Welcome to STEMCasts: Capturing the journeys of successful STEM professionals. In this episode, we have a conversation with Emily Cunningham,  a PhD student, Astronomy & Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz. Switching roles from Episode 1, Raja interviews Emily about her STEM journey. From solving math problems in her dad's car to a successful researcher at UC Santa Cruz. Highlights from this episode include:

• How she went about deciding on a career and the different options she had.
• The essence of research is about doing science.
• Taking a break from school to spend a year in Paris.
• The path to becoming the expert.

Thanks to our host for this episode: Raja GuhaThakurta, Astronomer & Professor at UC Santa Cruz.

If you would like to volunteer for a STEMCast, please contact us. Help motivate & guide the next STEM generation!