Sarah Elliott
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
The education I received at the University of Nevada, Reno was excellent. I entered the undergraduate program at UNR to pursue a degree in Psychology, but didn't really understand what I was looking for career-wise. It wasn’t until my junior year that I found an area that really excited me: Sensation & Perception.
I grew up partially blind in one eye. Specifically, I have amblyopia (lazy eye) – caused by a strabismus (improperly functioning muscle). Until I took the Sensation & Perception course, I had no idea what this meant, or whether I was at some visual disadvantage compared to others. Through this course, I learned about my own visual deficit, and importantly, was introduced the idea that our experience of the world is completely created by our brain. That is, our brains make educated guesses about what is out in the “real world”, and our experiences are a reflection of those educated guesses. That means that my experience of the world may be different from yours! This blew my mind. My life was forever changed.
I began my vision science career working in the lab of the professor who taught Sensation & Perception at UNR. He introduced me to many other professors at different universities, and I then went on to work at the University of California, Davis as a graduate student. After completing my Ph.D., I began working as a postdoctoral fellow in one of the top visual perception labs in the world at the University of Chicago. I now teach and lead my own laboratory at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
Depending on the University, a professor’s time may be devoted primarily to teaching classes or to conducting research. My university is considered a teaching university, so 60% of my time each week is devoted to preparing for and teaching classes on campus.
Approximately 20% of my time is devoted to my own research program. This time is consumed by reviewing recent scientific literature, planning new experiments, meeting with students working in my lab to discuss their progress on different research projects, and writing manuscripts for publication.
The final 20% of my time is devoted to service for the university. This time is where I meet with other faculty to discuss the nitty-gritty details of running a University. For example, once every month I meet with other Psychology professors to discuss our undergraduate education program. Topics include whether our course offerings are providing the necessary education for our students to be successful in Psychology after they graduate, whether we’re offering enough opportunities for student internships, if our course requirements meet APA standards, etc.
3. 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?
In general, I have found the Psychology field to be very welcoming to females. I have, however, been in situations where my opinion and expertise were not taken seriously from people outside of my field. At the time, I simply brushed off the slight to my intelligence. For the most part, these were random people that had no influence on my goals or my career. It still hurt my feelings, but it wasn’t worth pursuing in those contexts. If I were to experience discriminatory behavior in my profession, I would report that person to the appropriate authority.
My one major complaint, however, is that students often address me by the title of “Ms.” instead of “Dr.”. I know most students mean no harm, but I always correct them with a pleasant voice and smile on my face. I don’t care much for the special title of Ph.D., but feel it’s my responsibility to let students know how to show respect for individuals who’ve earned a title. I can’t say whether my fellow male Ph.D.s experience being addressed as “Mr.”, but my assumption is that it is rare.
4. 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?
I love to teach and mentor students. Seeing the proverbial “light bulb” turn on for students in class gives me great pleasure.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
Being a college professor is the best of both worlds. My Ph.D. isn’t necessarily paying all of my bills, but my flexible schedule can’t be beat! Besides my course schedule and on-campus meetings, I am in charge of my work schedule. I can work over weekends if I choose, or take a weekday off if I have an important personal event. I have a young son, and am so lucky to be able to spend lots of time with him at home.
As an academic, many individuals can get bogged down with the potential of new projects, new grants, and sometimes a large teaching load. The benefit of academia, though, is that you are in charge of your time, and you get to decide for yourself (keeping in mind some university requirements) what is most important to pursue.
6. What do you define success as?
Money is great, and we could all use more if it, but flexibility of schedule and personal time is priceless. Success in my eyes is finding a balance between meeting your needs and your desires.
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Persistence. The willingness to take big chances, knowing that more often than not, you will fail.
8. 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?
The strongest mentors in my life were my MA, Ph.D., and Postdoc advisers. Grad school is full of failure, and it can be extremely tough to convince yourself to keep trudging through. My advisers saw me at my worst, witnessed me fail again and again, but continued to pick me back up, put me back on my feet, and point me ever forward. They showed me how to be confident in and trust myself, how to respect my goals and take even tiny steps toward achieving them.
9. 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?
During graduate school, I royally messed up a project. In fact, it makes me a little ill to think about how much money and time I cost the lab to fix my mistake. I was living in a different city than my husband, and was seriously beginning to question whether I was “good enough” to continue my schooling. One day, my Ph.D. adviser walked into the lab to see how I was doing. I was distraught, and told him how sorry I was that the project failed so miserably. I was fully expecting him to give me a speech on how I might start considering a different career, that maybe it was time for me to move on. Instead, he looked me right in the eye, and said:
“Well, this is how you learn.”
In that one simple sentence, he let me know that yes, he was disappointed, but that it was in my court to decide what to do with the failure. Do I quit now, or do I take this lesson and move forward?
I chose the later, and I can honestly attribute all of my current success to this one failure. While trying to “fix” it, I learned so many new skills and found more courage in myself than I ever experienced before. When that project was finally finished one year later (and correctly, this time!), I felt I deserved my Ph.D.
So my advice is to take big changes. Try something new. When you fail, learn from it and move on. Don’t be afraid.
The education I received at the University of Nevada, Reno was excellent. I entered the undergraduate program at UNR to pursue a degree in Psychology, but didn't really understand what I was looking for career-wise. It wasn’t until my junior year that I found an area that really excited me: Sensation & Perception.
I grew up partially blind in one eye. Specifically, I have amblyopia (lazy eye) – caused by a strabismus (improperly functioning muscle). Until I took the Sensation & Perception course, I had no idea what this meant, or whether I was at some visual disadvantage compared to others. Through this course, I learned about my own visual deficit, and importantly, was introduced the idea that our experience of the world is completely created by our brain. That is, our brains make educated guesses about what is out in the “real world”, and our experiences are a reflection of those educated guesses. That means that my experience of the world may be different from yours! This blew my mind. My life was forever changed.
I began my vision science career working in the lab of the professor who taught Sensation & Perception at UNR. He introduced me to many other professors at different universities, and I then went on to work at the University of California, Davis as a graduate student. After completing my Ph.D., I began working as a postdoctoral fellow in one of the top visual perception labs in the world at the University of Chicago. I now teach and lead my own laboratory at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
Depending on the University, a professor’s time may be devoted primarily to teaching classes or to conducting research. My university is considered a teaching university, so 60% of my time each week is devoted to preparing for and teaching classes on campus.
Approximately 20% of my time is devoted to my own research program. This time is consumed by reviewing recent scientific literature, planning new experiments, meeting with students working in my lab to discuss their progress on different research projects, and writing manuscripts for publication.
The final 20% of my time is devoted to service for the university. This time is where I meet with other faculty to discuss the nitty-gritty details of running a University. For example, once every month I meet with other Psychology professors to discuss our undergraduate education program. Topics include whether our course offerings are providing the necessary education for our students to be successful in Psychology after they graduate, whether we’re offering enough opportunities for student internships, if our course requirements meet APA standards, etc.
3. 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?
In general, I have found the Psychology field to be very welcoming to females. I have, however, been in situations where my opinion and expertise were not taken seriously from people outside of my field. At the time, I simply brushed off the slight to my intelligence. For the most part, these were random people that had no influence on my goals or my career. It still hurt my feelings, but it wasn’t worth pursuing in those contexts. If I were to experience discriminatory behavior in my profession, I would report that person to the appropriate authority.
My one major complaint, however, is that students often address me by the title of “Ms.” instead of “Dr.”. I know most students mean no harm, but I always correct them with a pleasant voice and smile on my face. I don’t care much for the special title of Ph.D., but feel it’s my responsibility to let students know how to show respect for individuals who’ve earned a title. I can’t say whether my fellow male Ph.D.s experience being addressed as “Mr.”, but my assumption is that it is rare.
4. 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?
I love to teach and mentor students. Seeing the proverbial “light bulb” turn on for students in class gives me great pleasure.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
Being a college professor is the best of both worlds. My Ph.D. isn’t necessarily paying all of my bills, but my flexible schedule can’t be beat! Besides my course schedule and on-campus meetings, I am in charge of my work schedule. I can work over weekends if I choose, or take a weekday off if I have an important personal event. I have a young son, and am so lucky to be able to spend lots of time with him at home.
As an academic, many individuals can get bogged down with the potential of new projects, new grants, and sometimes a large teaching load. The benefit of academia, though, is that you are in charge of your time, and you get to decide for yourself (keeping in mind some university requirements) what is most important to pursue.
6. What do you define success as?
Money is great, and we could all use more if it, but flexibility of schedule and personal time is priceless. Success in my eyes is finding a balance between meeting your needs and your desires.
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Persistence. The willingness to take big chances, knowing that more often than not, you will fail.
8. 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?
The strongest mentors in my life were my MA, Ph.D., and Postdoc advisers. Grad school is full of failure, and it can be extremely tough to convince yourself to keep trudging through. My advisers saw me at my worst, witnessed me fail again and again, but continued to pick me back up, put me back on my feet, and point me ever forward. They showed me how to be confident in and trust myself, how to respect my goals and take even tiny steps toward achieving them.
9. 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?
During graduate school, I royally messed up a project. In fact, it makes me a little ill to think about how much money and time I cost the lab to fix my mistake. I was living in a different city than my husband, and was seriously beginning to question whether I was “good enough” to continue my schooling. One day, my Ph.D. adviser walked into the lab to see how I was doing. I was distraught, and told him how sorry I was that the project failed so miserably. I was fully expecting him to give me a speech on how I might start considering a different career, that maybe it was time for me to move on. Instead, he looked me right in the eye, and said:
“Well, this is how you learn.”
In that one simple sentence, he let me know that yes, he was disappointed, but that it was in my court to decide what to do with the failure. Do I quit now, or do I take this lesson and move forward?
I chose the later, and I can honestly attribute all of my current success to this one failure. While trying to “fix” it, I learned so many new skills and found more courage in myself than I ever experienced before. When that project was finally finished one year later (and correctly, this time!), I felt I deserved my Ph.D.
So my advice is to take big changes. Try something new. When you fail, learn from it and move on. Don’t be afraid.