Crystal Bolden Rush

I attribute my success to being authentic in all of the spaces that I'm in. I really lean into my strengths, but I'm not afraid to work on the things that maybe I'm not so strong in. And then also some faith, and some knowing that things can work out in my favor as long as I'm applying myself. Being authentic means not feeling like I have to play a role in order to gain access to things. If I'm myself, the right doors will open. I don't want any door, I want the door that fits me. That's exactly what happened with the role that I'm in now. This job title didn't exist as a full-time position before I got here, but it's the door that I needed for what I was asking for.

The best piece of advice I ever received came from a mentor when I was considering whether to pursue a PhD. I had reservations because the lab where I was gaining my first research experience had some pretty unsavory personalities who had made disrespectful jokes about different populations. My mentor said to me, 'Crystal, disrespect is going to come in different forms throughout your life, but you can't let that limit the choices that you make.' In other words, I couldn't decide to stay where I was professionally or academically as a clinical laboratory scientist simply because I had not faced that type of discrimination yet. That was a 'yet' thing, not that I wouldn't, because I probably would have. If I had let that environment discourage me or really limit what I was willing to consider for careers, then I would not have gone to grad school. I would not have been on the path that I am now. She made it very clear that I shouldn't consider those things with my career choices or life choices.

I would tell them to be authentic. Don't feel like they have to play a role in order to gain access to things. If they're themselves, the right doors will open. You don't want any door, you want the door that fits you. I would also tell them to review their own professional documents from time to time, not for updating or anything, but for confirming their identity. Imposter syndrome kind of runs rampant amongst women, and especially Black women or other women of color, and so looking back on professional documents and reminding yourself what you've been able to accomplish, who you are professionally, the identity that you have and that you're building, in my opinion, helps to quiet that voice of not being good enough or not being sufficient. So I would encourage them to review their documents to remind them of who they are, and to remain authentic, so that way they have the right opportunities presented to them. Those opportunities will come, and they want it to be opportunities that fit them well.

The biggest challenge in STEM higher education right now is encouraging students to stay the course and persist in STEM education when they understand the financial struggles or financial restrictions due to funding. For example, I'm PI on a grant right now, and even though it's funded by a private organization and not government-funded, the students were concerned about whether or not they should continue to pursue careers in STEM. These are students who are training and hoping to be competitive for graduate school and continue graduate education, but they're concerned about the stability of the field that they're going into. I think the funding makes it difficult to really recruit and maintain and retain competitive talent in the field. I also think AI is a challenge in education in general. I liken it to publication ethics. I teach ethics courses at my organization about the ethics of scientific publication and what it requires to gain authorship. We need similar agreed upon ethical guidelines for the use of AI in research. As it often happens, we don't do that proactively, we do it retroactively after something egregious happens. I'm encouraging my students to use AI responsibly and ethically so that nobody at my organization is caught up in it, but I'm kind of on the edge of my seat thinking it's gonna happen somewhere, and how horrible will it be, and then what guidelines will come together and be agreed upon.

I am always looking for efficiency. I want to make the best use of my time. While there are things that I do that maybe other people can do, I'm aware of why I'm doing them - it's a conscious, intentional choice to do them. But efficiency is very high up on the list for me. The other one is fulfillment. Do I actually enjoy doing the thing? Because the moment that I don't enjoy doing a thing, then I can start building other paths and pursuing other doors that fit where I am. So fulfillment is very high up, and within that fulfillment category is how are the people that I'm working with, how are they doing? Are the students I'm working with reaching their goals? Are they developing and making a positive impact? A legacy, so to speak, in how they move forward and progress.