Swimming with Dolphins
I just agreed to be on a panel about IT careers, to talk about my research. The audience is 40 Girl Guides between 11 and 17. So I got to thinking about what I found interesting at that age, which reminded me of when I decided science was for me.
Our school had a career day where they brought in a pretty wide range of people to talk about their jobs, and you picked which ones to go to based on the descriptions. I signed up for the High School teacher, Ducks Unlimited, and Marine Biologist sessions. There must have been others, but those are the ones I know. Teacher/scientist were always careers high on my list, and of course I wanted to swim with the dolphins. I blame (or thank) Madeleine L’Engle for that.
The thing I remember about the Marine Biologist was her showing a picture of a dolphin and then saying: “Yeah, we don’t really do that.” She went on to describe her research into algae. I remember pictures with dirty gallon buckets of goo and blurry Erlenmeyer flasks near lab-coated figures and a research station perched on a cliff with sea-spray drenching the windows. I remember the enthusiasm in her voice when she talked about the algae. I don’t remember many details, but I remember being convinced at the end of the day that research was for me.
So I’ll probably draw on that when I’m putting together my talk—say something about all the many interesting areas of AI research, but talk about my project and what I do each day. Maybe someone will recognize that even when it doesn’t involve magical portals and swimming with dolphins, research can be exciting and engrossing, a perfect career for them. And if not, they’ll at least see someone who loves their work.