Embracing Unexpected Connections on the Journey: A Reflection

Your connections—the people you meet and networks you build—add chapters to the story of your life, to the story your versatility and resilience have begun to write.

As I think about my life and what has led to this moment, I keep coming back to my relationships with family, colleagues, and friends. As I reflect deeper on them, I see that they are pillars that help me stand in this very place at this very time. Connections, often unexpected, facilitate how we share and acquire knowledge, how fast we can transfer it, how well we can apply it, and ultimately, how that knowledge withstands the tests of time and judgment.

My journey in academia was rewarding; during postdocs at Carleton University and Canada’s particle accelerator center TRIUMF, I made best friends and established new networks, worked on the physics that most interested me, published unique contributions to high energy particle physics, shared my work at conferences, and guided others through teaching, mentorship, and outreach. Although this phase of my life was short, it set the stage for what happened next, for the events that brought me to a leadership role in SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma.

When I decided to try something outside of academia, I was scared; but as I took small steps toward a new goal, I began to feel more comfortable about my decision to focus on science policy, education, and advocacy. I did not have the scholarly tools to explore these areas as I did physics, but I knew at some fundamental level that my 15-year journey through higher education and research must have given me untapped resources and potential. I also knew that I would need help, and that it might not come from the traditional classroom or my current peers.

As these shifts in my life were taking place, I also knew that I wanted to go back to my native country and make some sort of contribution to the people of Peru. I sent an email to the CEO of Instituto APOYO, an organization transforming the way science is taught in Latin America. As I waited patiently for a response, I was unaware that in the background, the CEO was reaching out to their networks. My name was out there, and with it, my desire to contribute.

This is how I ended up connecting with Science Clubs International, an organization that brings cutting-edge research from around the world to undergraduate science classrooms worldwide. I spent the next four years involved in science outreach and communication in communities, schools, and universities in South America. The experiences catalyzed amazing personal and scientific connections that have given me ongoing opportunities to guide students in Peru, and, most importantly, spawned new collaborations and relationships in my life.

At the same time, I began to settle into a new role at the National Science Foundation as a AAAS Science and Technology Fellow. I started to familiarize myself with science education research and how collaborations between academics and educators are designing and building more inclusive classrooms in schools and universities. During this time, a colleague invited me to a conference about the intersection of improvisation and science education. While I did not understand how the two fit together at the time, the conference transformed how I saw science education and how to improve it. It emphasized the power of ensembles, or groups of people, to work together to ensure that no one is left out and everyone is successful. This helped shape my approach to science communication, but more importantly, it introduced me to a community that teaches me something new about myself and the world every time we cross paths.

I then moved on to leading career development programs for students at the New York Academy of Sciences, and later working as an analyst in the Department of Defense , where I applied my scientific background to diverse and exciting problems. New opportunities brought new tools and new relationships. These relationships helped me integrate into areas where I could continue developing and guiding others through their professional journeys, and they gave me joy in every job I had.

I am pleased to now be working with SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma in a role that naturally but unexpectedly combines all my aspirations and goals. As director, I am looking forward to the challenge of helping you maximize your potential and catalyze your own unexpected connections.

Tools for navigating change and growing in your professional and personal life often come from unexpected interactions, but it is sensing where you want to contribute and being open to new people and new ways of doing things that are key to your own revolution. My vision for Sigma Pi Sigma is that it become an important source of unexpected interactions that will accelerate your unique path toward new learning opportunities, sources of inspiration, and achievements.