The STEMinist Chronicles

Anita Silver (she/hers/her) is a graduate student at Duke University studying Biomedical Engineering.
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"’Never fear, I'm a bioengineer!’ says the department sticker they gave us. Biomedical engineering is a broad field, and I often felt like because I didn't know everything about it, I must know nothing about it. That wasn't true. By studying the things that fascinated me most, I ended up coming to graduate school to study microbes like bacteria and how they can do cool things as groups! I'm grateful to have met friendly people in academia who seem to have well-rounded lives. I hope my struggle to overcome nagging self-doubt will inspire others to believe in themselves.”
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Gabby Shvartsman (she/her/hers) is a neurobiologist. She currently works as a Staff Research Associate at UC Berkeley.
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“Coming from a biology background, taking a computer science class for the first time was incredibly intimidating, especially as a woman. However, I feel as though both of these lenses gave me a valuable outlook on how I approached group projects and assignments. I became more aware of how to maintain a tone of encouragement and not belittlement when helping others, which I experienced way too much of. Whenever I struggle with patience, I remind myself of how it felt when someone wasn't patient with me during my first transition into this field.”
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Rama Kelkar (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a major in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego. She is now a Technical Solutions Engineer at Epic Systems.
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“I have a passion for biology that started with a high school project on dreams. I worked in an ecology and a neuroscience lab at UCSD to gain experience in research. I took several classes exploring bio from other perspectives as well, including data science and economics. After college, I decided to try my hand at a different aspect of biology - the healthcare industry. I'm eager to explore even more avenues in both industry and academics throughout my professional career. The goal is to keep learning and growing!”
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Maria Sooklaris (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a dual major in Data Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now a Data Scientist at Zuora, inc.
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“I was always more drawn to my STEM subjects in high school, but it wasn't until college that I found two subjects that I truly fell in love with. I majored in Cognitive Science and Data Science and really enjoyed how different they were, but also that I was able to apply my Data Science knowledge to work on research in the Cognitive Science field. I learned that data management and analytics is something that transcends traditional STEM fields. I ultimately chose to pursue Data Science as my career, but in the future hope to find something that incorporates both majors in a meaningful way.”
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Mira Chaplin (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a major in Environmental Engineering. She is now a first year  student at the University of Michigan studying Environmental Engineering.
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“My friends know me as the water woman – I’m always sharing engineering facts and expressing an opinion on the overlapping water crises facing California. When I started my engineering degree, my courses were highly theoretical, and I often contemplated switching majors. I stayed because I fell in love with environmental engineering, where I’ve applied hard science to questions such as global water distribution and tracking COVID in wastewater. Now, as I start my PhD in Michigan, I’m excited to see where life takes me and to continue doing what I love.”
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Grace Fujii (she/they) has recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in astrophysics.
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“I always felt that my life was leading me towards a career in STEM, so it has been difficult to realize that I am now drawn in different directions. As I’ve grown into myself, it’s become increasingly apparent that I love creative work, so since graduating, I have been pursuing graphic design. Although I am no longer in STEM, the education I received is very valuable to me, and the innate curiosity and desire to continue learning persist. Diversity in STEM is also still very important to me, and I hope to continue working to uplift the community.”
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Rucha Kelkar (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a dual major in Data Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now a Technical Solutions Engineer at Epic Systems.
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“My journey has been an attempt to explore and find my niche, STEM or not. In college, I studied both cognitive and data science as a matter of indecision, and found a unique intersection between them to point me along my chosen career path. Data is everywhere but data management is often lacking in the areas that need it the most, including healthcare. With Epic, I work with people intending to streamline and ultimately better the typical medical experience from a technological standpoint. I am thrilled to participate in the pursuit of a meaningful goal such as this.”
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Sophie Parsons (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now a first year PhD student, studying Engineering Physics at UC San Diego.
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“Most of my career in Physics has happened through a combination of chance and some wonderful mentors. I came into Berkeley declared as physics because I assumed it would give me four more years to decide what to do with my life. After a brief sojourn doing Geophysics, I accidentally fell into work doing nuclear non-proliferation. My first research project was accidentally melted (not by me) but from that experience I learned that I loved the intersection of physics and WMD non-proliferation, which I have continued to pursue into grad school.”
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Namrata Ramesh (she/her/hers) has recently graduated magna cm laude from the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Physics. She will now be pursuing her masters in Material Science at Oxford University.
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“What draws me to physics are the deeply fundamental questions it asks. My dreams were tested, from five-hour long midterms to being only one of a handful of women in all my classes. I grew in confidence, from asking my first questions in class to having the courage to start "The STEMinist Chronicles", and to finally try applying for (and winning!) the Rhodes Scholarship. A love for the Universe is why I started. A love for the incredible people in my community is why I stayed. A love for using physics to improve sustainable energy technology is what keeps me inspired.”
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Jeske Ymke Dioquino (she/her/hers) is a second-year graduate student, studying physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
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“I’m mixed Filipinx and Dutch, and everyone says my name wrong (it’s YES-kuh). It’s a sort of fun, unique part of every interaction I’ve had throughout my career in physics: a summer abroad working at CERN, an undergraduate honors thesis at UC Davis, and now grad school at Berkeley. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to work with kind people who value my work, but I rarely see my identities represented among physicists. While disappointing, it inspires me to keep working, and be someone who I’d have looked up to as an aspiring physicist and bisexual womxn of color.”
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Sheena Louisia (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year graduate student, studying chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
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“Born from a Cambodian mother and a French Caribbean father, my uprising in a distant island staged my identity to already be rich and complex. There, I grew up with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Learning and perfecting new skills has always been a passion. With my parents as role models, so different and brilliant at the same time, I never thought of success as limited by who I was but rather who I wanted to be. Today, as a fourth year PhD candidate in Chemistry, I still consider Science as the only obstacle to my next accomplishment.”
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@ University of California, Berkeley