HuffPost Girls in STEM Partnership: Mentorship Participant Seeks Advice from Dr. Rudy Tanzi

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<p>
  How do we get more girls involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers?   A common thread can be found in the story of every “Secret Life” woman with a successful STEM career.  From
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/entertainment/mayim-bialik/">
   Mayim Bialik’s
  </a>
  on-set tutor to
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/physical-science/preetha-ram/">
   Preetha Ram
  </a>
  and the Dalai Lama, nearly all have been influenced by a mentor.
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<p>
  We’re excited to announce a new collaboration with
  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/girls-in-stem/">
   HuffPost Girls in STEM
  </a>
  , a mentorship program that has paired over 500 girls with scientists and engineers in their field of interest.  Selected mentees from the program joined us on the “Secret Life” set to meet some of today’s leading scientists and ask them anything they wanted.
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<p>
  In the first episode of this partnership, HuffPost Girls in STEM Mentee Lauren Yesko asked our own
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/music/rudy-tanzi/">
   Dr. Rudy Tanzi
  </a>
  a few questions.  Watch the video below, and check out the Q&amp;A with Lauren that follows.
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  Your Name and Age?
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<p>
  Lauren Yesko, 16.
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<h2 style="color:#993300">
  What field of STEM are you interested in? Fantasy Career?
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<p>
  Genetics. A career in Agricultural Genetics is a dream career of mine.
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<h2 style="color:#993300">
  What was it like coming on set?
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<p>
  Coming on set was a unique experience completely opposite to what I expected. Instead of arriving to a chaotic set where I could get lost in the mix, I arrived to a bustling yet quiet and controlled set where the people were receptive and welcoming.
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<h2 style="color:#993300">
  How was speaking with Rudy Tanzi? What did you learn from him?
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<p>
  Speaking with Rudy Tanzi was an enlightening experience. Despite his extensive accomplishments, he was humble and informative, and approached our video interview as a friendly mentor. Dr. Tanzi outlined his continuing research and work, in a digestible form, which allowed me to formulate and ask questions of my own. The result was a dynamic conversation that inspired a deeper interest in Genetics for me.
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<h2 style="color:#993300">
  What kind of questions did you ask?
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<p>
  ‘What is the best advice someone has ever given you?’ and ‘What is the best advice you have ever given someone?’ were some of the questions I asked Dr. Tanzi.
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  What surprised you the most?
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<p>
  What surprised me most about the entire experience was how excited Dr. Tanzi was about my interest in science and presence on set. He really wanted to make sure he could answer all my questions as well as support my interest in science. After filming he even wrote down information I could look up as well as the names of other prominent scientists in his field that I could research.
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The Secret Life Questionnaire© – Crystal Dilworth

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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/dance/crystal-dilworth/">
   Click here to see Crystal’s profile.
  </a>
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<p>
  We asked molecular neuroscientist and Caltech choreographer Crystal Dilworth about her favorite word, and she preferred to tell us about her favorite molecule.  Also:  childhood dreams, daily routines, and impeccable handwriting.
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The Secret Life Questionnaire© with Janna Levin

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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/space-science/janna-levin/" title="Janna Levin">
   Click here to see Janna’s profile.
  </a>
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</p>
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The Secret Life Questionnaire© with Amy Cuddy

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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/dance/amy-cuddy/" title="Amy Cuddy">
   Click here to see Amy’s profile.
  </a>
<br/>
</p>
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The Secret Life Questionnaire© - James Levine

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<p>
  Click
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/health-science/james-levine/">
   here
  </a>
  to see James’ profile.
  <br/>
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Where I Work with Crystal Dilworth

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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/dance/crystal-dilworth/" title="Crystal Dilworth">
   Click here for Crystal’s profile.
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  We want to know where today’s leading scientists do all of their groundbreaking work. So we asked them to send us photos of their work place. In the “Where I Work” series, we find out who has a neat desk, and who needs to clean, where leading scientists stash their PhD degrees, and which scientists have the strangest and silliest artifacts sitting next to their keyboards.
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<p>
  Here’s what molecular scientist and Caltech choreographer Crystal Dilworth had to say about her two (very different!) favorite places to work.
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<h2>
  My lab bench.
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<p>
<em>
   “This is the space where I spent the 5 years of my PhD, but it was never this clean. This picture was taken the day of our annual spring lab clean-up and so is not a perfectly representative example of what my space actually looked like. The yellow papers posted on the wall in the background contain hand written, but important, reference calculations for different stoichiometric arrangements of Forster’s Resonance Energy Transfer between fluorescent proteins in a pentameric receptor complex. These calculations contributed to the work published
   <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431844/">
    here
   </a>
   .
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  The stork sculptures on top of my desk were discovered in a remote corner of the lab during a different spring lab cleanup and they appeared so incongruous that I had to keep them.”
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<p>
  Click
  <a href="http://youtu.be/zZaK8INEwq8/" target="_blank">
   here
  </a>
  to see a sneak peek of Tom’s profile.
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Anna Bick

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