Lizette Ortega (she/her) is a second-year PhD student studying applied physics at Harvard University. Her research under Dr. Evelyn Hu explores how nanophotonics can be used for quantum applications. But going into the Young Voices of Science Fall 2023 program, Lizette didn’t want to communicate quantum physics. Instead, she hoped to highlight the humanity behind the science, and to use her communication skills to make graduate school in STEM more accessible to underrepresented communities. “Having studied physics for most of my academic career, I have seen where science needs ample help in becoming accessible to all,” Lizette wrote in her YVoS application. “If we take care with the way we teach and talk about physics… we can change the way physics is perceived by the public.”
Lizette achieved this goal spectacularly through her outreach project, in which she wrote a grad school “survival guide” for first-gen students in STEM. As a first-generation student herself, Lizette hopes to empower other first-gen students to survive, and even thrive in their graduate program. By sharing her own personal struggles and how she overcame them, Lizette provides clear, insightful, and uplifting advice on how to build your community, how to pick the perfect research advisor, and how to be proud of your accomplishments, no matter what your background. Her piece will be published in the Advice section of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Stay tuned for the link when her article is published in Spring 2024.
