Rebecca Christianson
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 Minnesota. My early education was in a rural school district without a lot of opportunities, but my parents pushed me really hard to keep seeking more education, so by the time I was in middle school, I was taking math classes at the University of Minnesota, and by high school I had switched school districts entirely and was taking most of my classes at University. I went to college at Stanford University where I double majored in physics and music. I completed my PhD in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then did a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Since then, I have been a professor of physics at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. I have known I wanted to be a scientist since I was very young: I was always looking through telescopes, trying to dig up dinosaur bones in my backyard (no success there!) and doing bizarre things with my chemistry set. My first experiences at University convinced me that I wanted to be professor: mostly so I could be an eternal student, always learning new things. I didn’t settle into physics as a field until I was an undergraduate. I did my first scientific research internship through the Research Science Institute after my junior year in high school, and spend most summers in college doing research at various locations.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
That’s a complicated question!! I teach classes, but at Olin we have a project-based curriculum, so my classes don’t look very much like classes you are most likely used to. The students pick their projects around learning objectives that I specify, and then they work through those with my assistance. I also do research: experimental research in applied physics at the boundary between physics and other disciplines: mechanical engineering, biology, and computing. As I become a more senior professor, too, I am expected to take on more leadership responsibilities where I use my experience to help guide our curriculum and other programs on a larger scale: right now I am leading our senior engineering capstone program, which involves industry sponsored projects with fourteen different companies!
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I teach and use topics from across science, technology, engineering and mathematics every day. It is particularly interesting for me, in my research and my work with the senior capstone projects, to see how important basic science and mathematics is to being able to solve important problems that make the world a better place.
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?
Discrimination as a woman in a STEM field is rarely obvious or overt these days. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any less real, or any less pervasive. I am fortunate enough, in my current position, to be at a school where it is ok to talk about these issues openly for the most part, but it is still tough: ALL of us display unconscious bias…..even women have an unconscious bias against women. It is very difficult to face the knowledge that you will, for the foreseeable future, always be unconsciously held to a higher standard and face tougher judgements than your male colleagues. At times it makes me want to give up and leave STEM for a more friendly field where the playing field is more even, but I love what I do, and nothing will ever stimulate my interest the way science and engineering does. Find yourself a good support network, raise awareness by speaking up about bias whenever you can do so without facing repercussions, and stick it out…..it’s worth it.
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 by far is working with the students. I love the opportunity to constantly be helping bright young engineers reach their goals and acquire the skill to go out and really change the world. The hardest part is that there are never enough hours in the day!
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I have a husband and three kids. Work/life balance is a very important part of my life. The best advice I can give is to NEVER feel guilty: not about leaving work to take care of your family, and not about leaving your family to go do the job that you love. Beyond that, everyone’s balance, everyone’s approach is specific to their exact situation
7. What do you define success as?
Living a happy life in which I make a real contribution to the world around me.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Persistence, grit, the ability to tough it out. You need it to solve tough problems in STEM field, you need it to make it through the rough moments in your schooling and in your career. Believe in yourself, believe you will make it through, you will find an answer and just keep going.
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 haven’t really had a mentor in the sense of an older, more experienced person who has guided me with advice. Those are unfortunately hard to come by, and honestly, I think, overrated. Instead, since I was in middle school, I have had the support of my best friend, a mathematician and computer programmer who is now one of the senior people at Akamai Technologies. We attended advanced math classes together during middle and high school, went to college together, roomed together during my graduate school days when she had her first job as a programmer, and are still friends to this day as our daughters play together and we chat about the difficulties of moving into leadership roles. Our lives have kept such parallel courses, it has been incredibly valuable for me to have someone with whom I can discuss all the difficulties, and with whom I can share the successes!
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?
The one piece of advice that jumps to mind is when I was told by another science faculty friend, regarding having children, that “it will never be the right time, you just need to choose when works for you”. This is something which I think extends beyond just trying to figure out the best time to have kids and make it work with an academic career: in so many ways, I have found myself and other women waiting for circumstances to be just right, trying to have the research be perfect before publishing, waiting for just the right moment to request a promotion. It will never be exactly the right moment, it will never be perfect. You have to accept that and move forward anyway. The other advice I would pass on in addition to this is to believe in yourself, surround yourself with supportive friends, and never give up doing what you love.
I grew up in rural Minnesota. My early education was in a rural school district without a lot of opportunities, but my parents pushed me really hard to keep seeking more education, so by the time I was in middle school, I was taking math classes at the University of Minnesota, and by high school I had switched school districts entirely and was taking most of my classes at University. I went to college at Stanford University where I double majored in physics and music. I completed my PhD in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then did a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Since then, I have been a professor of physics at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. I have known I wanted to be a scientist since I was very young: I was always looking through telescopes, trying to dig up dinosaur bones in my backyard (no success there!) and doing bizarre things with my chemistry set. My first experiences at University convinced me that I wanted to be professor: mostly so I could be an eternal student, always learning new things. I didn’t settle into physics as a field until I was an undergraduate. I did my first scientific research internship through the Research Science Institute after my junior year in high school, and spend most summers in college doing research at various locations.
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
That’s a complicated question!! I teach classes, but at Olin we have a project-based curriculum, so my classes don’t look very much like classes you are most likely used to. The students pick their projects around learning objectives that I specify, and then they work through those with my assistance. I also do research: experimental research in applied physics at the boundary between physics and other disciplines: mechanical engineering, biology, and computing. As I become a more senior professor, too, I am expected to take on more leadership responsibilities where I use my experience to help guide our curriculum and other programs on a larger scale: right now I am leading our senior engineering capstone program, which involves industry sponsored projects with fourteen different companies!
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
I teach and use topics from across science, technology, engineering and mathematics every day. It is particularly interesting for me, in my research and my work with the senior capstone projects, to see how important basic science and mathematics is to being able to solve important problems that make the world a better place.
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?
Discrimination as a woman in a STEM field is rarely obvious or overt these days. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any less real, or any less pervasive. I am fortunate enough, in my current position, to be at a school where it is ok to talk about these issues openly for the most part, but it is still tough: ALL of us display unconscious bias…..even women have an unconscious bias against women. It is very difficult to face the knowledge that you will, for the foreseeable future, always be unconsciously held to a higher standard and face tougher judgements than your male colleagues. At times it makes me want to give up and leave STEM for a more friendly field where the playing field is more even, but I love what I do, and nothing will ever stimulate my interest the way science and engineering does. Find yourself a good support network, raise awareness by speaking up about bias whenever you can do so without facing repercussions, and stick it out…..it’s worth it.
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 by far is working with the students. I love the opportunity to constantly be helping bright young engineers reach their goals and acquire the skill to go out and really change the world. The hardest part is that there are never enough hours in the day!
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I have a husband and three kids. Work/life balance is a very important part of my life. The best advice I can give is to NEVER feel guilty: not about leaving work to take care of your family, and not about leaving your family to go do the job that you love. Beyond that, everyone’s balance, everyone’s approach is specific to their exact situation
7. What do you define success as?
Living a happy life in which I make a real contribution to the world around me.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Persistence, grit, the ability to tough it out. You need it to solve tough problems in STEM field, you need it to make it through the rough moments in your schooling and in your career. Believe in yourself, believe you will make it through, you will find an answer and just keep going.
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 haven’t really had a mentor in the sense of an older, more experienced person who has guided me with advice. Those are unfortunately hard to come by, and honestly, I think, overrated. Instead, since I was in middle school, I have had the support of my best friend, a mathematician and computer programmer who is now one of the senior people at Akamai Technologies. We attended advanced math classes together during middle and high school, went to college together, roomed together during my graduate school days when she had her first job as a programmer, and are still friends to this day as our daughters play together and we chat about the difficulties of moving into leadership roles. Our lives have kept such parallel courses, it has been incredibly valuable for me to have someone with whom I can discuss all the difficulties, and with whom I can share the successes!
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?
The one piece of advice that jumps to mind is when I was told by another science faculty friend, regarding having children, that “it will never be the right time, you just need to choose when works for you”. This is something which I think extends beyond just trying to figure out the best time to have kids and make it work with an academic career: in so many ways, I have found myself and other women waiting for circumstances to be just right, trying to have the research be perfect before publishing, waiting for just the right moment to request a promotion. It will never be exactly the right moment, it will never be perfect. You have to accept that and move forward anyway. The other advice I would pass on in addition to this is to believe in yourself, surround yourself with supportive friends, and never give up doing what you love.
