As freshmen, we came to college with endless possibilities. We could join new student organizations, our GPA’s reset to 4.0 and we were finally free from our parents. We could be anything and do anything – all by ourselves. Emily Gasteyer, a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry, thought the same things when she first arrived on campus. Little did she know, her freshman experiences would change her outlook on something she loved dearly; science.
“I love science and I always have, even in high school and middle school. I always loved numbers and looking at data to come up with solutions to problems,” said Gasteyer excitedly. “I came to college thinking I could do everything on my own, I didn’t need anyone else. You realize when you come to college, not only is it good to take advantage of other people, but you have to.”
This was something Gasteyer learned from a residential community called Women in Science and Engineering (W.I.S.E.) her freshman year. She was on a floor in Sellery Hall with 60 women all interested in science, technology, engineering or math (S.T.E.M.).
“It is a learning community that provides support because sometimes it can be really hard to be a woman in science. There are not a lot of us. I am in Physics 201 right now, which I’d say is 80 percent guys. That is different for me, my freshman year I was taking general classes like math and chemistry, which is pretty much a 50/50 split. As soon as you get to those higher level classes, it starts to get predominantly male. It can be hard because then you feel a lot of pressure being female and it can make you want to quit and give up. That is the purpose of W.I.S.E., to start from an early age and start with that mindset of, ‘you can do it,’” said Gasteyer.
Not only has this opportunity allowed her to gain meaningful relationships with women in S.T.E.M. fields, it has also helped her get connected on campus, including getting a job in the Huttenlocher lab.
“Another huge thing that W.I.S.E. helped me do was meet professors, and that is actually how I met Dr. Anna Huttenlocher. She came to W.I.S.E. and gave a talk about her research and I thought what she was doing was really interesting. Her research pertains to auto-immune diseases and I had some personal experiences with it. I went up after the presentation and asked her about her research and I actually asked her if there were any positions open. She basically said ‘yes, why don’t we meet sometime together and talk.’ So I did and I ended up getting a job. I can say I have a job directly because of W.I.S.E.,” said Gasteyer.
Through W.I.S.E., Gasteyer also found a passion for communicating science to the public, something she learned when she volunteered at the UW Space Place to help teach children science.
“I have done outreach with the UW Space Place through the W.I.S.E. program. For our second semester, we had to participate in eight hours of science outreach in the community. We went there a few Saturdays over the semester and we came up with a kid-friendly presentation that was interactive and exciting. It was basically to get kids excited about science,” said Gasteyer.
As a sophomore, Gasteyer is a peer mentor for W.I.S.E., where she is helping women learn from her experiences as a freshman and now as a sophomore.
“As a peer mentor for WISE, we try really hard to help the girls take advantage of their resources. We tell them about resources and get them excited about things, how to go about looking for a job or a research position and how to get help if they are struggling in a class. Our primary goal is to show the girls everything campus has to offer,” said Gasteyer. “Another part of it is how the girls can take advantage of each other too. You can’t do it on your own. One of my goals as a peer mentor is help the girls figure out, ‘yeah, you can do it on your own sometimes, but it is really good if you can collaborate with other people on the floor.’ You need to do that to help yourself out.”
Even with the amazing experiences Gasteyer has had as a student, she still isn’t sure of her path.
“I am doing all of these things to try and figure out where I want to be. I am trying to figure out what interests me and what I’m passionate about enough to enjoy coming to work every day. I did programs like W.I.S.E. and got a job in a lab because I wanted to figure that out,” said Gasteyer. “Since starting in my lab, I have figured a lot of things out. I know I don’t want to go to medical school and I know I want to do something more applied. Something that involves laboratory work, but that can have applications in every day life. Work has helped me figure that out and when I get to go to work, I love what I do. I like sitting at my bench and running reactions or making solutions. Lab has helped me figure out that I do like that.”
Even though Gasteyer doesn’t know her exact direction, she is doing a great job at doing things now to help guide her career path in the future. It’s not always a bad thing to be uncertain about your exact career. The goal for every student should be to gain experiences that allow you to move closer to your career goal – programs like W.I.S.E are great for supporting students on this journey. For more information on the W.I.S.E program go to www.housing.wisc.edu/wise
