Swastika is an evolutionary biologist from New Delhi, India. Her research is focused on how natural selection shapes interactions within social groups, species and ecological communities. She recently finished her PhD at the University of Cambridge on a Dr. Manmohan Singh Scholarship from St. John’s College. Swastika’s work at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior on the ecological and life-history correlates of social behavior in cichlid fish of the Great African Lakes has been funded by the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior in Konstanz. She is a guest lecturer in Global Change to undergraduate students in Environmental Engineering and Resource Management at the University of Applied Sciences (HTWG), Konstanz. Currently she is teaching and doing research at CVIF Philippines. We asked her a few questions about her fellowship before she started and wanted to share them with you all.

1. What are you most excited about for the fellowship?

Teaching and developing a research methods and biology curriculum as part of Science Corps’
mission of empowering students to pursue higher education in STEM fields, is an important next
step for my growth as an academic and as a diversity advocate at the forefront of cultural
changes towards greater inclusivity in STEM. I’m most excited about the practical research
component of my fellowship where I get to demonstrate how we apply the concepts we’re
learning about in class in the real world and how theory translates to research. Facilitating
independent learning in this way allows me to be part of my students’ journey of personal growth
and exploration.

2. What are you most nervous about?

The frantic rush of getting set for my travel to the Philippines so soon hasn’t left me much time for
nerves! I’m hopeful that navigating the language and cultural divide between me and my students
and colleagues at CVIF high school would be easy because of our shared quest for knowledge
and understanding the world around us.

3. What do you hope to gain from the fellowship?

What excites me most about a career in scientific research is the opportunity to probe the very
fundamentals of how life evolves and continues to diversify on our planet. My postdoctoral
research and teaching experience in the near future will set the stage for my career as an
independent researcher telling stories that inspire, push boundaries, and provide insights about
the inner workings of the natural world. Through developing hands-on research projects with the
students and tapping into our cross-cultural sense of collective curiosity during my Science Corps
fellowship at the Central Visayan Institute Foundation, I want to better contextualise the scientific
questions that drive me as I prepare to lead my own research group in the future.

The post Meet the Fellow! Swastika Issar appeared first on Science Corps.

First we’d like to introduce Chrissy Crute, who is currently a fellow at AST Morocco. Chrissy earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Health and Toxicology from Duke University in 2022. While at Duke, Chrissy earned doctoral certificates in both Global Health and College Teaching. She completed a Morehead Science & Planetarium IMPACTS Fellowship, in which she was trained in science education and outreach and designed and implemented outreach activities at underfunded schools in North Carolina. Here are a few questions we asked her before she headed off to Morocco for her fellowship.

1) What are you most excited about for the fellowship?
I am thrilled to move to Morocco as a Science Corps Fellow at the American School of Tangier! I love traveling and experiencing new cultures, and the opportunity to live in Tangier and embrace the everyday life of locals is so exciting to me. Most of all, I’m eager to put my higher education to use. I’ve always loved teaching, and after many years of in school, I’m so excited to finally give back and share what I’ve learned.

2) What are you most nervous about?
Teaching in a new culture can come with its own difficulties. Specifically, building relationships with students can be challenging across cultural barriers. As my teaching style relies heavily on connecting with each student individually, I am expecting to face some challenges at the beginning of the semester as I navigate a new environment and learn the best ways to interact with my students.

3) What do you hope to gain from the fellowship?
I am most excited to make new relationships with teachers, staff, and students. I gain so much knowledge from others and love learning about people from different backgrounds than my own. In addition, I hope to grow my teaching, management, public speaking, and creativity skills as I progress through the semester.

The post Meet the Fellow! : Chrissy Crute appeared first on Science Corps.

The Science Corps team would like to congratulate Professors Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for winning the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry! Science Corps co-founder Ben Rubin interviewed Professor Doudna last year, and we’d like to bring this wonderful interview back – check it out!

Thumbnail photo credit: Nobel Prize Outreach. Brittany Hosea-Small.

The post Congratulations to Winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry appeared first on Science Corps.

The post Co-Founder Ben Rubin Interviews Professor Jennifer Doudna appeared first on Science Corps.