Interview with Jessica Hebert (GWTW131)

Jessica Hebert is currently working on a PhD in biology and is a graduate teaching assistant at Portland State University. Outside of her work in the lab and classroom, she is a singer-songwriter with The PDX Broadsides and a performer with PDXYAR. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we discuss how art and science co-exist in her life, how nerd culture has impacted her scientific journey, the joys of being a polymath, songwriting, swashbuckling, and the importance of being mentally flexible.

Several quotes from this episode:

  • “Science isn’t for the most intelligent. Science is for the enthusiastic. Science is for the people who actually want to learn.”
  • “When I get excited about music, I’m also able to channel that energy into science and vice versa.”
  • On watching Star Trek: Voyager as a kid, “If Janeway can commandeer a ship and get her start as a science officer, I can do great things as a scientist.”
  • “You find a way to have some sort of outlet because you notice that the people who spend 80 to 100 hours in a week in the lab and they’re not spending enough time on their families or on other pursuits, they’re the ones who burn out.”
  • “Polymaths are just interested in the intersection of things. How do we get excited about knowledge and share that with other people?”

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