Vicki M. Tysseling
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 rural America. My parents were very supportive of education and expected that we attend college. I first graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Zoology and then from the University of Iowa with a M.P.T. in Physical Therapy. These experiences fostered a love of research and a passionate interest in the field of spinal cord injury. I moved to Chicago with the hope of working with people with spinal cord injury at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. While there, I worked as a research physical therapist as well as a clinical physical therapist. Being re-exposed to research at this time, cemented my desire to return to an academic environment to discover new treatments for those with SCI. I graduated from Northwestern University with a PhD in Neuroscience, completed post-doctoral training, and started my Assistant Professor position 2 years ago.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University with a primary appointment in the department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Science and a secondary appointment in the department of Physiology. The majority of my day is spent running my laboratory. I determine which direction our research is taking, participate in our studies, collaborate with other investigators on projects, and follow my group closely on their current research projects.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
My B.S. degree provided the groundwork for discovering what I wanted to do. My M.P.T. allowed me to practice physical therapy with many patient groups, including SCI. These experiences still define my research questions, and shape my experimental methods. My PhD degree was instrumental in providing me the experience and confidence in problem solving, defining experimental questions, and choosing the correct experimental path to answer those questions.
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?
I think every woman in every job faces discrimination or challenges purely due to the fact she is a woman. This is easily seen just by the continued wage gap between men and women even in jobs that are traditionally held by more women such as nursing. A lot of advice that flows out there encourages women to “act” or “be” more like a man, but I’m not sure that is super helpful. I think you need to be true to yourself while being quite aware of the differences between men and women. For example, know that women, in general, don’t negotiate for raises and tend to suffer from “imposter disorder” to help yourself overcome these fears and issues. But don’t change who you are just to get ahead. Get ahead being the best you and not a different you. It’s a lot easier and more energizing.
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 of my job is being constantly challenged intellectually. Yes, this can be exhausting, but I can’t stand being bored and I am never bored at my job. I look forward to the discussions that I have with my collaborators, solving methodological problems and trying to organize data into a sound scientific story. The worst part of my job is the extreme difficulty in getting grant funding. The pay lines keep shrinking and it is getting harder and harder to fund science in general.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
My husband and I both have full-time demanding jobs and we have 2 elementary school aged children. This creates some serious life balance problems. I don’t think anyone has the perfect balance, even those with more flexible careers. For me, I have to balance around a point where I am happy with the relationship I have with my family and I am happy with the amount of work that I am getting completed. The scale gets tipped one way or the other way weekly, but averaging out the weeks, I’m getting there. You have to take note of what works for you and not mind what others are doing. Take the “good for you, not for me” approach, respecting other’s choices, but staying true to what you and your family need. I have 2 pieces of advice: Make sure that your partner knows what you want and talk about how you will balance kids and other things in your life. Once you have kids or a dog or whatever, you might need to re-negotiate, but at least you will already have a dialogue running. Also, if possible, live close to your family IF they are helpful. That would have solved many a sticky situation for me, had that been an option.
7. What do you define success as?
I define a successful person as someone who has truly found a life suited to their true self while contributing to better the world.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
A successful career required perseverance. Barriers come up with careers, marriage, kids, etc and without a commitment to persevere; those barriers will stop growth and stop happiness.
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?
I have had several amazing mentors throughout the years. These have been people who saw gifts in me that I did not see at the time and helped me direct my life in a successful path, both personally and professionally.
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?
If you feel called to a certain profession/lifestyle/position, then go for it. It never hurts to apply or ask. But it does really hurt to miss the chance.
I grew up in rural America. My parents were very supportive of education and expected that we attend college. I first graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Zoology and then from the University of Iowa with a M.P.T. in Physical Therapy. These experiences fostered a love of research and a passionate interest in the field of spinal cord injury. I moved to Chicago with the hope of working with people with spinal cord injury at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. While there, I worked as a research physical therapist as well as a clinical physical therapist. Being re-exposed to research at this time, cemented my desire to return to an academic environment to discover new treatments for those with SCI. I graduated from Northwestern University with a PhD in Neuroscience, completed post-doctoral training, and started my Assistant Professor position 2 years ago.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University with a primary appointment in the department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Science and a secondary appointment in the department of Physiology. The majority of my day is spent running my laboratory. I determine which direction our research is taking, participate in our studies, collaborate with other investigators on projects, and follow my group closely on their current research projects.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
My B.S. degree provided the groundwork for discovering what I wanted to do. My M.P.T. allowed me to practice physical therapy with many patient groups, including SCI. These experiences still define my research questions, and shape my experimental methods. My PhD degree was instrumental in providing me the experience and confidence in problem solving, defining experimental questions, and choosing the correct experimental path to answer those questions.
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?
I think every woman in every job faces discrimination or challenges purely due to the fact she is a woman. This is easily seen just by the continued wage gap between men and women even in jobs that are traditionally held by more women such as nursing. A lot of advice that flows out there encourages women to “act” or “be” more like a man, but I’m not sure that is super helpful. I think you need to be true to yourself while being quite aware of the differences between men and women. For example, know that women, in general, don’t negotiate for raises and tend to suffer from “imposter disorder” to help yourself overcome these fears and issues. But don’t change who you are just to get ahead. Get ahead being the best you and not a different you. It’s a lot easier and more energizing.
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 of my job is being constantly challenged intellectually. Yes, this can be exhausting, but I can’t stand being bored and I am never bored at my job. I look forward to the discussions that I have with my collaborators, solving methodological problems and trying to organize data into a sound scientific story. The worst part of my job is the extreme difficulty in getting grant funding. The pay lines keep shrinking and it is getting harder and harder to fund science in general.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
My husband and I both have full-time demanding jobs and we have 2 elementary school aged children. This creates some serious life balance problems. I don’t think anyone has the perfect balance, even those with more flexible careers. For me, I have to balance around a point where I am happy with the relationship I have with my family and I am happy with the amount of work that I am getting completed. The scale gets tipped one way or the other way weekly, but averaging out the weeks, I’m getting there. You have to take note of what works for you and not mind what others are doing. Take the “good for you, not for me” approach, respecting other’s choices, but staying true to what you and your family need. I have 2 pieces of advice: Make sure that your partner knows what you want and talk about how you will balance kids and other things in your life. Once you have kids or a dog or whatever, you might need to re-negotiate, but at least you will already have a dialogue running. Also, if possible, live close to your family IF they are helpful. That would have solved many a sticky situation for me, had that been an option.
7. What do you define success as?
I define a successful person as someone who has truly found a life suited to their true self while contributing to better the world.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
A successful career required perseverance. Barriers come up with careers, marriage, kids, etc and without a commitment to persevere; those barriers will stop growth and stop happiness.
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?
I have had several amazing mentors throughout the years. These have been people who saw gifts in me that I did not see at the time and helped me direct my life in a successful path, both personally and professionally.
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?
If you feel called to a certain profession/lifestyle/position, then go for it. It never hurts to apply or ask. But it does really hurt to miss the chance.