Carol Mirenda: STEM Connections through a 5th Grade Lens
April 2021
Carol Mirenda joined the CRS community in July 2020. A retired scientist in molecular and cellular biology fields, Carol’s background spans both academia and the private sector. This spring, Carol was selected as an Inspiration Honoree for 200,000 Students Inspired Celebration in May 2021 for her work during the pandemic.
Who or what inspired you to do biology research?
I knew when I was a freshman in high school that I wanted to be a biologist. When my teacher wrote on the blackboard, the first day in class, “Bios equals life, ology equals study of” I said “Okay, that’s it! That’s what I’m doing.” The specialty of it was born out of my own personal desire to understand how our bodies work, how life works. When I was in high school the field of molecular biology was being born. So I had to hunt around for what I wanted to do, but once it was explained to me what molecular biology was…I’ve been pursuing that ever since.
My inspiration was my older sister. We would gather at the kitchen table every evening and she would regale us with her high school biology lab exploits. My sister is a rather dynamic person and she inspired in me the love and fun of biology. She even brought it home! She brought home her dissected cat, which had to be stored in the refrigerator so she could give extra time to the body. But all this was fascinating to me, and she made it fun with her stories.
Hear about Carol’s Inspiration from Her Own Words
Who do you hope to inspire?
I love inspiring anybody, adult to four or five years old. I love teaching kids because they’re a lot smarter than the general population gives them credit for and they can comprehend quite a bit. If you can put it in terms that they can relate to, it’s lovely to see these “Aha!” moments.
I have two slide shows that I present virtually. In one of them, I name some obscure body parts and later on I ask the class “What are the body parts of our immune system?” and when they shout out “Thymus!” or “bone marrow!” I think “Yes!” It’s just so fun to hear them saying obscure body parts.
What brings you a sense of wonder in your work?
I enjoy learning new things. I’ve had the fortunate experience of having interns that I’ve mentored in the lab and the wonderful experiences I’ve had with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. As long as I can take a complex situation and connect it to what people know. I find it a lot of fun to become a fifth grader and look at life from their eyes and try to relate it to something that they understand, and the same for college folks. I try to reach back in my own life and remember: What did I know, what did I not know? How can I provide them the path forward? And I try to make that connection for them.
Describe a discovery you’ve made.
I had a great one of those moments when I beta-tested my vaccine slideshow to my friends’ grandkids. They were in Kindergarten and third grade, and this slideshow is meant for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. I’m talking about B cells and T cells in this talk and the kindergartner goes, “Oh the warrior cells!” and I say “Yeah! The warrior cells fight microbes!” There was this fantastic connection that was really unexpected.
Describe a goal that you have.
In the past I have asked teachers for their feedback because I want to make that connection, even if it’s that one minute during the entire forty five minutes that I’m talking. I very much appreciate the feedback and try to implement it in my talks. The teachers know their class and it’s a learning process for me as much as anything. So if I can be told a better way of saying this or ask “Did that make sense?”