Christine Trinkle
Interview Posted By: Ashley Smith
1. Can you tell us a little about your background? i.e. Where you grew up, what education do you have, a summary of your resume, did you always want to do what you are doing now, when did you start to become interested in STEM, what internships/ volunteering
I grew up in Hebron, Kentucky, which is a small town just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. My parents own a small machine shop and plastic molding company, which is probably where I get my love of making things and why I wanted to become and engineer. I went on to get my BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky and then my Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. It was at Berkeley that I started doing the type of research I do now, which focuses on micro/nanoscale fabrication and devices.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I’m a professor at the University of Kentucky. My day is (usually) controlled chaos. This job requires you to balance teaching classes (usually several at a time) with running a full-time research lab and doing outreach/service. So on any given day you’ll find me teaching classes, doing design work and calculations, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, writing papers and proposals, and occasionally sneaking up to my lab to do experiments.
3. How does STEM relate to your job? How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
It’s absolutely vital in every part of my job. By definition my job is Engineering, but Science, Technology and Math are critical to the classes I teach and all of the research work that I do.
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it? Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
Most of the discrimination I’ve seen is subtle rather than overt. The best way I’ve found to deal with it is to have a good support network and in turn to be a good support network for others.
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
The best part(s) are that it allows me to create new things and work on cutting edge technology. It’s also fantastic to get to work with the next generation of engineers as students. The worst part is that this job requires a -lot- of multitasking. There are numerous official and unofficial tasks in this job, and constantly switching between them can be exhausting.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
This is something I still struggle with, but being able to set priorities and boundaries in your life can help a lot.
7. What do you define success as?
Happiness and the ability to recognize it.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
I’d pick two: focus and resilience, especially in the face of failure. It’s easy to get distracted from the things that are really important (professionally and personally) or to get sidetracked by setbacks instead of learning from them. If you really want something, prioritize it and find a way to get there.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
My parents were definitely my earliest mentors. And after that I’ve had a variety of wonderful mentors throughout school and my career. They each taught me many things, but more than a specific piece of advice, they each served as an honest sounding board and as a source of confidence when I needed it. Having someone who can give you sanity checks but also support you when you need to hear someone to say “you’re smart and you’re good at this” when you might not feel that way... that’s incredibly important.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
Take more chances. I’ve never regretted making the bold choice, even when it didn’t work out quite the way I wanted.
I grew up in Hebron, Kentucky, which is a small town just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. My parents own a small machine shop and plastic molding company, which is probably where I get my love of making things and why I wanted to become and engineer. I went on to get my BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky and then my Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. It was at Berkeley that I started doing the type of research I do now, which focuses on micro/nanoscale fabrication and devices.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I’m a professor at the University of Kentucky. My day is (usually) controlled chaos. This job requires you to balance teaching classes (usually several at a time) with running a full-time research lab and doing outreach/service. So on any given day you’ll find me teaching classes, doing design work and calculations, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, writing papers and proposals, and occasionally sneaking up to my lab to do experiments.
3. How does STEM relate to your job? How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
It’s absolutely vital in every part of my job. By definition my job is Engineering, but Science, Technology and Math are critical to the classes I teach and all of the research work that I do.
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it? Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
Most of the discrimination I’ve seen is subtle rather than overt. The best way I’ve found to deal with it is to have a good support network and in turn to be a good support network for others.
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
The best part(s) are that it allows me to create new things and work on cutting edge technology. It’s also fantastic to get to work with the next generation of engineers as students. The worst part is that this job requires a -lot- of multitasking. There are numerous official and unofficial tasks in this job, and constantly switching between them can be exhausting.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
This is something I still struggle with, but being able to set priorities and boundaries in your life can help a lot.
7. What do you define success as?
Happiness and the ability to recognize it.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
I’d pick two: focus and resilience, especially in the face of failure. It’s easy to get distracted from the things that are really important (professionally and personally) or to get sidetracked by setbacks instead of learning from them. If you really want something, prioritize it and find a way to get there.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
My parents were definitely my earliest mentors. And after that I’ve had a variety of wonderful mentors throughout school and my career. They each taught me many things, but more than a specific piece of advice, they each served as an honest sounding board and as a source of confidence when I needed it. Having someone who can give you sanity checks but also support you when you need to hear someone to say “you’re smart and you’re good at this” when you might not feel that way... that’s incredibly important.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
Take more chances. I’ve never regretted making the bold choice, even when it didn’t work out quite the way I wanted.