Yarrow Axford
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 a small town in eastern Maine, then went to college at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. I really discovered my interest in sciences at Mt. Holyoke, where ultimately I majored in Geology and minored in Environmental Studies. I had the opportunity to do a very exciting (or at least it was to me!) senior research project that began with field work in Alaska and led to lab analyses of a sediment core. That research experience got me hooked on doing research, and after graduating from Mt Holyoke I moved out west to do a Masters degree in Geology, continuing to focus on paleoclimate reconstructions in Alaska. After earning my M.S., I worked for the US Geological Survey for about a year, and then as a technical/science writer for a year. Then I worked on a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University. I teach classes for undergraduate and graduate students, run a lab, supervise student research projects, submit grant proposals to fund all the research that’s happening in the lab, and write papers about research results. My research is field-based in addition to being lab-based, so I also devote a lot of time to planning field expeditions (these days, mostly to Greenland) and then spending weeks at a time doing research at remote field sites with my students and colleagues.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I use math skills and scientific knowledge every day, in almost every activity I’m involved with. It’s worth noting that I also use writing and speaking skills constantly. Academic scientists need to learn to be good communicators to be successful at research and teaching.
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 haven’t experienced much overt discrimination, and yet there are many ways in which being a woman in STEM feels like an uphill battle on a daily basis. I think it’s very important to choose wisely whom you work with. The people surrounding you every day make the most difference to your day-to-day happiness and ultimately to your career success.
Although I’ve largely escaped very obvious forms of discrimination, it’s still pretty common that I’m the only woman, or one of only a few, at a research meeting or other event in my subdiscipline. It takes a strong sense of confidence to deal with that – and I wouldn’t say that confidence always comes naturally for me. But you can learn to be very confident in your ability to contribute to a project when you’ve spent years acquiring knowledge and skills.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
My best advice here would be: Just like at work, in your personal life choose your “team” very wisely. I have a toddler, and combining that with a faculty STEM job is challenging for sure. But it is do-able, and I attribute that in large part to what a great team my husband and I make. He is deeply committed to my career goals and my success. And in addition we have a lot of help from other wonderful people.
6. What do you define success as?
“Success” for me is having freedom to pursue my interests and to be creative, staying useful, and seeing the students I work with go on to pursue their own dreams.
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Resilience. Any path you choose to take will present bumps, roadblocks and unexpected curves along the way. I think successful people know what matters most to them, and continue to pursue those things even when challenges come along. They also try to learn useful lessons from failures and rejections. (We all experience both – so why not get something out of them?)
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?
My faculty advisors at every level – my undergrad advisor, MS advisor, and PhD advisor – all taught me so much. Specific skills and knowledge that I needed in order to do research, but also lessons about life and how to live a brave, creative life devoted to discovery.
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?
The coffee shop around the corner from my house has a sign on its door that says, “Do one thing that scares you every day.” I think that’s great career advice. I feel like I do about twenty things that scare me every day – from teaching in front of a classroom to riding a helicopter into a remote arctic field site – but those are also the things that keep my job so interesting. And I get more confident about all of those scary things over time, and then move on to the next new thing. It’s amazing to have a career where I can experience constant learning and self-improvement.
I grew up in a small town in eastern Maine, then went to college at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. I really discovered my interest in sciences at Mt. Holyoke, where ultimately I majored in Geology and minored in Environmental Studies. I had the opportunity to do a very exciting (or at least it was to me!) senior research project that began with field work in Alaska and led to lab analyses of a sediment core. That research experience got me hooked on doing research, and after graduating from Mt Holyoke I moved out west to do a Masters degree in Geology, continuing to focus on paleoclimate reconstructions in Alaska. After earning my M.S., I worked for the US Geological Survey for about a year, and then as a technical/science writer for a year. Then I worked on a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University. I teach classes for undergraduate and graduate students, run a lab, supervise student research projects, submit grant proposals to fund all the research that’s happening in the lab, and write papers about research results. My research is field-based in addition to being lab-based, so I also devote a lot of time to planning field expeditions (these days, mostly to Greenland) and then spending weeks at a time doing research at remote field sites with my students and colleagues.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I use math skills and scientific knowledge every day, in almost every activity I’m involved with. It’s worth noting that I also use writing and speaking skills constantly. Academic scientists need to learn to be good communicators to be successful at research and teaching.
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 haven’t experienced much overt discrimination, and yet there are many ways in which being a woman in STEM feels like an uphill battle on a daily basis. I think it’s very important to choose wisely whom you work with. The people surrounding you every day make the most difference to your day-to-day happiness and ultimately to your career success.
Although I’ve largely escaped very obvious forms of discrimination, it’s still pretty common that I’m the only woman, or one of only a few, at a research meeting or other event in my subdiscipline. It takes a strong sense of confidence to deal with that – and I wouldn’t say that confidence always comes naturally for me. But you can learn to be very confident in your ability to contribute to a project when you’ve spent years acquiring knowledge and skills.
5. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
My best advice here would be: Just like at work, in your personal life choose your “team” very wisely. I have a toddler, and combining that with a faculty STEM job is challenging for sure. But it is do-able, and I attribute that in large part to what a great team my husband and I make. He is deeply committed to my career goals and my success. And in addition we have a lot of help from other wonderful people.
6. What do you define success as?
“Success” for me is having freedom to pursue my interests and to be creative, staying useful, and seeing the students I work with go on to pursue their own dreams.
7. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Resilience. Any path you choose to take will present bumps, roadblocks and unexpected curves along the way. I think successful people know what matters most to them, and continue to pursue those things even when challenges come along. They also try to learn useful lessons from failures and rejections. (We all experience both – so why not get something out of them?)
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?
My faculty advisors at every level – my undergrad advisor, MS advisor, and PhD advisor – all taught me so much. Specific skills and knowledge that I needed in order to do research, but also lessons about life and how to live a brave, creative life devoted to discovery.
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?
The coffee shop around the corner from my house has a sign on its door that says, “Do one thing that scares you every day.” I think that’s great career advice. I feel like I do about twenty things that scare me every day – from teaching in front of a classroom to riding a helicopter into a remote arctic field site – but those are also the things that keep my job so interesting. And I get more confident about all of those scary things over time, and then move on to the next new thing. It’s amazing to have a career where I can experience constant learning and self-improvement.