Jessica Hebert is currently working on a PhD in biology and is a graduate teaching assistant at Portland State University. Outside of her work in the lab and classroom, she is a singer-songwriter with The PDX Broadsides and a performer with PDXYAR. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we discuss how art and science co-exist in her life, how nerd culture has impacted her scientific journey, the joys of being a polymath, songwriting, swashbuckling, and the importance of being mentally flexible.

Several quotes from this episode:

• “Science isn’t for the most intelligent. Science is for the enthusiastic. Science is for the people who actually want to learn.”
• “When I get excited about music, I’m also able to channel that energy into science and vice versa.”
• On watching Star Trek: Voyager as a kid, “If Janeway can commandeer a ship and get her start as a science officer, I can do great things as a scientist.”
• “You find a way to have some sort of outlet because you notice that the people who spend 80 to 100 hours in a week in the lab and they’re not spending enough time on their families or on other pursuits, they’re the ones who burn out.”
• “Polymaths are just interested in the intersection of things. How do we get excited about knowledge and share that with other people?”

Show Links

• Dame DNA: Prepare for SCIENCE!
• The PDX Broadsides
• PDXYAR
• Jessica Hebert (@dame_dna) on Twitter
• PhD Comics
• PhD Comics: The Higgs Boson Explained
• Graham Burton
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live by Brené Brown
• How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. Silvia
• Getting Work To Work (@gwtwpodcast) on Facebook
• Getting Work To Work (@gwtwpodcast) on Twitter
• Chris Martin (@cmstudios) on Twitter
• Chris Martin (@chrismartinstudios) on Facebook
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter: The Curiosity Lab

The post Interview with Jessica Hebert (GWTW131) appeared first on Chris Martin Studios.