- Coming from here, being able to go to Brown, and now being a Fulbright scholar, which is like crème de la crème, it's insane on so many levels. And so I'm hoping that, you know, teaching these kids, that they can follow in my footsteps, and be like, "Oh, well so many people from our area, they live here, they die here. They've never gone further than 50 miles away." - Yeah. - I want them to know that they can be global citizens too, and they can be more engaged with not only our country, but also the world. And just expand their minds in that way. - This, is the "ORISE Featurecast." Join Host, Michael Holtz for conversations with ORISE experts on STEM workforce development, scientific and technical reviews, and the evaluation of radiation exposure and environmental contamination. You will also hear from ORISE research program participants and their mentors, as they talk about their experiences, and how they are helping shape the future of science. Welcome to the "ORISE Featurecast." - Welcome to another episode of the "ORISE Featurecast." As ever, I'm your host, Michael Holtz, in the communications and marketing department at the Oakridge Institute for Science and Education. And I'm really excited today to be talking to Mariah Guevara. We've been trying to have this conversation for a little while, so I'm really excited, that we have finally been able to do this. Mariah, welcome to the "ORISE Featurecast." - Hi Michael. Thank you for having me. Very thrilled to be here. - Very excited to have you. And, for folks who are listening, part of the reason that we brought Mariah here, is she was recently named a Fulbright Scholar, and that's a huge deal. Big ups for being a Fulbright Scholar. We're gonna talk about that and what it means. And we're also gonna talk about Mariah's work as an ORISE fellow. But first, Mariah, tell us a little bit about who you are, and your current role. What do you, what do you do? - Absolutely. So, hi everybody. I am Mariah Guevara, originally from San Antonio, Texas, but I graduated high school in Arkansas, and I very recently graduated from Brown University as a biomedical engineer. My Bachelor of science there. Absolutely love it. I am currently at home both teaching a ACT Institute. We teach underprivileged students in the southern Arkansas area, different areas on the ACT to sort of help them get into those higher up scholarship levels and some great universities. So I just concluded teaching the math section of that. And also doing some lab work at a local university. And right now I am pulling 15 hour study days, because I'm taking the MCAT really soon. - Oh my gosh. You have a lot going on. - That's why it took so long. I've been barely sleeping. - I can only imagine. So congratulations on just graduating. - Thank you. - And also on being named a Fulbright Scholar. If you would, let's start there, and talk about what that means, and how important it is to you, to receive that Fulbright scholarship. - Yeah, absolutely. I lost my mind when I found out I got it, frankly. It's a pretty big deal. For those of you that don't know, the Fulbright Scholarship was actually founded by a senator from Arkansas. - Okay. - And crazy thing happened when I was talking to some people at my church about it. One of the ladies, she was like, "Oh, Fulbright, I know him. He was one of my dad's friends." And I was like, "What?" - Talk about a full circle moment. - It was crazy. So that was such a cool moment. But basically what Fulbright is, it's this thing, as I said, programs established by Senator Fulbright, for the spirit of intellectual exchange, and information between different countries. So there can either be a research Fulbright, or an English teaching Fulbright, and it's through hundreds of countries across the world. And I'm going to Spain, which I'm super excited about. - Nice. - Yeah, thank you. Being Hispanic, you know, I'm Miscali. So I've always been able to trace my heritage back along native Mexican lines, but I really don't know a lot about my family from Spain. So it's super cool to be able to go over there, and sort of get that sense of my heritage. I'm really excited. - That's very cool. When will that happen? Do you have a timeline for that trip, and- - Yes. I'm leaving here at the end of August, and I'm going to be teaching English at vocational school in Galithea, which is sort of the northwest coastal region. Very excited. - Very cool. So, I'm hearing this through line of, you do a lot of teaching. You're teaching, you know, ACT, you're gonna teach English in Spain. I assume that's something you like to do, or you wouldn't spend so much time doing it. What is it about teaching that is, that is drawing you to these experiences? - I come from a family of educators. My dad's a professor, my mom's a fifth grade English teacher. I was a TA for three outta my four years at Brown. You, my dad always told me that you don't truly understand something unless you can teach it to someone else. - Oh. - And since obviously, communication and education is so prioritized in my family, I was always taught, badump, that I need to be able to communicate with others and share my knowledge. And that's the only way you can really have a mastery of what you know. - Right, right. You're teaching ACT subjects to underprivileged students. How important is that, is reaching, you know, those sort of underrepresented, under, I guess, under-resourced students, to help improve their a CT scores? And hopefully, I assume, you know, get some of those scholarship dollars and things that are out there? How important is that to you? - That's a huge deal to me. In Arkansas where I live, there is a 19% illiteracy rate. - Wow. - And we are dramatically below the poverty line. And so coming from here, you know, my entire public education was here in this place. - Going through the public school system, I never had the advantage that a lot of people at my, you know, Ivy League school, you think prep schools, you think, "Oh, only the fanciest of kindergartens for my kids." I'm a public school kid. - Yeah. - I am the Hispanic girl in a small minority, in a place where I haven't had a lot of representation for myself, and I haven't had a lot of the opportunities that a bunch of the other people in my area have had, coming from here, being able to go to Brown, and now being a Fulbright scholar, which is like crème de la crème. It's insane on so many levels. And so I'm hoping that, you know, teaching these kids, that they can follow my footsteps, and be like, "Oh, well, so many people from our area, they live here, they die here, they've never gone further than 50 miles away." - Yeah. - I want them to know that they can be global citizens too, and they can be more engaged with not only our country, but also the world, and just expand their minds in that way. - Right. That's, that's amazing. And I love that you're willing to put yourself out there as that representation. Mariah, one of the other reasons that I'm talking to you today, is you have been an ORISE program participant. Talk a little bit, and for folks who don't, don't know, or who may be listening for the first time, ORISE, the Oakridge Institute for Science and Education, works with national labs, and other federal agencies around the country, to place undergrads, grads, postdocs, and even some faculty members, in research participation programs, where folks like Mariah get to work alongside researchers in actual research, you know, situations, where, you know, you're doing true research, you're not pushing paper for somebody. You're, you know, doing that sort of intern, sort of administrative kind of stuff. You're actually working bedside with other scientists. So Mariah, talk about what your experience was like, where you, where you had your experience, and kind of, I guess what you did. - Mm-hmm. Absolutely. So I worked remotely with the Department of Homeland Security transition branch. - Okay. - And I can confidently say that it was amazing. I would definitely not be where I am today without that experience. And I really owe it all to my Research Mentor, Dr. Blanka. She was so amazing, and it was so wonderful seeing another Hispanic woman. She was sort of the top of the branch. It was so incredible to her taking me under her wing. So what I did was, I met with project leaders for up and coming developing technologies. I read the reports, I sort of discussed with them their progress, and I actually synthesized those reports, and put them in a final spreadsheet that will eventually be sent on to Congress to determine funding and things like that for the development of science and technology. And that was really awesome, being able to work in technical writing spheres. And, I like to think of myself as a writer. You know, I dabbled, I'm not just an engineer. And so being able to combine sort of my love of writing with my experience as an engineer, and seeing all those incredible developing technologies, which I legally can't tell you about. - Right. Right. - Was, it was just awesome. - That sounds amazing. And to think that your work may have an impact on funding decisions, right? - Mm-hmm. - And, you know, Congress is gonna look at this information, and, you know, potentially make decisions for funding based on the words that you've submitted about these particular projects. I think that's amazing. - No, it was crazy. Being an ORISE fellow, it's not like I was an, I don't even feel like I was an intern, really. I was a member of the team. - Yeah. - You know, I was, went to all the meetings, contributed, they didn't treat me like I was gonna to be there for a couple months. Like, "Oh, it's the kid we're letting follow us around." You know, I was treated as such a competent, really peer that they all sort of took under their wing, and guided me through everything, but also gave me that respect, and really listened to my ideas. So, it was incredible. - That's really cool. That sounds like a great experience. Mariah has, you're an engineer. Has science always been, I know education has been part of your life, obviously, because of your parents, and, and you have that example. Science always a part of who you are? Have you always had that interest in sort of how stuff works and comes together? - And- - I think I watched too many episodes of "MythBusters" when I was little. I have never been able to shake my love of science. And I come from a humanities family. My sister's are a reporter, my parents teach English, and I'm over here in the corner getting microscopes for my birthday every year. Like, "Wee-hoo!" - And they're like, "Who is this girl?" - You know, growing up in a rural area, I've always sort of been a naturalist. You know, I would, we didn't really have like a lot of TV service, or not great wifi. So I spent my whole childhood running around in the forest, you know, staring at ants for a long time, which explains way too much about my personality. And so I've just always been so interested in the world around me. And then I got into biology and was like, "Wait a minute. You're telling me I'm a weird living system too? What are you talking about?" - How is this possible? - So I've always just been really, really curious about the world around me. When I found out that we humans are just as strange, and just as complex and exciting, that's what really got me into science and medicine. - Okay. Very cool. And you say you're, you're slated to take the MCAT. So is medicine sort of the next frontier for Mariah Guevara? - Yes, absolutely. Going through the application process now, we suffer, but yes. Taking the MCAT in, ooh, 10 days actually. - Ooh. - I know, ugh. So that has been really exciting. I'm hoping to go to medicine. Yes. And this is another thing that really being an ORISE fellow helped me with, because one of the people in my branch, Herby is what we call him, that's his call sign, his daughter's currently in medical school. And he went out of his way to get me into contact with her, and to sort of talk me through the application process, what it's been like for her. And everybody that I discussed some sort of my path with has been so supportive. I'm really interested in going into prosthetic medicine. - Okay. - Or emergency surgery. I have a family member with chronic pain. So I've always really been interested in incorporating therapeutics, along with surgery and prosthetics to sort of ameliorate that. - Mm-hmm. - That's really interesting and really cool, that, you know, you often hear of folks who go into medicine, or, you know, heck, even engineering, but it's based on, you know, something from their family experience, from their life experience that sort of triggers that interest. So it sounds like that's happened to you as well. You've talked a bit about your ORISE experience. And one of the things I like to ask about is, you know, your mentors, and I know you've, you've given credit, you know, to a couple of your mentors already. How important is mentorship to the development of incoming science, scientists like yourself? - I think it's crucial. Humans are social creatures. And I really think that without those connections, and that passion, that we couldn't go anywhere. It's like what you're saying, everybody who sort of goes into medicine or biomedical engineering like I have, there's something in their lives that triggers that. - Yep. - And I really think that we do what we do because of companionship, and because of love and support. So I've gotten my support from so many wonderful people through the ORISE fellowship, and so many people who are called into medicine get it because of the love they have for the people around them. - Sure. - And just this desire to help others. So especially with mentorship, it's passing down that, that helpfulness and saying, "You're coming next, and you can do even better than me." No offense to all of my mentors in the program. - Right, right, right. - But it's that helping hand to pull you along. It's invaluable. - And are in a sense doing that with, you know, teaching students, you know, getting students prepped for the ACT. Are there other places in your life where you've been able to mentor, folks who are following in your footsteps? - Yeah, absolutely. In my church, I was actually a youth fellow for a while, so I would help students going through the confirmation program, Bible study with them, sitting with them at church, making sure they come to the activities. - Sure. - Different stuff like that. And also at Brown, for a long time I was a TA for both Dynamics and Vibrations. I was a project TA for that, and a lab assistant/mentor for instrumentation design, which is one of the craziest classes ever. But being able to help other students go through the classes that I previously did and loved, and share that excitement with them, it's wonderful. - Right. That's so cool. You sound like a fabulous mentor, and I hope that the students that you're able to interact with, have the same appreciation for you, that you have, obviously for the mentors that have poured into your life. What do you say to those up and coming young people who are considering, you know, whether it's science in general, or biomedical engineering, or medicine, what do you say to to those folks who are, who are coming behind you? - If you love it, you can do it. It, it's about the passion, and it's about the drive. And I really think that if you feel that you are called to science, or engineering, or really whatever path it is, and you find those people who support you along the way, that's how you can do it. You find those connections, and you just go for it, and remember what called you to it in the first place, and the curiosity and the drive that you have. - Awesome. I love, I love the idea of being called to the work that you're doing. So thank you for, for putting that out there. Mariah, is there anything that you want to let people know about you or your work, that we haven't talked about? - Oh gosh. I promise people I have a life outside of studying. I was in a pirate acapella group, and on the competitive ballroom dance team. - Stop it. Really? - Yes. That was very fun. That is awesome. So I have to ask you about ballroom dance. Well, and the pirate acapella group. But talk, talk about both of those, 'cause that, I mean, creativity is important, and you've already mentioned you're, you know, you consider yourself a writer, in addition to being a biomedical engineer. So there's, there's definitely, it sounds like a creative vent to the world of Mariah Guevara. Mm-hmm. - And, you know, getting through the world. So. - Mm-hmm. I really think there's no effectivity in sciences without a bit of humanity. You know, the best idea in the world isn't gonna go anywhere if you can't effectively communicate it. And I love having that expression through the arts. So yes, the pirate acapella team we're called were called, "Argh," and we'd dress up like pirates, and sing see shanties, and make obnoxious messes of ourselves. It's a great time. And the Ballroom dance team, we get together and learn all sorts of things like waltz, tango, foxtrot. Very funny story. The first day they were like, "Okay, well you can either be a leader or a follower." And I didn't know those were typically gendered roles. And I was like, "Ah, yes, I'm a leader amongst men. Yes, yes, of course." Sign me up. - So now, yeah, so now I show up to all the competitions, in like a weird tux, with like a dress on it, you know, the formal jacket. But hey, it's fun. - Cool. That sounds awesome. Last question for you, Mariah. What brings you joy? - What brings me joy? Currently, I'm being brought a lot of joy. My dog is sleeping on the couch like five feet from me, and she's really cute. I'd say discovery brings me a lot of joy. I've always been a curious person, and I just love learning new things, and seeing cool stuff. Whether that comes from writing, and figuring out like a cool scene, or reading, or just finally understanding some sort of concept that's bugged me for a while. There is no feeling like just the elation you get from finally figuring something out, and just like another piece of the world snapping into place. - Right. That's awesome. I love that. Mariah, thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with me today. I really appreciate it. You have a great story, and I hope that lots of folks will be inspired by what you've, what you've talked about today. - Thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed our conversation. - It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Have a great day. - Okay, bye everybody. - [Announcer] Thank you for listening to the "ORISE Featurecast." To learn more about the Oakridge Institute for Science and Education, visit ORISE.ORAU.GOV, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @ORISECONNECT. If you like the "ORISE Featurecast," give us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. The Oakridge Institute for Science and Education, is managed by ORAU, for the US Department of Energy.