Skills I Built in Graduate School for Academia

The path that has led me to academia has been an immersive opportunity boundless with growth, and advancement in my professional skills, accompanied by a deeper understanding of the assets I offer with my positionality as a young female Latina scientist. Each experience in my undergraduate and graduate career better prepared me for the challenges and opportunities that awaited me in academia while shedding light on existing gaps in my skills and the space for continued development. Throughout my academic and professional life as an undergraduate and graduate student, I focused on developing my skill set in the mechanical and conceptual learning of laboratory techniques, research, and community projects. This opened the doors for several opportunities to work as a chemist and environmental scientist. Then again, if I had to do it all over again, I would keep the experiences that helped me build the valuable skills that led me to academia. However, I would prioritize learning public speaking techniques and developing a deeper level of writing.