Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The one thing I don’t like about industrial hygiene is that it’s called industrial hygiene.
I’m always asked, do I brush teeth? Or do I wash hands?
I was good at math from a young age because of my dad. He taught me algebra before I probably
should have learned algebra. However, once I got to high school, that’s when I really
became interested in science as a field and that just grew throughout college.
When I was studying environmental health at the University of Washington, we looked at
a bunch of things in the realm of environmental health such as air quality, water quality,
food quality. But when I started working in a lab, I started going out into the workplace
with a team of researchers looking at exposure to chemicals that would cause asthma in people
who painted cars, and I think that experience really cemented my interest in exposure science
or environmental health.
For me there had to be a personal component. So, in industrial hygiene, I found that component.
I found the ability to work with people and help people in a really meaningful way in
my opinion.
It happens in every job I’ve ever had. It’s been someone realizes, “Oh, if I’m exposed
to too much noise, I won’t be able to hear my grandkids,” or “If I continue to lift
this big block of metal with something you’re not supposed to lift it with, my kids could
be without a dad.” Every time that happens, that’s when I’m really proud of what I
do and that’s why I chose what I ended up doing.
We go out on site visits and collect a lot of data at a particular workplace. Then once
we have that data, we analyze it, we put it in our report, and we provide recommendations
in order to improve workplace health. Once that report is published, it can be used by
a bunch of people in that field to employ those recommendations in their workplace even
though we even didn’t go there.
My experience, specifically, has been just a bunch of amazing women scientists. Like
we would be in the field, processing samples, and they would be talking about how they got
where they are, and they ask you where you want to go. That is probably the most important
development when you’re working to become a female scientist.
There is nothing to replace hard work, so it doesn’t really matter what aptitude you
think you have or don’t have going into the sciences, or math, or technology. It’s
really about the work you put into it and the passion you bring into your work. You
can really achieve whatever you want to achieve as long as you’re willing to put in
the time.