All of the faculty seminars have been super insightful and Dr. Emily Bernhardt’s talk particularly stood out to me. She is an ecologist at Duke who studies how energy and elements move, specifically focusing on environmental issues that people care about. Ever since she was a kid, she loved being outside, and she pursued a career doing just that.
Initially, I was a bit surprised that her talk was one of my favorites because her work as an ecologist is pretty different from the computational work I’ve been doing in lab. Maybe it’s the shared love for National Parks that drew me in, maybe it’s the amazing outlook she has for life and your career.
Here are 5 pieces of advice from Dr. Bernhardt that I’d like to share. She had many more than 5 pieces of advice, but these really resonated with me.
- If you enjoy STEM in any capacity, go for it! No one should be afraid to pursue STEM because of its reputation of being all about quantitative skills. Scientists and other STEM careers involve many other soft skills. For example, being a good communicator is a key skill scientists need.
- Surround yourself with good people. Having good mentors that can challenge and support you is super important for your current and future jobs/experiences. Being with brilliant and kind people improves your work and how much you enjoy your work.
- Deciding to not pursue a specific STEM career is not a failure! Sometimes it takes some trial and error to discover what you really enjoy. A background in science is always helpful.
- Always keep your options open and have a backup plan. Being open to change in your life and your career makes you more resilient to challenges and can make you happier in your career.
- Last but not least, Dr. Bernhardt believes you should be having fun at least 50% of the year. One bad day or one bad week is not going to tank everything. Nevertheless, you need to make sure that your job, whatever it ends up being, is still fun and something you enjoy!