Nicole Rummel, PhD

I attribute my success to having a clear sense of purpose from a very young age. I decided in 7th grade that I was going to get my PhD, and I told everyone in my family that's what I was doing. It came from an economics project where we had to pick a job, and somehow I landed on a PhD in chemistry and said that is what I want to do. I've always been constantly influenced by my family, especially my mom who is a registered nurse, and I have two other aunts that are nurses and family members that are doctors, so I've always been around that medical field. I saw how hard my mom worked and my aunts worked, and I said I know it's hard work, but you're doing such great things. There were so many instances in my career where I could have said no, I'm not going to do my PhD. I worked after college, I moved to Japan and taught English for a year, and I thought maybe this is the route I want to go, but ultimately everything I did came back to I really want to be in STEM, I want to be in science, and I want to make an impact. Everything just kept steering me right back to that purpose.

The best career influence I received came from being surrounded by a family deeply rooted in science and healthcare. My mom is a registered nurse, I have two other aunts that are nurses, and I have family members that are doctors, so I've always been around that medical field. I saw how hard my mom worked and my aunts worked, and that really influenced me. I thought to myself, I know it's hard work, but you're doing such great things. My brother also played a key role in my career path. He actually works in semiconductors and was telling me about all these things they can do, how they make 5G chips and imagers that can see through cloudy, dusty areas. He helped me see how I could use my chemistry skills to enhance technology in new ways, which opened up a whole new field for me.

I would say that it's about not letting anyone steal your passion. If you're passionate about it, then keep going. It's hard for people to be, you know, I don't want to say everyone has to be an extrovert or talk over everyone, but if you truly love it, then the right people are gonna see it. You know, just keep going and don't let people convince you that what you're doing is the wrong thing. Don't let them just say, oh, you've done enough, what more could you do? Don't let anyone dim your fire. I took a three-year break after my bachelor's and my PhD, and a lot of people thought I wasn't gonna go back to it. A lot of people were like, oh, that's so good, you're not gonna do that, that's so much school. There was so much of that talk, but I was like, nope, I just wanted to work for a little bit, I went to Japan for a little bit, this doesn't mean I'm not going. So don't let people convince you that you've done enough or that what you're doing is wrong.

Honestly, I think that the engineering field is missing women. They are missing women. I know that people really love the biological sciences because they think doctor, they think nurse, but the engineering field, even though a lot of the people that I work with are neuroscientists and biochemists, the engineering field doesn't just need mathematical people, they truly need the chemists. I really feel that that's an untapped area for women. Most people think, well, I don't have that mathematical mind, I don't have the physics background, but no, no, no, they need you. They need women. Engineers need women. That's an area that people can really tap into. I make sure that my company is interviewing women. If they're interviewing 5 men, they have to interview 5 women. If we're hiring one man, we're hiring one woman, so that the field can't just be bringing in all these men. We need the women minds, and we need the chemical knowledge and all that stuff, because it really does throttle everything forward.

I am a mom of 3, and I truly believe in just keeping up with continuing education and bringing what I've learned to being patient. The patience that you learn as a mother is immense. I take all aspects of my life and see how I want to be that role model for my family and for my kids. I don't want to push them into STEM if that's not what they want, but I want to just be that role model. I don't want to ever settle in an area or just stop learning, because I think it's so important for my kids to see that I am still going. I am an avid plant person, an indoor exotic plant person. I don't just buy plants and keep them, but I love to learn about how they grow. They're kind of my guilty pleasure, and they help me keep myself a little bit grounded. I see my plants, and if they're a little dry or maybe a little dying, that tells me, that's almost like my first cue on if my mental state or if I'm overwhelming myself. They help me look at my life and say, okay, what do I need to take a step back on? What am I going too hard in? Can I re-sort what I'm doing in my life in order to keep up with everything? I also try and run a lot. That really helps. I've run a few half marathons. I'm a runner, I do exercise, and if I've had a bad week, I can just go for a light run and bring my brain back to neutral.