Roots to STEM Podcast

S2E2: Lauren O’Connell, PhD, Assistant Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Lauren O’Connell is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Stanford University. She received an associates degree from Tarrant County Community College before transferring to Cornell University where she received her bachelors degree. Lauren then completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and after that she went to Harvard where she was a Bauer Fellow. This program is a post-doctoral fellowship that funds independent research for five years and prepares post-docs to run their future labs. Lauren is now an assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Stanford University and the principal investigator of the Laboratory for Organismal Biology at Stanford University. 
In this episode, we discuss Lauren’s path to becoming a professor, some of the difficulties that community college students face when trying to get involved in research and STEM fields, what good mentorship looks like, the importance of having a life outside of work, and so much more.
Get in touch with Lauren and check out the research in LOBSU (Laboratory of Organismal Biology at Stanford University):
Lauren’s TwitterLOBSU TwitterLab Website: https://oconnell.stanford.edu/LOBSU YouTube ChannelGet in touch with Steph:
TwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com

Season 2 Episode 1: Michael Snyder, PhD, Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics Department, Stanford University

We’re back for season 2! For our first episode of the season, we’re hearing from Dr. Michael Snyder. He is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics and the Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University. Mike received his Ph.D. training at the California Institute of Technology and carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He is a leader in the field of functional genomics and multiomics. His lab was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and has developed many technologies in genomics and proteomics. He launched the field of personalized medicine by combining different state-of–the-art “omics” technologies to perform the first longitudinal detailed integrative personal omics profile (iPOP) of a person, and his laboratory pioneered the use of wearables technologies (smart watches and continuous glucose monitoring) for precision health. He is a cofounder of many biotechnology companies, including Personalis, SensOmics, Qbio, January, Protos, Oralome, Mirvie and Filtricine.
In this episode, we talk about how Mike got started doing research, why he transitioned to doing more translational research, what some of the differences are between working in academia, start-ups, and pharma, and how the skills you learn as a scientist can be helpful no matter what career you choose.
Get in touch with Mike and the Snyder Lab research:
TwitterLab Website: https://med.stanford.edu/snyderlab.htmlEnroll in the COVID wearables studyEnroll in other Snyder Lab studiesGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com

Episode 11: Priscilla San Juan

“Try a bunch of stuff, and see which avenue you like the best.“
Priscilla San Juan is a PhD candidate in Tad Fukami’s lab in the Biology Department at Stanford University. Priscilla is interested in the gut microbiome of wildlife and the impact that human activity is having on those microbial communities and the health of the animal host. She has had an appreciation of nature since she was young, but was unsure what career she should pursue since her interests were so varied. She explored the different topics and opportunities available at her community college and soon realized how fascinated she was with environmental science, the specialty she eventually pursued at UC Irvine. She has continued to explore the different facets of biology, from antibiotic resistance in environmental microbes to her current work in New Zealand where she is exploring the effects of captivity on the native kiwi’s microbiome and health.
Some of things we talk about in this episode include the value of testing out different types of research so that you can find something that you really like, and the huge impact that having a support network of peers and mentors can have on battling feelings of imposter syndrome that underrepresented minorities in STEM may feel.
Mentioned in the episode:
https://pathwaystoscience.org/NSF Research Experiences for UndergraduatesSACNASABRCMSGet in touch with Priscilla:
TwitterEmail: psanjuan@stanford.eduWebsite: https://psanjuan.github.io/Get in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com

Episode 10: Nia Walker

“I can’t count on validation to come from someone else, it has to come from myself.”
Nia Walker is a fourth year PhD candidate in Steve Palumbi’s lab at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station.  Nia has been interested in marine science since doing a fourth grade squid dissection. Nia’s love of marine science continued on through college and a gap year working at the Maritime Aquarium in Connecticut, and now she studies stress tolerance in corals in Palau. 
Some of things we talk about in this episode include how to identify a good mentorship network, the importance of prioritizing your own well-being, how being the first Black graduate student at Hopkins has influenced Nia’s experiences in grad school, and how creating one’s own definition of success can help us not compare ourselves to others as much, and thereby lead to greater satisfaction and more happiness.
Get in touch with Nia:
TwitterEmail: niasw@stanford.eduGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com

Episode 9: Rebecca Hwang

“You are your own most important advocate – you’ve got to be on your own team.”
Rebecca Hwang is an electrical engineer working at Anello Photonics. Rebecca started at Stanford as an electrical engineering PhD student, but isn’t totally sure that a PhD is for her, which is something we talk about quite a bit in this episode. She got her masters and is currently taking a break from Stanford to get some experience working in industry and spend some time thinking about whether she wants to come back to finish her PhD.
In this episode we talk about how grad school isn’t all just about the research – you learn lots of soft skills along the way too. We also talk about how to reframe your perspective when facing tough situations and the fact that you can do anything you want as long as you’re willing to fail and get back up again.  
For anyone out there wondering whether a PhD is for you, this episode will be especially useful as Rebecca is thinking through a lot of those things herself.
Get in touch with Rebecca:
InstagramGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.com

Episode 8: Chris Perez

“Start early, pick your friends wisely, [and] identify mentors.”
Chris Perez is a fourth year graduate student in the NanoHeat Lab (PI Kenneth Goodson) in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University. Chris started his engineering journey many years ago, helping his dad fix things around the house, and when he realized he might want to pursue something like this as a career, he went to community college to take some classes to become an auto technician. While there, his professors saw all sorts of promise in him and encouraged him to go to UCLA for his bachelor’s degree. Chris excelled at UCLA as well, and was encouraged by his undergraduate research PI to pursue graduate school. Chris eventually made his way to Stanford, where he now studies nanoscale heat transfer. In this episode, we talk about the importance of community, the value of good mentorship, and how it’s super necessary to have some good self care practices in place as a PhD student.
Get in touch with Chris:
Email: cprez@stanford.eduGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.comListen and Subscribe:
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Episode 7: Aurora Alvarez-Buylla

“Science is awesome, but life comes first.”
Aurora Alvarez-Buylla is a fourth year graduate student in the Laboratory of Organismal Biology at Stanford University, studying how poison frogs take up toxins from their diet to become toxic themselves. In this episode, we talk with Aurora about how she transitioned from wanting to be an astronomer as a kid, to doing computer science in college at MIT, to eventually finding her way to pursuing a biology PhD at Stanford. We talk about how to figure out the difference between not liking something because you aren’t good at it and not liking something because you truly don’t enjoy it. Aurora is really passionate about using community building in order to make all students in her department feel welcomed and included, and in this episode she shares some of her unique insights into identity, inclusion, and diversity.
Mentioned in the episode:
Aurora is an HHMI Gilliam Fellow! Find out more about that here. Get in touch with Aurora:
TwitterGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.comListen and subscribe:
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Episode 6: Billie Goolsby

“This gives you a unique perspective as a scientist that’s actually really important…it’s not you overcoming these challenges, but more like you make science better.”
Billie Goolsby is a second year graduate student in the Laboratory of Organismal Biology at Stanford University, studying how poison frogs co-parent their offspring. Before going to college, Billie knew she enjoyed the open-ended question asking that science allowed, but wasn’t sure exactly what being a scientist looked like. In college, Billie participated in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at Boston University and through that, found a lab studying neuroethology in ants. Billie’s love of understanding animal sociality and the neuroscience behind it has led her to where she is now, studying neuroethology in poison frogs. Billie is hard of hearing, and in this episode we talk about how this has impacted her experiences as a scientist, as well as how we can make science more inclusive and welcoming for people of all abilities. We also talk more broadly about how to talk about disability, and how to be a good advocate and ally for others.
Mentioned in the episode:
American Sign Language for STEMVisual Language and Visual Learning Center at GallaudetResearch labs at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RITDeaf x LabGet in touch with Billie:
TwitterGet in touch with Steph:
InstagramTwitterGet in touch with the podcast:
Email: rootstostempodcast@gmail.comWebsite: rootstostempodcast.comListen and Subscribe:
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