(Music)
Laura Iraci: I was surprised to learn how many
things, other than science, a practicing scientist
actually has to do.
So you study chemistry and you say "I learned
how atoms interact" and "I know what carbon does"
and "I know what acids and bases do."
And you think you know all this chemistry and
you're ready to be a scientist.
And then you realize that you also have to learn
how to solder. Wiring? Plumbing?
I use a lot of duct tape. I didn't expect that.
That I would use so much duct tape in my life.
You just have to do all sorts of different things,
every day, to get your science experiment
to work out.
I'm Laura Iraci.
I'm an atmospheric scientist.
I work at NASA.
I've always been interested in how the world works
and so when I found chemistry in high school,
that was great.
That was really interesting, because you could
try something.
You could see a result and I really like sort of
having my hands right in the mix.
Doing something that makes a visible change is
always really satisfying.
So high school chemistry hooked me. Absolutely hooked me.
And I knew that my future was somewhere along
the path of science.
The first time I ever thought about working at NASA
was when I saw a flyer on a bulletin board in college.
I didn't actually realize that NASA studies the Earth.
You don't think of that very often.
I wound up with an internship at NASA and that helped
me get, sort of, on the right path figuring out how to
pursue an education that would allow me to
study the Earth.
By the time I had a Bachelor's degree in
chemistry, then I was able to find an atmospheric
chemistry graduate program.
And then, sort of, just been walking down this path
of how to study and understand and hopefully,
protect our planet.
Life is not a straight line.
I learn this one every day.
And I didn't realize it, growing up.
You think "Okay, I'll go to high school and I'll
go to college."
And then after college, a scientist goes
to graudate school and everything seems very linear.
But as soon as you leave graduate school,
the plan goes out the window.
That's really hard for someone with
my personality type.
I like to have a clear plan.
The plan always falls apart and in the end,
you come out the other side and there's some good
that's come from the catastrophe.
So, I think maybe that's the lesson that I
try to remember every day.
Is that, if I don't go forward, sometimes going
sideways is okay.
So a lot of my colleagues say that their coolest
NASA moment is meeting an astronaut.
Mine was meeting Harrison Ford.
There was no Millennium Falcon involved,
but he came to NASA to film a documentary about
climate change and I got to meet Harrison Ford
and show him some of our data.
He actually collected some data for us on a
research flight and that's probably my
most memorable NASA moment.
There's a fine line between advocating for
yourself and bragging and being a pest.
And you really have to be an advocate for yourself.
No one's going to out of their way, on your behalf,
unless you make a case for yourself and really get
yourself out there and actively participate in
your own life.
Sometimes women, or girls, are not taught the
skill of bragging or not encouraged to brag about
their accomplishments.
And that's something that helps to be able to do,
in a polite way, in the right situation.
Is to really stand up and say "You know what?"
"I did that. And I'm proud of that."
"And that's good work and you should listen to me."
And sometimes, it's hard to do.
So that was a tough lesson to learn.
I've definitely come to realize that you have to
enjoy where you're spending your time.
So, if you're at a job you like, you need
to also be with people you like to be around.
Because otherwise, it's just not fun.
So that's one of the great things about
working at NASA.
There's a wide variety of people and different
personalities and different things
they're interested in.
You could have an incredible variety of interesting
conversations, just by walking down the hall.
You can talk about Mars.
You can talk about Earth.
You can talk about aircraft or spacecraft.
And it's really great to work in an environment
where it's never boring.
And that kind of carries over into life.
It all can't be about work.
At least for me.
Maybe that suits some people, but you need to
figure out for yourself what
that right balance is.
Because if you're always feeling like you're
missing out on something, you're not going to be
happy all the time.
(Music)