month commissioning phase in which the instruments are calibrated, the mirrors aligned and brought into focus, and the telescope cooled down to -370℉.

In March of 2021, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) announced the selected General Observer programs for Webb’s first year, which included 266 of the 1172 proposals submitted. Expected to begin mid-2022, Cycle 1 (the first year) of science operations includes 6,000 of 9,000 available observation times and is allocated to General Observer (GO) Programs, while the rest is dedicated to the Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS) and Guaranteed Time (GTO) programs.

For the highly competitive GO Programs, anyone in the world can submit a proposal applying time and funding to use Webb through a dual-anonymous review process, while the GTO programs were awarded to researchers who were involved in the telescope’s operational development.

The first five months of science operations will be dedicated to DD-ERS Program observations which represent six science categories: galaxies and intergalactic medium, massive black holes and their host galaxies, planets and planet formation, solar systems, stellar physics, and stellar populations.

One of Webb’s inaugural users will be Olivia Lim, a physics doctoral student from the Université de Montréal (UdeM) in Quebec. Using the 53.7 hours she was awarded on the telescope, Lim will study the Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 solar system, discovered in 2016 on the Spitzer Space Telescope and almost 40 light-years away

from Earth. This system consists of seven planets, four of which are Earth-sized and three of which are positioned at a potentially habitable distance from the red dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1.

Lim will study these planets, their compositions, and their atmospheres, looking for indications of possible extraterrestrial life–vapor, water, carbon dioxide, or ozone.

While not expecting to discover actual alien life forms, Lim hopes to find evidence that these planets are conducive to the development of life.

After 30 years of planning, designing, and rigorous testing, we’re one step closer to discovering the secrets of life and the creation of the universe. While the Webb telescope answers some questions with its discoveries, it will inevitably lead to more questions about black holes, the Big Bang, and life on other planets. The beauty of science is that there will always be more questions that need answers and theories and hypotheses that require testing.

When the time comes to develop a successor to the James Webb Space Telescope, there will be more innovative scientists and engineers who answer that call to create a telescope that sees farther or design instruments that improve upon the work of MIRI, NIRCam, NIRSpec, and FGS/NIRISS.

Women & Webb | 51

Sponsor Reinvented The success of our programs would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and partners. 2022 will be no different. Reinvented Inc. is offering companies, organizations, and individuals with a wide variety of sponsorship opportunities that support all of our program: Princesses with Powertools Teacher Care Packages Reinvented Magazine One-for-One Program 2023 Calendars Reinvented Gala Review our 2022 Sponsor Guide and reach out to us when you're ready to help us empower girls in STEM!

Learn More About Sponsor Opportunities

DIY

PAPER CIRCUIT CARDS

DIY Paper Circuit Cards | 53

WHAT'S A CIRCUIT? At its simplest, a circuit is a complete pathway that lets electricity flow from the positive end of a power source to the negative end. The flow of electric current can be used to power electrical components, like lightbulbs and motors. We are going to be building the most basic circuit today– an LED powered by a coin cell battery.

CONDUCTIVITY

BATTERIES

LEDS

A conductor is a material that conducts electricity: it allows current to flow through it.

Good conductors are metal and include copper and aluminium.

Insulators block the flow of electrons and include most plastics and rubbers.

This is important for the project we are about to do: the tape we are going to use to build our circuits is conductive, but it's adhesive is an insulator.

This presents a design constraint we will have to work around!

Batteries store energy as chemical energy, but convert that to electrical energy for your use through a chemical reaction. They produce DC (direct current) electricity -- so the electric current flows from the positive to negative end of the battery.

(Your wall outlet is AC -- alternating current -- and changes directions.) **Note: Technically, electrons flow from the negative to positive end of the battery, but current is the flow of positive charge so it flows from positive to negative.

LED = Light Emitting Diode.

LEDs produce light when an electric current is run through them.

You may have heard f them as a lower-energy alternative to light bulbs.

They are directional, meaning they have a positive (cathode) and negative (anode) end.

Think off LEDs (and all diodes) as a one-way street -- current can only flow one way through them, it's blocked going the other way. This means if an LED in your circuit isn't lighting up, try flipping it around!

54 | DIY Paper LED Cards

LET'S GET STARTED

The Basics: Single LED Card GATHER YOUR MATERIALS Crafting Supplies to Make the Card itself Coin Cell Batteries LEDs (a variety of colors) Conductive Foil Tape (I used HVAC tape from the Hardware Store) Scissors *If you have access to conductive ink or sheathing tape (conductive tape/ copper tape) it will be much easier as the adhesive of sheathing tape is also conductive.

STEP 1: Make a card and cut out an LED hole This is all your own artistic vision! When you've picked out where you'd like the LED to go, just cut out a hole so you can push the LED through.

STEP 2:

Draw Your Circuit Onto the Card You're going to need a conductive path from one end of the LED to the battery, and the other end to the switch pad. Make sure to label (+) and (-)!

When the pad is pressed against the battery, the LED will light up!

STEP 3:

Cut out the Traces with Foil Tape Try to cut full traces from one piece of tape, with as few joints as possible. We will talk about that in the next step!

DIY Paper LED Cards | 55

STEP 4:

How to Make Joints Conductive Unfortunately, most foil tape is only conductive on one side: it's adhesive acts as an insulator. This means we need to fold a tab over on each joint and secure it down to ensure continuity.

STEP 5:

Add the LED and Bend the Leads

Next step is to add the LED! All you need to do is bend the leads (the wires) down so that they make solid contact with your conductive tape. Make sure you know where your (+) and (-) sides are! I like pointing the (-) to the battery.

STEP 6:

Test the Circuit with the Battery Place the battery on the pad and close the card-- pushing the two pads together. The LED should light up! If it doesn't, try flipping the battery over. If that still doesn't work, check your tape joints to make sure they've all been folded over so that the conductive sides are touching.

STEP 7: The last thing you need to do is tape down the edges of your battery! Make sure to leave most of the battery contact exposed so that the switch will work! (You can also hot glue around the edges if you prefer, just make sure not to glue the bottom.

56 | DIY Paper LED Cards

Secure the Battery & DONE!

SERIES R1

VS

PARALLEL R1

R2

R2 1 1 1 R1 + R2 = RTOTAL

R1 + R2 = R TOTAL

There's two main ways to connect more than one circuit component (like a resistor or an LED!): Series and Parallel.

Series circuits have the resistors inline with each other. This means that all of the current in the whole circuit has to pass through both resistors. This also means that voltage drops twice in the circuit: once over the first resistor and once over the second resistor. You can calculate the drop over each resistor using the equations in the Ohm's Law wheel on the previous page.

Parallel Circuits have more than one continuous path through the circuit. In this configuration, the current will be split among the branches, and some with flow through R1, and some will flow through R2. However, the voltage level must be the same before the branches rejoin, therefore the voltage drop over each branch will be equal. How much current flows to each branch is dependent on the resistor values. Current is inherently lazy and take the path of least resistance, so if one resistor has a lower value than the other, it will have more current flowing through it., so if one resistor has a lower value than the other, it will have more current flowing through it.

It is important to note that as you learn more about circuits you will learn more about the properties of series and parallel circuits. What you have learned here is only applicable to resistors-- the equations for capacitors, inductors, and their friends are different!

HOW TO USE MULTIPLE LED'S ON YOUR CARD IN SERIES Step 1:

Step 2:

Draw the circuit onto your card with all of the LEDs in parallel.

They cannot be in.

Add the tape justlike with the single LED circuit, but take extra card to make sure all of positive and negative leads are pointing the right way.

Done!

DIY Paper LED Cards | 57

OPPORTUNITIES

BOARD

Young Women in STEM Conference This event aims to inspire, engage, and empower young women who are considering a career in STEM by connecting them with female STEM professionals. This event encourages girls to pursue leadership positions, cultivate research skills, and provides professional opportunities within STEM while providing a supportive community.

When: June 4, 2022 | Where: Virtual

UT Austin Academy for Women The Academy for Women is a free, one-week program for young women going into their sophomore, junior, or senior year of high school. It is designed to dispel myths about computer science and intrigue young women with the potential of computing and the excitement of problem-solving.

When: Weeks throughout June, 2022 | Where: University of Texas at Austin

Women of Silicon Valley We'll be celebrating the power of resilience as we unite 1500+ leading women in tech, from global leaders to disruptive start-ups, to shine a spotlight on the technology, people, and businesses that are driving change. This is where women in tech connect and share ideas to build a better future.

When: May 10-11, 2022 | Where: Marriott Marquis San Francisco

2022 DigiGirlz Day USA DigiGirlz, by Microsoft, connects girls with opportunities to learn and connect around technology, workshops, and amazing role models in a variety of technical and tech-infused careers.

When: April 15, 2022 | Where: Virtual

58 | Opportunities Board

Women Tech Conference The hybrid conference will bring women in tech, minorities, and allies from all over the world together through an interactive platform featuring live ceremonies, keynotes, engaging panels, breakout rooms, country & chapter leader sessions, technical workshops, and networking with virtual and in-person sessions.

When: June 7 - 10, 2022 | Where: Virtual & In-Person

Summer Engineering Experience for Girls In SEE, you will learn how you can make a difference as a future engineer. You will learn about different forms of energy and how you can create alternative and environmentally-friendly sources of energy that protect the environment.

When: July 2022, Application Deadline in May Where: Carnegie Mellon University

AI4ALL Summer Programs Students help create the future by learning how to use AI to solve problems they care about. Students will be immersed in hands-on learning, mentorship by top AI practitioners, and supportive peer networks at top universities.

When: Date Varies by Program Where: In-Person, On University Campus

Smithsonian Youth Programs The Smithsonian offers fun and challenging (and sometimes mind-blowing!) experiences for K-12 kids interested in science, nature, technology, art, design, history, culture, or all of the above. These programs build confidence and skills of self-expression, communication, leadership and provide college and career preparation in extraordinary museum environments.

Opportunities Board | 59

60 | Ask Gloria

Madeleine B. Question: Do you have any advice on choosing a college?

Answer: Choosing a college is a pretty personal choice.

When making this choice, there are many things to consider: the size of the school, the distance away from friends and family, the quality of the program, the price, and even the extracurricular activities. All these are important to factor in when making your decision. Choose the one that makes you happy. You will be spending a lot of time on that college campus and meeting great people.

It's important to choose the one where you feel you can thrive holistically; it will make the college experience more enjoyable.

Lynn N. Question: How to find scholarships that I would have a better chance in?

Answer: If you have a specific college that you are trying to get into and you already know your major, you can check if that department has scholarships. You should also check for scholarships in any community that you are affiliated with. You can find a copy of the Ultimate Book of Scholarships from your local library. They have a list of every scholarship out there, and you can find the ones you qualify for. After that, it’s up to you to apply, apply, apply!

Gloria

who is...

Miranda L. Question: How do you start the college search and create a college list to apply to?

Answer: If you have a particular major in mind, you can start by researching leading colleges according to that area of study. It’s also important to ask friends and family about their college experiences, especially if they do something that you are thinking about doing. You should also check your local state schools and colleges to see if there is something close to home that allows you to study your interest.

If you know what you want to study and find a school that aligns with your interest that is great. If you don’t know what you want to study, you might want to check out schools based on what you can afford. You should also keep in mind that some colleges are focused on community, and if this is important to you and your learning, then seek out those schools too. Overall you are looking for the best environment that you feel will allow you to grow educationally and personally.

question & answer

Jolene L. Question: Differences between doing research at college vs internships with companies?

Answer: The main difference between doing research in college and internships with companies is impact.

Sometimes your research might take years and only be seen by your colleagues or a few people in your industry where an internship might have you working on a feature that is released later that year. In some places, interns can contribute directly to the product and earn patents. In research, you have a more controlled problem, and in your internship, you get to work with real world problems and users. It all comes to personal preference on what type of problems you like to solve and how quickly you want to see the impact of your solution.

ASK GLORIA

got a question?

Madeline E. Question: How do you start an internship search?

Answer: The best way to find an internship is to listen to the experience of your friends and alumni in programs.

They can usually put you in touch with their recruiter, which can be really helpful in getting the ball rolling. In tech, most summer internships start recruiting for the summer a year ahead. One thing that you can do that will help you through the process is connect with your college counselor. Most colleges have a job placement center that can help connect you with recruiters in the industry.

Many companies will have “lunch and learns” to talk about their internships; this is a great way to hear more about their hiring timeline and gain some feedback from past interns.

Madeline D. Question: How to get over a fear of asking questions in a research setting?

Answer: Asking a question is actually doing a service. It realigns priorities. It establishes contact for others who might also have questions. And it allows for deeper clarity on the topic. Most of the time when we ask a question it’s for a deeper understanding of a problem or solution. Chances are there are other people that also have the same question you had, but you had the courage to ask it. There is no such thing as asking a bad question, and if someone makes you feel bad for asking a question, it’s a poor reflection on them, not you. By asking a question, you are helping everyone, so be bold and ask away!

The CEO and founder of Shule, a startup that tokenizes international experimental learning systems in decentralized education. Previously to venturing out on her own, she was Square's University Tech Evangelist where she focused on helping connect people to the tools, programs, and support they need to enter the technology industry.

Kimbwala

Nandini G. Question: What are your best tips for networking?

Answer: Networking can be intimidating, no matter how big or small it seems. The most important part of networking is actually doing it. Connect to people you admire on LinkedIn. It’s always great to do so with a message. If you have a particular person that you would like more time with, try to schedule time with them and be prepared with questions. It’s also beneficial to reach out to different clubs on campus and alumni networks to see if people from your university can also help you get started in your career.

Scan here to submit your question today!

Want to ask Gloria a Question?

Marie Y. Question: How do you stay motivated to keep studying and if you don't have a job to keep looking?

Answer: Finding your why will more likely keep you motivated. You are more likely to stay with your studies if you know why you are doing it. Doing something just for a job or a paycheck can lead to burnout but knowing your why will keep you going when times are tough. Some people are missionminded, some are finance-minded, and others want recognition. What motivates you is more personal, but once you know why you want the goal, it’s easier to work towards it. The why can be as simple as so I can move on to the next step, and that is perfectly okay.

biography

Ask Gloria | 61

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Issue 11 Spring 2022