Joanne Cohn
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 Denver, Colorado, went to the local schools, and then to Harvard for college, and University of Chicago for grad school. I was then a postdoc for 8 years and then a full research member in various departments (and a visiting professor in one). I have also held some lecturer positions.
I wanted to be a physicist when I was growing up, after I learned about special relativity. Since probably when I was 11 or so. However, sometimes I also
wanted to do animal behavior research (dolphins), though I never got very much background for that, as biology is not really my thing.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am a physical cosmologist. I work with models for various physical phenomena in the universe, and compare them to observations that have been made,
or suggest new observations, or try to interpret current or possible observations. A lot of my work is trying to figure out ideas, reading material I need, doing calculations by hand or computer, and writing up results. Sometimes it is alone, sometimes with colleagues or students, in small or big collaborations.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I use physics all the time, as I'm a physicist.
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?
The biggest challenge I have faced is just being part of a couple, in a field which has you changing jobs and locations often,
with not much time for anything but work. When I was entering the field, most women followed their partners to where their partners had jobs
or just left work to have kids. So many people, some of whom I didn't even know, would criticize me when
I chose instead to take a job that required a commute. It was stressful to have so much frequent disapproval for that and I worried I was bad for my
partner, also, as everyone else almost had a wife to take care of them (there weren't many women) and I was instead working a lot myself and not always nearby.
For everyone, it is also just stressful in research postdoc jobs, you are working full out and there is so much uncertainty about whether you will get a job in the field later on or have to start over doing something else.
For up and coming women, I guess for me it wasn't important that I was a woman doing physics, it was about doing physics. I was somewhat bothered the times people were more interested in my gender than in my work, physics results don't have, as far as I know, a woman or man aspect. That is something I like about it-people of different types, from many different places and backgrounds, can all share ideas and if they are true for one of us, they are true for all of us. It belongs to
everyone.
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 is learning and experimenting with new ideas, and working with interesting people who like these ideas also.
The worst part is that there is a lot of difficulty in getting funding, it is time consuming and frustrating.
I would change, if I could, the pressures to do so much administrative work, the intense competition for grants and the difficult
career path, which requires moving often at first, wreaking havoc with one's personal life at times.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I wish I had secrets, I don't!
7. What do you define success as?
Doing work you think is valuable and finding a way to be happy too, whatever kind of work that is and
whatever you mean by happy (for me that includes taking care of my family and friends).
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
I don't think there is one personality trait! The cool thing about physics is that so many people love it and do well, who are very different.
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 thesis advisers were great mentors, taught me about the field, about doing research, and the rest. They also taught me how much you can do if you just push a bit harder, so that I always realized I could try harder and do more than I originally thought.
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?
It seems to me that it is very important that if you are working in a certain field that you focus on being excellent on that field, know your material. I am not sure about good advice I've received :). To my younger self-I guess I would have suggested a bit more optimism, the pressure was incredibly miserable at the time. But at the time, there were not many options that I knew about aside from the academic path I was on, so it felt as if not succeeding in that path would be terrible, I thought I would have no chance at any career at all doing something I loved. Now there are many more interesting STEM options, so hopefully people will be able to work hard but not feel as much stress about the future.
I grew up in Denver, Colorado, went to the local schools, and then to Harvard for college, and University of Chicago for grad school. I was then a postdoc for 8 years and then a full research member in various departments (and a visiting professor in one). I have also held some lecturer positions.
I wanted to be a physicist when I was growing up, after I learned about special relativity. Since probably when I was 11 or so. However, sometimes I also
wanted to do animal behavior research (dolphins), though I never got very much background for that, as biology is not really my thing.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I am a physical cosmologist. I work with models for various physical phenomena in the universe, and compare them to observations that have been made,
or suggest new observations, or try to interpret current or possible observations. A lot of my work is trying to figure out ideas, reading material I need, doing calculations by hand or computer, and writing up results. Sometimes it is alone, sometimes with colleagues or students, in small or big collaborations.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I use physics all the time, as I'm a physicist.
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?
The biggest challenge I have faced is just being part of a couple, in a field which has you changing jobs and locations often,
with not much time for anything but work. When I was entering the field, most women followed their partners to where their partners had jobs
or just left work to have kids. So many people, some of whom I didn't even know, would criticize me when
I chose instead to take a job that required a commute. It was stressful to have so much frequent disapproval for that and I worried I was bad for my
partner, also, as everyone else almost had a wife to take care of them (there weren't many women) and I was instead working a lot myself and not always nearby.
For everyone, it is also just stressful in research postdoc jobs, you are working full out and there is so much uncertainty about whether you will get a job in the field later on or have to start over doing something else.
For up and coming women, I guess for me it wasn't important that I was a woman doing physics, it was about doing physics. I was somewhat bothered the times people were more interested in my gender than in my work, physics results don't have, as far as I know, a woman or man aspect. That is something I like about it-people of different types, from many different places and backgrounds, can all share ideas and if they are true for one of us, they are true for all of us. It belongs to
everyone.
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 is learning and experimenting with new ideas, and working with interesting people who like these ideas also.
The worst part is that there is a lot of difficulty in getting funding, it is time consuming and frustrating.
I would change, if I could, the pressures to do so much administrative work, the intense competition for grants and the difficult
career path, which requires moving often at first, wreaking havoc with one's personal life at times.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I wish I had secrets, I don't!
7. What do you define success as?
Doing work you think is valuable and finding a way to be happy too, whatever kind of work that is and
whatever you mean by happy (for me that includes taking care of my family and friends).
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
I don't think there is one personality trait! The cool thing about physics is that so many people love it and do well, who are very different.
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 thesis advisers were great mentors, taught me about the field, about doing research, and the rest. They also taught me how much you can do if you just push a bit harder, so that I always realized I could try harder and do more than I originally thought.
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?
It seems to me that it is very important that if you are working in a certain field that you focus on being excellent on that field, know your material. I am not sure about good advice I've received :). To my younger self-I guess I would have suggested a bit more optimism, the pressure was incredibly miserable at the time. But at the time, there were not many options that I knew about aside from the academic path I was on, so it felt as if not succeeding in that path would be terrible, I thought I would have no chance at any career at all doing something I loved. Now there are many more interesting STEM options, so hopefully people will be able to work hard but not feel as much stress about the future.
