Julie Rorrer: Color Me PhD
We spotlight chemical engineering graduate student and longtime BASIS volunteer, Julie Rorrer! She leads her team to teach two BASIS physical science lessons: “It’s Just A Phase!” and “Making Sense of What’s Dense.” Julie is also the creator of ColorMePhD, a free coloring book resource for students and educators of all ages to engage in current PhD level science and engineering research.
March 2019
How are you connected with Community Resources for Science?
My name is Julie Rorrer, and I am a PhD candidate in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. I have been a BASIS volunteer since 2015, during which time I have visited over 20 different schools around the Bay Area, and have participated in other CRS events like Dinner With a Scientist. Our BASIS lesson on the phases of matter, called “It’s Just a Phase” has always been a hit! In the last year, there were so many chemical engineering graduate students signing up for BASIS that I worked with a team of students to develop a new lesson on density called “Making Sense of What’s Dense,” which has also been very fun to teach, with sucrose density rainbows and elephant’s toothpaste the fan favorites!
How did you wind up as a scientist?
I was born into a family where music, art, and science were all around me. All three of these became passions of mine and I always loved seeing how they intersected, from the physics of the harmonics I was playing on my violin, to the chemistry behind flour batik for creating textiles. When I was deciding what kind of career path to follow, I realized that I was so lucky to grow up in the beautiful state of Oregon, where natural beauty and wildlife are everywhere. Thus, I decided to pursue an education in a field where I could learn about sustainable and renewable energy to help make the planet greener. My undergraduate research in solar energy and renewable fuels led me to pursue a career in sustainable energy research. I was drawn to Berkeley’s Chemical Engineering PhD program because of the balance of fundamental science with applications in clean energy.
Who inspires you and why?
I was lucky to have two science-minded parents who always supported my education and provided a source of inspiration for me. My mother was a high school science teacher for many years, and would always let me be her guinea pig for new experiments and demos. My dad, who is a chemical engineering professor, would frequently take me into his research lab when I was a kid. I gained so much respect for educators because of how hard my parents worked for their students, and I felt so lucky to have role models right at home. Through BASIS, I feel like I can give back by helping children develop a positive relationship with science like I was so fortunate to have growing up.
Describe a unique or interesting experience you’ve had in your career.
During the summer of 2013 I had the opportunity to intern at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The natural beauty of Colorado coupled with the fact that I was working in a center entirely devoted to clean energy really solidified my desire to pursue renewable energy research, and to pursue a career in research.
Describe an interesting discovery, or something you’ve learned in your work as a scientist.
Through my experiences as a researcher and as a graduate student instructor at Berkeley, I have learned that to stay motivated, you have to find the joy in what you are doing, constantly ask questions, and be curious. The most interesting results I have found in my research happened when I thought, “what if…” Asking questions and acting on your curiosity is how you develop a deeper understanding of the science you are learning, and for me, this helped me communicate my ideas to others as well.
Describe a goal you have, and why it is important to you.
I feel that as an academic it is important to bridge the gap between academia and science education, and so in my future career as a researcher in renewable energy, I want to continue teaching and being involved in communicating science to the general community. As much as I am passionate about contributing to the scientific community through my research, I realize that often the greatest impact academics make in their lives is from mentoring others and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers, because they are going to be tasked with solving a lot of the challenges of today and tomorrow. As I am looking now towards graduation and starting a new chapter in my life as a postdoctoral researcher, I plan to continue to pursue fundamental research in renewable energy while continuing to find novel ways to make science accessible and fun- like through ColorMePhD.
What is ColorMePhD?
ColorMePhD is a free resource for students, educators, scientists, and members of the community of all ages to engage in current PhD level research in science and engineering. Each coloring page contains original art developed by PhD student researchers, and is accompanied by a description of the PhD work, summarizing recent scientific publications in words for a general audience.
More than just being a website and a coloring book, Color Me PhD is also a mindset—one that your academic research isn’t just for the academic community, it’s for everyone! Everyone will benefit from the research that scientists are doing, especially young people since they are our future. My research, and the research of many of my scientist colleagues, is funded in part by NSF. The NSF puts lots of effort into broader impacts, but when a paper is published, it is often behind a paywall. Even if the public were able to access the papers, they wouldn’t be written in words that non-scientists could understand. ColorMePhD is an attempt to change that mindset and make scientific research accessible to everyone.
How did you come up with the idea for ColorMePhD?
As an artist, I was thinking I should draw my research, but I thought, what if I skipped the part where I color it in and let others fill it in instead? This was the first ColorMePhD page—of my own research. Later on, I got coffee with Andreana Rosnik, a science artist who is working on her PhD in Chemistry. Andreana gave me the idea that others might be interested in participating in the project other than myself. She ended up being the Plant Pancakes entry, and the ColorMePhD coloring book got launched from there.
My artwork tends to be cartoon-like, but most of the other work that I actually do is acrylic painting, much of it inspired by science. I have an Instagram account, @rorrer.julie if you’d like to see any of it.
What are some of your goals for ColorMePhD?
The main mission of ColorMePhD is to help the community develop a positive relationship with science. I hope to do so in a two-fold way. The first part is communicating science research to the general public. The second is to provide a spotlight for science role models. The latter of these ideas I really thought about through being involved with BASIS and seeing the impact of being a science role model in a classroom with students.
The role model aspect is one of the reasons that I’ve tried to get at least half of the scientists in ColorMePhD to be women. It’s also why we’re working on translating pages into Spanish and even other languages! When a little kid sees someone like them doing science, I hope they’ll think, “that could be me!”
Especially now, in a time where people are becoming increasingly distrustful of scientists in movements like the anti-vaccination movement, we want people to know that science is actually helping people. There’s a stigma against academics that they have their head under a rock and only focus on their specific research. In reality though, lots of University professors and PhD students are collaborating and working with the public! The entire reason that many scientists went into their respective professions in the first place is because they wanted to help the community in a specific field such as health or energy. Scientists can do a better job of fostering a good relationship with community. We’re not a “Wizard of Oz” beyond a curtain, but rather hardworking, imperfect people trying to do our best. We want to make sure that people see we have everyone’s best interest at heart—something that I’ve definitely experienced at Berkeley and want others to realize. I think that ColorMePhD helps with the idea that scientists work together for the common good.
How have you seen ColorMePhD impact scientists?
ColorMePhD gives scientist the opportunity to think about communicating their science in a different way. Some people come up with brilliant analogies right away, but others take time to figure out how to explain an obscure subject in a way that an aspiring scientist can understand. The scientists have enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to communicate their research. The coloring book also helps scientists think about being collaborative. There are a couple of coloring pages that have featured multiple scientists. These scientists work together to solve the same problem and the project has helped scientists think about their collaboration within the bigger picture.
The project also sheds light on the amazing work that other scientists are doing and I think it’s good for scientists to see that. The first volume was mainly friends and colleagues at UC Berkeley, but the second volume feature scientists from different universities across the country. For example, I’m working with a group in the biological sciences from Auburn University on a page about viruses, which has given me the opportunity to learn more about a subject area I knew very little about before they reached out through the “Scientist Application Form” on the website. They have a multi-lingual lab that will translate their coloring page into Spanish, English, French, and Polish.
How have you seen ColorMePhD impact students?
While I haven’t personally seen the direct impact that ColorMePhD has had on students, I’ve been really humbled by the positive responses to this project, through shares on social media and the hundreds of downloads the coloring book as received so far. I’ve seen social media posts with young students extremely happy with the coloring book, and even though I don’t know these people, it’s so exciting hearing how it has positively impacted them. I’ve also gotten emails from supportive people saying that they printed the book for their classroom, siblings, parents, etc, saying “I wish I would have had this when I was a kid!”