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SEBREE: All right. So thank you for those of you who've been tuning in the last couple of weeks to our celebration here on our Chemistry Facebook page. This day,

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we have a special thing for you to enjoy.

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I'm sitting here via Zoom with Dr. Jennifer Stimpson.

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She's one of our alumni who graduated in 1996 with her master's degree in Environmental Chemistry.

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Since then, she has gone on to many great things, including being recognized by Oprah, the U.S. Congress,

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Michael Jordan...she has been identified as a hidden figure in STEM.

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She also serves as the STEM ambassador with AAS

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and has been recognized by IF/THEN for which, in her honor,

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a life sized 3D statue of herself will be put on display as part of their inaugural exhibit.

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Currently, she's the CEO of jSTEMp Science LLC and is the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow serving as a U.S. Congressional Fellow in Washington, D.C.

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Thank you, Dr. Stimpson, for taking the time to meet with me and share your story with the UNI community.

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STIMPSON: Thank you for hosting me. I'm definitely looking forward to talking and sharing my story and and hopefully inspiring,

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you know, future scientists about what could become a possibility.

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SEBREE: Well, let's start with where you are now. What is it that you do as a U.S. Congressional Fellow?

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STIMPSON: So I as an Albert Einstein, distinguished educator fellow,

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what I think is so fabulous is that this is a fellowship for people like me, science teachers.

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We often hear about these fellowships for people who are in policy,

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people who are who are in the medical field, but rarely are there science teacher fellows.

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And so as an Albert Einstein fellow,

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I get to bring my K-12 or K-20 expertise into federal agencies and talk about the connection and the importance of connecting STEM to policy.

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And so specifically in my role, I work with my congressional reps to create legislation,

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both those resolutions that address the importance of K-12 education,

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as well as how all the policies that they work on,

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how we can connect some kind of STEM outreach or STEM education piece to the legislation that's currently in place.

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So it's it's a it's been a it's been an experience.

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And and to see how federal agencies craft or federal the federal government crafts bills to impart legacy on how students learn.

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It's just it's been great. So to be a part of that has been fabulous. SEBREE: Wow.

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And all that from you and I and the New Orleans before that, correct?

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STIMPSON: Yes. So I consider myself really, really unique in all of my trajectories.

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I'll even start back off before UNI.

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I'm a Montessori alum. So I did my formative education as a Montessori alum

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and after I was in Montessori through grade six. And then I went to traditional public school for junior high and I went to parochial high school.

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I graduated from an HBCU. I did my master's degree in Iowa.

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And then I finished I completed my doctorate at an Ivy League.

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And so each one of those trajectories have somehow informed who I am as an I as a scientist, and how being a woman,

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being a black woman and all of those intersectionality have created such an impact on how I see the world and how I can help policy.

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And, you know, in education see the world. So I am truly a STEM person at heart.

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My, my, how I ended up at UNI is interesting.

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So I thought it's going to be a doctor. My parents were pharmacists and that was just the thing that you're supposed to do.

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So I, of course, was unsuccessful on that MCAT and did not get into medical school. It was March of my senior year in college.

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and I had only interviewed, but I hadn't been selected to start medical school this fall, so I had to come up with a plan.

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And so I was at a college fair or graduate school fair because I was so disappointed that I was not going to medical school.

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It was like the word, that a terrible day. And so I ended up going to a college graduate school fair.

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And there are many graduate schools and graduate schools that were there. And I happened to strike up a conversation with the rep from UNI

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who happen to be in New Orleans that day. And one of my my chemistry professors, my mentor at that time,

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came up and he had done some work with UNI and some of the other chemistry teachers that were there.

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And he encouraged me to apply. Well I did and let's fast forward to June of that year.

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So I graduated and I had two options. I had a job offer at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

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and I had the acceptance letter to UNI and my dad was saying, Jennifer, you have the rest of your life to work, go to school.

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And so I ended up going coming to UNI and I tell you, coming from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Iowa.

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That in itself

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was a big change. And then as a lifelong Texan, I remember when Dwayne Bartok

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Yeah. Dwayne Bartok was the he was the dean at the time.

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And he and he got me from the airport and was taking, you know, taking me, to you know, the campus.

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And he was like, well I'm sure you're you're probably hungry. We can go get food.

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And I was like, yes, let's go get Mexican food. Well, you don't eat Mexican food in Iowa.

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Not as a Texan. OK. So that's just not what we do around these parts.

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And so that was my first experience in Iowa.

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How if there there's a disappointment, it was the fact that I was the Mexican food options in Iowa

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they were less than joyous.

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So I you know, I transitioned from being, you know, a student in my first year student trying figure it all out into, you know, completing my two years.

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So the biggest hurdle for me was the weather, you know,

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going from New Orleans where the humidity is always very high to being in Iowa, where there is very little humidity.

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But during my time in Iowa, the weather set to records. At that time,

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in '96, there was the high that was the hottest temperature I was during my two years

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I was there and it was also the coldest temperature on record at that time.

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And it was like minus like some like 13, 20 or something like that, I can't remember.

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But we set I set a record and those in that bracket of time that I was there to be in that space.

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And I was just laughing at how people did not have air conditioning because they didn't need it.

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And that was that was wild to me. You know, I didn't lrecognize it.

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That was stuff that was unfamiliar to me.

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So that the culture shock it was, was really how people live their lives and not so much of the the racial differences and the gender differences.

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It was for me, it was like how different their lives were.

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Maybe it was the Midwest. Maybe it was just because it was Iowa, I don't know.

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But it was such a drastic difference. And then one more thing before we got the last question, I'll tell you the story.

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So I was I did have my car. My parents ended up driving up my car and I went to Target one day.

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And I guess the thing in Iowa is the fact that you leave your car running.

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And I didn't know that that's you know, that's what people did.

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And so I came out and there was someone on your left, a note on my car, on my car and saying that,

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you know, make sure the choice of your car running, we see that you have out of town, out of state plates.

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So always make sure you take care of your car. And I thought that was just interesting because that that symbol of that courtesy, that gesture,

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that that Midwestern openness to engage, I just I thought that was that was kind of a different kind of thing.

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So, yeah. Okay, I can imagine the weather was a good shock.

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Yes. SEBREE: We've had several good snowstorms since then even. So what during your time here and what actually

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what stands out to some of your best moments in the chemistry department  or at UNI?

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STIMPSON: You know, I think it was just the interaction and learning science in a new way.

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You see behind me, there's a periodic table. I definitely have an identity as a scientist and as an educator.

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But I learned mostly about myself.

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And I see that because while I was at UNI, I was often professionally and socially alone, there was no one like me.

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And I mean what I mean by that, again, I was the only girl in my department.

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I was the only black person in my department. I was the only person who came from an HBCU in my department.

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I was the only person coming from far deep south in my department.

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So in that professional social isolation,

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I truly came to learn how I could depend on myself and learn more about the craft and the content of being a good scientist,

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because I knew that I wasn't going to medical school so that that had that that had shifted.

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So I had to start thinking about what my future is going to be like.

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So it was actually at you that UNI that I cemented that my career would go into the science realm.

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I came I defined my science identity in my undergrad year.

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I knew I was going to be in some kind of science again I thought was gonna be a be in medical school.

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But it was that UNI that defined my career trajectory and my choice that it was OK to be a scientist.

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And so what stands out to me are being in the labs and learning and discovering and solving problems on my own and and being in that because,

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you know, we're now in a pandemic and many people haven't had, I call it, you know,

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haven't had the opportunity to really get to know themselves and being in that space.

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Well, for me, I'd already done that.

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I was in Iowa by myself because there were not many people who worked with me and did the things that I did.

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And so in that space, you really learn how to depend on yourself and stretch your learning and

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stretch your reasoning on what you can and cannot do. It is easy to get down and get defeated,

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because when you're the only one, whatever your only is race, gender.

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I'm the only person who drives a Volvo.

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The only person who likes tacos. Whenever your only is you have to carve out your own space in your own niche.

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And that's what I did while I was there.

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So what stands out to me is how I built my fortitude for myself and this saved me from being dejected.

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So I knew that I could do it because I had no choice but to do it. SEBREE: And that's probably paid off tenfold now that we're in kind of this isolation movement.

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We kind of all are out there on our own.

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Yes. Even a lot of our students right now are having to deal with individual based work in classes that they're used to group work in.

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So what you're talking about is very familiar to what they're going through is they have to do it. STIMPSON: Right. SEBREE: And do Zoom.

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But there's there's only so much you can do that way. STIMPSON: Yes.

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You really find you really find yourself when you're in isolation and redefining what isolation is has been a journey.

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And so you find what was formidable and what you can what you can manage and what your braking points are.

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So, yeah, I, I'm able to survive because of my experiences in Iowa and before then, of course.

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But like I said, I credit my experience in Iowa for my science trajectory and I won't ever take that away.

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Although they were there were many days that were less than joyous, I use tend to use that term versus bad.

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But there are many less than joyous moments where people didn't respect my voice or thought that my narrative was not the best

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narrative to have in the space or just the overlooking and choosing the negligence on having contributions or writing or contributing.

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And it's like, well, we already got it or we don't need it, or there's already somebody doing it. That continue and

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that perpetuation of absence really makes you figure out where you can have a presence.

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And so, you know, that's. We live in a very different world now where there is inclusively.

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But it was very open being in that space.

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Again, when I define that word only, you know, I'm the only one. on the whole campus, a drove a Volvo

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So maybe that's why they mistreat me. I won't say mistreated, but just the idea of not choosing to have my narrative is part of the conversation.

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It's that Volvo. I should've got a different car. I should have got a Datsun.

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SEBREE: Fair enough. So know from your masters here at UNI,

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you've gone through a doctorate program and now you're at Congress.

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Can you kind of outline how you've made it through all of that? Because that's that is not a small couple of leaps.

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That's quite a career path you set yourself on. I'd be happy to tell you.

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STIMPSON: So left Iowa. And so I graduated in '96 and came home and was hopeful.

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So when I was in Iowa and I remember in July, I applied to work for the CDC.

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And you know, I don't know anything about federal agency. So I don't know that when you apply for federal agency,

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there's like a three month waiting period because they have to screen your background and make sure that you can work for them.

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Well, I didn't know that. So I came home with no job.

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And so that was miserable because I'm such a go getter and go atter and just trying to get everything done.

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So I ended up getting landing a job at a medical at the Children's Medical Hospital, answering phones and being a full phlebotomist

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so that is what I did. And, the CDC

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did not hire me. I actually applied to be a chemist for Mary Kay.

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They also didn't hire me. And I applied for this job as a forensic toxicologist with the Dallas County morgue.

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And so I was my first job out of graduate school was at the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences.

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So my job every day was to analyze the bodily fluids of the dead and write

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science reports about them after running techniques on them and then write reports.

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And then my reports would then help the medical examiner determine the cause of death.

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So that was that was an interesting job.

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And while I was at that, while I was at the morgue, I also had applied to work as a forensic chemist with the DEA.

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So that job became available and I ended up leaving the morgue and then going to become a chemist at the DEA.

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And while I was at the DEA, again,

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it was analyzing confiscated drugs and all of these different samples to determine the toxicity of the poisons or the toxins or the drugs.

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And then I go to court and I say, yes, this particular white substance is 100% baking soda or not.

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And I did that for two years. And during that time, I was there, I was , I like to say I was called to teach.

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And that's that's a little prophetic, but it actually is the reason why I became a classroom teacher.

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So while I was at the DEA, we all had to volunteer in some kind of capacity.

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Our director said, you got to go and do something. Pick up trash, go play bingo with the elderly, feed the homeless, whatever.

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You got to show some kind of volunteer effort.

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And the DEA office that I was in had partnered with the schools and they had done nothing in three years.

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And so one of the secretaries said, hey, Jennifer, can you give me the representative at the school?

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That will be your volunteer effort. So I walked into this elementary school in inner city Dallas.

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And when I walked in, they had no idea what the scientist was.

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They had no idea what science was because the school did not have a science program.

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And so at that point, I recognized that here I am.

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I had already decided I was going to be a scientist to change the world through that pathway.

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And here these fourth graders have no idea what science is.

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And so, anyway, we had to volunteer at least, you know, just one hour our day.

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So my one hour day became, I mean, one hour week, I'm sorry.

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One hour a week. I'm sorry. One hour a week. And my one hour a week became one day a week and then it became multiple days a week.

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And then the kids started looking for me at their significant events like, hey, Miss Jennifer, I'm getting I'm in the spelling bee.

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Can you show up? Hey, Miss Jennifer, I'm doing this. Can you show up?

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Hey, Miss Jennifer, because of you, I now want to play the piano, all of these things.

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So I recognized that my calling was to impart science education on these kids.

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And so at the end of the two years I ended up getting and administrators award from the DEA.

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I did not get it because I analyzed a unique sample. I did not get it for a while for being harmed in the line of duty.

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I didn't get it for analyzing a certain amount of chemicals and drugs that year.

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I got it for community service. And so because I recognized that I got it for community service, I realized it was not for me to be a scientist.

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Its for me to talk about science to kids. That was in April of that year.

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I was in the classroom in August of that year and then that was it. And so I, I did not look back.

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So I, I taught for 20 years in public school. And then I taught at an elite all girls private school, also all in Dallas.

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And as a result of my 20 years in the classroom, I, you know, became I applied for this fellowship and I got it.

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So this fellowship is I look at it as the as the next level

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plateau of what will come. And I never would have thought that being in Congress would enlighten me and have my many aha

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moments to see what's what's possible in terms of changing how all students learn science.

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Even students in college and graduate school. I mean, thing about policy that can help college kids who are working on their masters in science.

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We we tend to focus on K-12 because that's where the largest gaps are

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but if there are no scientists, we can't continue to say third grader, you need to become a scientist.

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And if there are no scientists in college right now, so there needs to be the bridge.

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So that's what I'm glad that I know being here that I see that.

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OK. Now have a responsibility to make that a reality. SEBREE: Very interesting.

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STIMPSON: So that's my job for the next year. So that's the fellowships a year long program.

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So I'm I'm looking forward to doing so much despite the pandemic.

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SEBREE: And then after that, it's back to the classroom in Texas? STIMPSON: Well, yes, that is definitely an option.

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But, you know, there there are many options.

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And so in terms of my interest is definitely changing the trajectory of what science is and who a scientist can be.

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And that's important. And you mentioned in my production that I was I'm a triple A.S. if then science ambassador.

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And as an ambassador, my job is to inspire middle school girls about the wonders and possibilities of science.

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Now, I'd already been doing that. And so, you know, being an ambassador or being that role model for girls,

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that reminds me of the importance of having women in leadership positions in science.

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Having women in in STEM who can talk to the importance of being who you are because many girls don't need resources.

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Yeah, you can have the coolest robotics. You can have the coolest technology. But if they don't have a role model, they see life really differently.

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Boys necessarily need that. They like gadgets. Girls do, too.

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But if you have a have a role model in that space, a girl will change her trajectory and say, I want to be like her.

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And so as a role model, I recognize that importance.

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And so I do everything that I can to make sure that all girls see that it's possible and recognize that they can to do it as well.

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SEBREE: Is that what kind of leads you with your mission and the jSTEMp?

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STIMPSON: Yes. And so with with my jSTEMp science program, I do just that.

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While not now I don't. But what I do is I host weekend camps and summer camps to do just that connect

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middle school girls, particularly girls of color to professional scientists.

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And we engage in hands-on science activity, real world tangible science so that they can see that it's connection.

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Far too often we when we think about science, we always think about, oh, rock,

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you know, I want to be a rocket scientist or I want to be an epidemiologist.

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We tend to forget that science is an everyday experience. So if we can connect them,

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just the fact that your pharmacist and scientists warn that your pastry chef is a scientist or that your dietician is a scientist,

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we tend to jump high because we think that that's what a scientist is.

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And so I am all about disrupting what it means to be a scientist, because if we don't, we we overlook the people who do science everyday.

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You're cosmetologists as a scientist. Mary Kay, I applied for a job at Mary Kay.

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That's all science all day long. And girls wear makeup.

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And that's stereotypical because that's not always the case. But the idea that there's science in every day, that's what the most important thing is.

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So for me, it's not for them to jump high. I don't discourage them from jumping high.

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But I just want them to jump to jump next door and then jump down the street and then jump across the street.

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Because if you can can make a connection, then everywhere you look, you're like, oh, I can be a biochemist.

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Oh, I can be an architect. Oh, I can be a gastroenterologist,

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Those are just everyday sciences.

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They don't have to be research scientists because many of them don't know those people, but they know their pharmacists.

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And so it's connecting real world opportunities to kids.

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It's so much more meaningful, I think. And it's it's just I've just seen the growth and the trajectory of girls in their lives

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when they can make real world opportunities and connections to everyday sciences,

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everyday experiences in science.

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SSEBREE: So, I mean, you've talked a lot about all of this with getting involved and kind of meeting people and sharing your mission with others.

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Clearly, you're STEM, you're defined yourself STEM. Do you actually have,

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and you've got this beautiful trajectory that you've gone on. Sometimes random, sometimes on purpose.

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But would you say there's a cornerstone experience, somewhere that finally tips that scale for you?

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You said it was somewhere in college. You decided science was your thing.

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Was there actually. Was it like you were just in a classroom? Is like, oh, this is fun.

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Or was there some defining moment that kind of took you to say, this is the way I want to go?

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Which then is it sounds like you may or may not have had a role model like you're trying to be.

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What was it that kind of pushed you in that direction? STIMPSON: Well, there were there were two things.

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I did have a role model. My dad was a pharmacist and he was a compounding pharmacies.

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And most people probably don't know that. But compounding pharmacies is old school, vintage pharmacy, apothecary pharmacy,

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where you take the medicine and you actually create crush the tablets add the liquids,

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create that. So my dad did that. That's what set him apart in it from all the other pharmacies that were out that were out there.

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And I used to go when he opened his own pharmacy. I was nine and I used to work with him.

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I didn't really work with him. My mom was like, you know, she's go work with your dad and she go work with me.

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So I've got to buy off. I go to work with my dad and my dad was using the what we call traditional, you know, science stemware.

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You know, erlenmeyer flask, the graduated cylinders, the scales and balances.

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So we use all that every day at work. So I was lucky enough that my father was my role model.

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And I looked up to him because he was my role model. And so I wanted to be like my dad in terms of my dad did this,

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and so he was my first role model because he showed me how professional scientists could save the community. Because people would come in,

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and in my nine year old, my he came they came in because they were not feeling well.

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And my dad helped them feel better. And so that my dad was a scientist.

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I didn't see him as a pharmacist. We we know that now. But in my mind, this is what science was.

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I got to see it hands on.

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And then I got to see the connection to science, to community service and civic engagement and how that community health is really important.

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So that trajectory for me is what cemented that I wanted to be like my dad in terms of saving and helping people.

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But I did it through science because he did. But he would never have called himself a scientist.

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But that is exactly what it was. And then when I got to undergrad, I defined by science identity.

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I found my tribe. I found that there were people who loved science and the quirkiness of science just like me.

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I remember one of my first exams during my college chemistry,

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general chemistry class was to memorize the first hundred and six elements on the periodic table.

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I mean, you just. Those are things that you did and then be quirky and weird and strange and and all of that to know everything

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you need to know about calcium and and the electron configuration of the first twenty five elements.

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I mean, all that was part of my identity and I would I became okay accepting that identity and that's where it was cemented for me.

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And so it was the undergrad experience being in it, being in a freshman chemistry lab where I found people who were like me who,

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who felt the same way about science, who were passionate about how all of these parts and these things work together to change how things came out.

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So I was gonna be a chemist, but I was not going to be a doctor because there is something about mixing and preparing and all of that.

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And I still have that talent today. I can make a mean stew, I can make salsa, I can make dressings that will just change your life.

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But that that chemistry background isn't going to go isn't too far from me ever.

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So it for me it was my dad and it was the defining moment in undergrad that

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cemented for me that science was a trajectory and an identity that was okay to be.

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And that's what I did. Those were my moments. SEBREE: Very strong, especially for me.

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The best part of chemistry is always the fire, right? STIMPSON: Oh, gosh, yes.

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SEBREE: Multicolor fire is always the fun stuff. STIMPSON: Oh, my gosh. I know.

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I know. I know. Shots, barium. Yeah. Shout out to all of those that we used to do that lab all the time.

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And kids thought you were the coolest person because all they wanted to do was blow stuff up.

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So we're going to blow stuff up. Let's have some fun with it. I mean, the science of fireworks.

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I mean, that's just a lesson in and of itself that most people just, you know, think the Fourth of July fireworks.

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There's a whole lesson about how that matters and why we use the colors that we use

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to create that and and how the gunpowder that the Chinese created came over here.

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And we can I mean, there's so much. And so for me, it's the history of science, not just the application of science.

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So that's where I'm passion about is like I don't want people to say, oh, that was cool.

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I saw the fireworks over the White House. All that's so awesome. But for me, it's like.

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Can we talk about why it is blue and why that matters?

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And so I'm always looking at the science of all things because I feel that someone's gonna need to know that and give you ready to say,

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let me tell them why. Because I just don't ever want to lose that opportunity to to make sure that people are equally aware of science.

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I always want to raise the consciousness level of people to connect them to science and everyday experiences because they just need to know.

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SEBREE: Yeah, well, especially now during the global pandemic science

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STIMPSON: Oh yeah. SEBREE: Is big thing we've got to keep the whole populace up. So it's it's a very good mission to be on.

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STIMPSON: It is a very good mission to be on. And everyone should be looking at the science of all of this.

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What is the science behind this?

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I mean, people were laughing about all the Facebook means and jokes about, you know, hand washing and and all of that.

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But there's there's a whole study about why and how germs are spread and and and why, you know,

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you need to apply topical cleansing agents and wait for a certain amount of time before you wipe them off.

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All that is hugely important. And we have scientists to thank for that.

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And I think that when the pandemic hit, if its not done anything,

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it's made people more aware that they need to pay attention to science and its applicability in our everyday lives.

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SEBREE: I mean, I've got one last question here and especially you.

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I really like the fact that you told us about that you were a non successful med school candidate,

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because I know we get a lot of people who hit that benchmark and they, med school

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everything they prepped for and then something happens and they don't get in their first try.

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Some of them do get in their second try. But some of them might hit that and they see that as a roadblock and say what?

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What sort of advice would you have for any student in any career pathway that might be struggling to actually.

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They know they want to do a STEM like you did, but then they hit a roadblock somewhere,

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whether it's the calculus and physical chemistry or the MCAT exam or an interview that didn't go well or something.

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What would you say would be your advice to somebody like that?

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STIMPSON: Well, I always had someone that I could go and talk to, so I always had a mentor.

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and sometimes when you're when you're hitting those roadblocks, you just need to be reminded that you matter.

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You know, you need to you need to matter. You need to find out that you matter.

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And if you hit this roadblock of whatever that is, you have to dig deep within yourself to figure out what is the most important thing.

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If I don't do this, what will be absent in the greater world of what I'm trying to do?

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And also define the most important thing we all struggle with.

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Well, she has it or he has it. How come I don't have it? Or why was it so easy for him to get to this point?

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Why am I struggling? I had that.

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I had that. I had all of my.

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I was the only person in my friendship group that didn't go on to medical school or didn't go on to the trajectory that they had set for themselves.

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I was the only one, and that when I had to go in and I had one friend that was accepted to four medical schools,

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I mean, it was I struggle with that.

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I mean, I took the MCAT four times and I never got as the inner, you know, the the waitlist, you know, the alternate list.

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And that was hard for me. But in that you I had to find where I could add value.

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And that is where you have to stretch your beyond your comfort zone.

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And when you're a 21 year old and a 22 year old, you have you see the whole world ahead of you.

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You think you do whatever you. But then you're hit with something, you have to have enough resolve to stand still to know which direction to go.

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And sometimes you need to have somebody tell you what to do because you go out, do it.

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Then you'll you'll you'll drop the ball.

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So the best advice that I could give someone who is 21 years old and they're like, well, I mean, do I go to Iowa or do I go to Los Alamos?

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Because Los Alamos is the middle of nowhere in New Mexico and Iowa is a middle of nowhere.

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And I'm coming from Atlanta, Georgia, or Washington, D.C. or L.A.

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What am I going to do? But in those two years that I was in this isolated situation, Iowa black woman science,

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the only one, I became the greatest advocate for myself and for future generations.

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But I did not know that. But I had to take a risk. And so the biggest thing is, are you willing to take a risk?

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What has what can you do in order to define what risk means for you, in order to make that and redefine what success is?

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Because we all know you can ask a thousand people what success is and they'll have fifty five hundred

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different definitions. But if you fail to define success for you, your failure will always lead you to what will disrupt your life.

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And you don't have time for disruption. But that takes maturity to get to that point.

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So I was settled after being in Iowa.

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it's like, you know, when you're drop jumping in the pool, some people are just jump off the diving board.

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All in. I am not that girl. I would. So I am the first but one foot on the first step.

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Then then the second foot on the next step. So I am I am a you know, I tread very lightly.

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I don't jump in and you have to know how, when and where to enter and how when you enter,

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what is going to be your your plan of action once you're in the water because you jump off the diving board.

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You flailing. You got to do all of that. It sounds it sounds exciting, but then you haven't thought about what happens.

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But if you tread lightly and tread purposefully, then you can always see what happens.

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Because when people do, I don't like being splashed. I don't even care if I'm in the water. I just hate that, that splashing.

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So you've got to be careful from the splashers because they could be disruptive.

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So you just have to have your own trajectory. You always have grit and always have grace, and you will be great and always give out.

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Never give up. And I always think do what it takes, not what's easy is it is easiest to give up.

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It is easy to go to corner and cry. It is easier to just like what did happen to me.

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You didn't have to me. And I know that because I did all that I did up that I cried.

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I fussed. I defined failure for myself is more important than there was a successful track for me.

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But you can never give up. That is just not allowed.

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It's not allowed. And so I always have to give out and doing what it takes is hard work.

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Work you're doing what is easy is works for the moment. But doing what it takes is what is going to manifest your destiny for greatness.

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SEBREE: Very good advice. I think alot of our students will like hearing that.

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STIMPSON: Thank you. Yeah. Well, I hope to

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I hope that COVID ends soon. So I have not been back to Iowa since, but I.

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This opportunity has really made me aware of (A)

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The importance of my voice, the importance of changing the narrative of who and what can and who can't be a scientist and what a scientist looks like.

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And the idea that it's possible, you know, in general and at the time I didn't know I was a trailblazer at the time when I graduate,

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I was the first black female to graduate with a degree in natural sciences, an advanced degree,

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because they were there were people behind me who had undergraduate degrees, but that was a first.

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But when you're the first, you don't know that you're the first. You're just doing what it takes.

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SEBREE: Right. STIMPSON: Because I just mentioned that earlier, doing what it takes.

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That was was it was it would have been easy for me to call my mom and say, come and get me. This is different.

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I hate this place. They have terrible Mexican food. But I did what it takes.

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And because of that, I'm here to have this interview with you.

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And I never would have known that had I not had that experience. So.

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SEBREE: Very cool. STIMPSON: But, yes, I hope to come back. I hope to see you and all that and all the folks shout out to every one.

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Dr. Bumpus. I know Dr. Bartok is not there, but, of course, Dr. Manfredi

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who always was there to offer encouraging word and being so supportive of my own

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journey and always looking out for me and making sure that emotionally, I was OK.

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SEBREE: Thank you for taking up part of your morning to share your story and kind of let other aspiring scientists hear

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what it's been like for someone who's been through a lot of this and it's clearly not been the easiest road.

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But you've had a very successful road at this point. STIMPSON: Thank you. SEBREE: Your story is going to resonate with many of our students on many different levels.

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So just thank you from me. Thank you from the department.

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I'm sure they'll be all over this once they get to hear your story as well.

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So just thank you very much for this.

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STIMPSON: Your welcome. Thank you very much. And I look forward to staying connected with what the department and how I can help.

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I am always willing to do that. SEBREE: Sounds very good. We will for sure be in touch.

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As the pandemic and things ebb and flow, we will be reaching out more not just to you, but to others who may also have stories like you.

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STIMPSON: Thank you. Yes.

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SEBREE: This is the one nice thing that's come out of the pandemic is where I think we're joined together as a community, more so by reaching out virtually.

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It makes it easier for us to make these types of connections. So little silver linings.

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STIMPSPON: Yes, that's true. Everybody loves some silver, #AG. Just kidding.

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That's a scientist to me. Is it? Where's it on that table? I can't find it. Oh, there it is right there.

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SEBREE: There it is right there. STIMPSON: Just kidding.

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Go ahead. I was being silly. Sort of. SEBREE: That's all I've got at this point.

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STIMPSON: Thank you.

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I wish you and I all the best. And their next 50 years and their next trajectory of changing the world with scientists and what is to come. Go Panthers! SEBREE: Go Panthers!