Greeting, readers! Today we have another entry in my Interview with Scientist series. Or maybe it’s just a general interview series and I’ve had two scientists in a row. This time I interviewed my friend and colleague, Dr. Erika Rader. She is genuinely one of the kindest and most introspective people I know. Hopefully her reflections provide something useful to chew on in your own life.
Before we get started, why don’t you tell the audience a little about yourself.
Today is the 1st day of teaching in my 2nd year of my 1st job, which is associate professor of geology at the University of Idaho. I study volcanoes and the rocks they make. I like ice hockey, exploring, and food. My favorite color is the same as my Grandma’s (orange) and I have the same birthmark as my Grandpa (on the calf). I spell poorly and this will be the 3rd year of marriage for me and my wife… to each other that is. We have no cats.
1 –What first inspired your interest in STEM? Why do you do what you do?
I asked a LOT of questions and the adults in my life really fostered my quest to discover things. My parents let me roam the great outdoors untethered, my teachers let me do ridiculous projects so long as I followed through with a complete product at the end. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were helping me develop foundational skill sets that allowed me to keep asking questions and making new discoveries even as an adult.
2 – What made you pursue a graduate degree in STEM?
MONEY!… and a lack of knowledge about other career opportunities out there. It really seemed like the only option and when I learned that I could get paid while going to school for free (and thus deferring my student loans), I was sold on the idea.
3 – There are a lot of challenges when pursing a graduate degree. What was the biggest for you? And how did you overcome it?
There were lots of little challenges, not knowing how to approach a problem, wishing I had someone to ask about something, dealing with social situations that were outside my comfort zone, wondering if I was doing things right. These little chips of insecurity can dominate your thought process and undermine your abilities, so I told myself to stop wasting time on them. So much of this world is a construct, and being a scientist helped me see that.
So when I was longing for a compliment from someone who I categorized as ‘knowing what they were doing’, instead I simply told myself that they were just going to be deciding my competency based on some set of rules that they decided upon for whatever reason and so why not just make up my own rules and decide if I was doing fine on my own. It sure helped me have a good graduate school experience. I’ll let you know if it still works now that I’m a professor….
4 – What still gets you excited about your work?
Ooo, lots of things. Looking at new data, sketching conceptual diagrams, “flying” over satellite images of places I’ve never been, finding a neat paper, and mmmaaayyybbbeeeee sometimes witnessing a student having a breakthrough.
5 – How did you transition from graduate school to your career?
Ah, well as is evident from the previous answer, I am still transitioning. And the single hardest things about going from grad student to professor is now, suddenly, my success is based upon the actions of other people I am directly responsible for. SO FAR at least! I feel like there are many more mistakes to be made so it would be silly of me to profess that I absolutely know what the hardest thing is. But I have always found solace in myself and letting go of things I cannot control. I can not control my students…. But I am still deeply compelled to try. So that’s what I’m working on, currently.
6 – If you weren’t doing , what would you be doing?
Well let’s go through this fun, theoretical exercise together, shall we? I’d look at the want ads in some place I wanted to live. We’ll say Joseph, OR since that place is pretty and has an ice rink. *opens webpage* looks like there’s a pet sitting job (NO WAY) and OOO a truck driver job. I’ve always been attracted to long-haul trucking. I like driving a lot, I like my truck, I like seeing the world! Oh, there’s also a nurse’s job. So many of my friends have switched careers into nursing. I think that job would be hard for me with all the social interaction and sadness, but who knows. Probably I’d just be a long-haul truck driver.
7 – Surprise big picture question! What’s your philosophy on life? Has graduate school, or science in general, altered that perspective?
I recently read a book written by a geologist where they described several summers of fieldwork out in Greenland. And in this book, the author’s descriptions felt super true to how I see the world. It made me contemplate my systemic view of everything because more often than not, when I read a book, I just don’t connect with the way people describe life. So, here’s what I think I understand a bit better after reading this book. Time and space are infinitely scalable. By that I mean that expanding your understanding of the world to include the tiniest fraction of a molecule to the longest periodicity of gravity waves allows you to embrace and bask in so many more experiences. Life is a tiny part of the world so when things have you down, there’s so many places to turn to for inspiration. Grad school has not changed this (though we as the observer of ourselves cannot be truly unbiased!) but it certainly has made it easier for me to understand why I think the way I do.
Thank you for reading! My next blog is scheduled for Thursday, September 26th. Until next time….
The Planetary Novelist 