Jennifer Hollingsworth

Nanotechnology: Myth and Reality

According to legend, three ancient Chinese curses state,

• May you live in interesting times
• May you come to the attention of those in authority
• May you find what you are looking for

Depending on whether you believe these to be curses—or blessings—may help determine whether science is the career for you.

May you live in interesting times.

As an undergraduate, I majored in chemistry with a minor in environmental science at a small liberal arts college called Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. It was there where my now hardened tendency to bring on “interesting times” began. The undergraduate-only environment allowed me to explore interests outside of science, while still allowing me to get a solid education in my major. I enjoyed advanced classes in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky) and African culture and politics, while completing requirements for my chemistry major. Though challenging, I have always sought to combine my studies in physical science with those in social science and the humanities.

I was able to put this dual focus into action during a semester in Costa Rica. I lived with local families and worked with a local university professor to study the effects of pollution on river water chemistry. That was supposed to be the extent of my project – conduct laboratory analyses of water samples collected at a series of points along the local river. These sites ranged from pig farms to residential housing to cloth dyeing factories. But, I decided to make this project more complete and, hence, more “interesting.” I conducted a survey of the people who lived along and near the river.  I wanted to understand their relationship with the river (and the environment in general), especially their understanding and attitudes regarding pollution. I was not a very good Spanish speaker, but I went door-to-door to 50 homes with my lengthy questionnaire. More than once, I had to run outside with the families when one of  the frequent earthquakes occurred. I put the results of this crude social science experiment together with the chemical analysis data into a final report that now resides in the small library in San Antonio de Belén, Heredia, Costa Rica.

My Costa Rican chemistry professor would have preferred that I had stuck only with the science, and maybe I took on too much with the project, but I am still proud of that final report. And, at the end of my stay I had to pull two all-nighters in a row to finish all of the writing. This caused me to miss my flight home when I didn’t wake up in time for the taxi ride to the airport!  So, in this sense, “interesting” is life and work pushed to the limit, stressful and exciting at the same time. I have since learned to manage my time more efficiently, but now with work and family commitments competing, it is still never dull.

May you come to the attention of those in authority.

Following college, I started in an Environmental Science doctorate program at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. This was a science-focused interdisciplinary program that I thought matched my “dual” interests very well. I even got to take an environmental law course.  Law was my secret passion that I perhaps would have pursued if I had not been incredibly shy and a nervous public speaker.  Somehow I assumed that all lawyers were the showmen trial lawyers that you see on TV!  After only a year, however, I decided that it was better to get a more traditional graduate education and then apply that deeper and more focused knowledge to the broader problems that interested me. So, I moved to St. Louis and entered in the Chemistry program at Washington University. In late 1999, I received my PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, and immediately started in a postdoctorate position at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL).

After two years as a “postdoc,” I began my current position as a Technical Staff Member in the LANL Chemistry Division. My boss and mentor was an extremely influential and energetic physicist from Russia. With him, I learned the chemistry and physics of nano-sized particles called quantum dots, or QDs. Because the research was exciting and because QDs have so many potential applications from biomedicine to lasers to solid-state lighting to solar cells, we were asked to help plan a new center for nanoscale science. Though a significant responsibility, this was an excellent opportunity for a young scientist like me to work with senior scientists and managers in an important new area. After several years of planning, the center, called the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), was created (LANL and Sandia National Labs working together). Two buildings were subsequently built – the LANL Gateway in Los Alamos and the Core Facility in Albuquerque. I am now a CINT Scientist, and I oversee the Gateway Synthetic Chemistry Facility. The great joy in my career life at the moment is working with four talented, enthusiastic, and fun postdocs. Together, we do the science of making and characterizing new nanomaterials. 

However, being known to “those in authority” means that you will more often encounter new and different responsibilities. Assuming that you perform well, these keep coming. And, as I have discovered, in the world of science at a national lab (or a university for that matter), this does not always mean “science” responsibilities. There are a seemingly endless number of committees on which to serve, more centers to plan, talks to give, and a constant need to keep the funding flowing by meeting with funding agencies and writing proposals. So, through my career in science – a career I once considered a safe haven for someone who is naturally introverted – I have learned to speak and to network. These skills are as critical to a successful scientist as they are to a successful businessman.

May you find what you are looking for.

As a young kid in the ‘70’s, I was entranced by a commercial in which a completely together career woman sang, “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let you forget you're a man, 'Cuz I'm a woman!" The message was that women could do it all—work and family—and that it was no big deal. I simply assumed that this was true. My mom was my role model. She had a family and a career as a nurse, and though she wasn’t very happy, I assumed that I could do all of this AND be happy.

Well, I am happy, but I have also learned that a demanding career in science can also be stressful.   It is not the kind of job that you can leave at the office. You take it home with you literally and figuratively. It is a competitive career in which you need to be compared well with your co-workers in terms of funding, science productivity, etc.  It is often particularly stressful for a woman trying to juggle career and family.  Compromises are necessary.

So I have found that the picture isn’t as simple as I imagined it would be and as women of my generation were told. On the other hand, I have also found that a career in science, like my Costa Rican adventure, is “life and work pushed to the limit, stressful and exciting at the same time.”  In science, you may well find most of what you are looking for—and a whole lot more! 

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