Weekly WISE #2

This week, our participants visited the MUN Faculty of Medicine and the National Research Council! Check out what Lauren M and Rachel C had to say about their first few weeks of SSEP 2023!

Lauren M, Science Interpreter

Hello! My name is Lauren, and I am a science interpreter at the Johnson Geo Centre. This is my third week at the job and it has been very interesting so far. This job includes doing science tours of the exhibits, science demonstrations, informing visitors about the exhibits and helping out with the summer camp. The Geo Centre has many visitors as it is tourist season in Newfoundland, so I am usually very busy giving tours or helping people around the exhibits. I have met many wonderful people so far at the Geo Centre including paleontologists, astronomists and chemists, they have taught me so much already that I would have had no idea about if I had never come to work here, including learning about different types of rocks, a plasma ball and the science behind “magic” science tricks. My favorite part of my job is doing the oil and gas gallery tour. This is because I find it very interesting, and I learned so many new things while training for the tour so it is great to talk to people about science that you both are interested in. Another thing I love about my job is that by doing these science tours it gives you more confidence to talk about science since people are actually interested in what you are talking about and gives you more confidence for talking to people in general. Overall, my job has been pretty fun so far and I’m very excited to see what else I learn about throughout this summer. 

My experience with WISE so far has been remarkable, including the great group of girls I met, the tours we went on and the amazing support we have to pursue our careers in science. I loved touring the Marine Institute, MUN medicine and the NRC. All of these tours were very informative, and I loved learning about jobs that I had no idea existed. I’m so grateful that I was chosen to work with WISE and I’m very excited to see what the rest of the summer brings!!!

Rachel C, Research Assistant

Hello! My name is Rachel, and I have recently completed my second week of the Women in Science and Engineering Student Summer Employment Program. I’ve been working as a Research Assistant within the Department of Chemistry for Dr. Lindsay Cahill, at Memorial University. So far, I’ve learned about many different aspects of Dr. Cahill’s research and have been fully immersed into many experiments within them. Specifically, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Dr. Cahill’s undergrad and graduate students in her group and learning about her research on placental metabolic biomarkers of preterm birth and comparing it to that of full term. Within this research, I’ve been able to help the students with a couple of placenta collections at the Janeway. This is where we ask a woman, who will be having a C-section later that day, if she’ll allow us to use her placenta for our research. If yes, we receive the placenta after her C-section and we collect 12 tissue samples, 6 from the maternal side and 6 from the fetal side. This allows us to then take the samples to the lab and later perform NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) on the samples to compare the metabolic biomarkers known at the specific stage. This has allowed me to expand my knowledge on metabolites and their different effects on pregnancy and fetal development. It’s an amazing experience being here each day and being able to work with many other very intelligent women in science, and also to learn about their educational paths and their careers. I feel so lucky to be able to be here each day and I’m very thankful for this incredible opportunity!