Science, art, industry: I’m more than one thing
I don’t wait for opportunity. I seek it out.
By Sarah Lewis, as told to Haley Young
My dad was fired twice — and rehired three times — from the same job.
He went from working in the government to academia when he took a position at South Carolina State, a historically black university, trying to build a nuclear engineering program from the ground up.
So many things went wrong. So many people tried to hold him back.
But he knew he wasn’t there to be liked. He wasn’t going to kiss anyone’s boots.
He was there to get things done.
He wanted to make sure there was a university in South Carolina that had an engineering program that taught black students.
And because of his hustle and a few people who understood what he was trying to do, he made it happen.
Everywhere I go, I meet some of his students. He was such a good mentor to those kids — I see the ripples of his actions all around.
If I can accomplish even a little bit of what he did in changing so many lives, I’ll be doing some good.
I may not be pioneering entirely new educational programs, but I strive to embody my father’s dedication in my own pursuits.
I’m currently earning my PhD in genetics, which means I have to write a thesis — this huge book that probably no one will ever read, not even my mom. Sometimes it feels like this big thing that doesn’t really matter when I look at it.
It’s an important compilation of all of my work. I’ll be really proud when I finish it — I know it’s valuable.
But the reality that it’s definitely not going to be a page-turner also reminds me not to take myself too seriously. You run into a lot of that highbrow mindset in academia. I’m passionate about the field, but it’s not perfect.
Science is designed to make our lives better. That’s why we pursue knowledge.
But that story doesn’t always make it out to the public. So I’ve begun to focus on developing my communication skills to to better communicate science to the public so that it’s taken seriously. I want it to be part of the discussion, not just a faceless opinion that is overlooked.
And as a black woman, I’d specifically like to target my community because I feel like we are especially disconnected from science and the impact it can have. I would hope to help create a better relationship for more African Americans to consider careers in science.
In my field we’re trained to be academics, but there isn’t much training for other things.
We’re gaining all of these skills — and we have to figure out how to apply them in different ways on our own. I love the academic side, but I don’t feel like there’s enough contact with the outside world.
Because of that, I’ve had to learn to seek out opportunities instead of waiting for them to happen to me.
A friend and I are trying to commercialize a technology from her lab and create a small startup company. We’ve been taking advantage of campus opportunities we didn’t even know existed and talking to so many different people.
It’s been such a pleasure — and a bit of a rollercoaster — and I feel like I can at least start everything now.
It’s led me to explore industry more. I’m learning about what a career in the life science industry can look like and I’m in a transition stage where I’m preparing to take that on.
I’m also learning the importance of making time for stress relievers in your life. For me, that has often been art.
When I’m not doing something artistic or creative outside of science, I’m definitely a lot more stressed. The perception out there that scientists aren’t artistic is interesting to me because I know a lot of us who are.
My art has taken a lot of different forms, from painting to drawing to taking extracurricular classes at night, and now I’ve gotten into polymer clay, which is what my Gignite project is about. I make nerdy jewelry and sell it on Etsy.
I like working with my hands — it’s always relaxed me.
There is something satisfying about having multiple different pursuits. I’ve come to realize that my skills can be applied in a lot of different situations, and I shouldn’t limit myself.
Whether it’s art, or an entrepreneurial venture, or this thesis that looms over my head, I’m thankful for the example of my dad to look up to.
We may be doing different things — but if I can do them with the same dedication that he did, I will call that success.
