LabXchange convenes a community that helps young people pursue and excel in their chosen career paths. Our collaborator Scientista Foundation is on a mission to connect women and foster a more diverse and inclusive STEM workforce! We chatted with editor-in-chief Lauren Koenig to learn more.

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Connecting Women in STEM

What's one thing LabXchange users should know about your organization? Scientista is the largest network of campus women across STEM disciplines!

‍What's one fun fact about your organization?

‍Scientista’s members, bloggers, and subscribers are based all over the world, but we offer an annual symposium as an opportunity for everyone to meet in person. The three-day event features a job fair, poster session, and panel discussions covering everything from science communication to how to start your own STEM-based business.

You can read about one of our past events, but be sure to keep a lookout for news about the next in-person symposium as well.

‍What is your organization's vision for science education?

‍Scientista seeks to provide accessible content that explores science news, dives deep into the latest research breakthroughs, tells diverse stories in STEM, and imparts advice to help readers plan their education and career.

Our content is created by aspiring science communicators who take part in our writing program, in which we pair each blogger with a member of our editorial team to strengthen their writing skills and develop a writing portfolio.

Ultimately, whether you’re a writer or a reader (or both), Scientista’s vision is to connect you with science education in a way that’s most meaningful for you and your professional goals.

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Sources of Inspiration

Who are your scientific inspirations? Dr. Sophie Picq is an electric fish biologist I had the pleasure of working with during a field expedition in graduate school.

In addition to being thoughtful and methodical in designing her research, she’s creative, adventurous, and knows how to make doing science a lot of fun!

Often we look for inspiration from historical figures who paved the way for today’s aspiring scientists, but it’s also really helpful to have a mentor to inspire you on a daily basis.

What is the first science experiment you remember performing?

‍In kindergarten, I remember simulating an oil spill by submerging all of my toy plastic animals in a diorama filled with water and topped with olive oil.

The animals may have been not quite to scale (as killer whales are not smaller than kangaroos), but the excitement and unpredictability of hands-on experimental work definitely stuck with me and likely contributed to my interest in biology fieldwork a couple of decades later.

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Making a Difference in STEM

Tell us what motivates you to continue creating your amazing content!

‍I love when we get feedback on our content! Whenever one of our readers comments on our blog or writes in to tell us that they were inspired by something new they learned on our site, it’s very motivating to know that the work we’re doing is making a difference in someone else’s day.

‍What's your favorite science joke/pun?

‍How many tickles does it take for a squid to laugh? Ten. Ten...tickles.

‍Do you want to check out Scientista Foundation resources on LabXchange? Visit their collaborator page.

‍Who are the LabXchange content collaborators? View our growing list of content collaborators here and read all of our collaborator spotlights to date.‍