Career Roadmap
Eileen's work combines: Writing, Education, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Liberty Central High School
Bachelor's Degree
Physics, General
Yale University
Graduate Degree
Creative Writing
University of Iowa
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be an English Language & Literature Teachers, Postsecondary:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Graduate Degree
Doctorate
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
When I was a very young girl, I loved reading so much that I started writing my own books.
2.
When I got to junior high, I was told that girls couldn't take advanced science or math classes.
3.
That first big "no" spurred me to read everything I could about science and study physics.
4.
My college professors got me excited about physics, but as a female, I still felt like an outsider.
5.
I eventually gave up physics and went back to pursuing writing.
6.
Trying to make a living as a writer was hard; I worked some awful jobs just to keep myself afloat.
7.
Despite my inexperience, a friend persuaded her editor to take a chance and hire me as a reporter.
8.
I really hit my stride once I realized I could combine my two passions and write about science!
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
How could a girl succeed in physics?
How I responded:
Even when I did well in my physics classes, I rarely got any encouragement from my professors; no one ever told me I could succeed in physics, so I pursued writing instead. To this day, there are still very few images of women physicists in the media, and the depictions we do see perpetuate this idea that science isn't "cool," or women won't get dates if they go into STEM. This is the focus of my book "The Only Woman in the Room," because this sort of discouragement is still so pervasive.