
Joanna Kelley
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Washington State University
Washington State University
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
I run a research laboratory - I conduct genomics research, teach, and serve the scientific community.
If it's a day that I teach, I'll spend time preparing for class by going over my lecture slides and notes. I'll go to class and interact with my students, then head back to my office to read articles and books, conduct online research, analyze data, and check and send a lot of emails. I'll also spend time checking in with my undergraduate and graduate students, as well as with my lab manager. On any given day, I'm a researcher, an educator, a boss—I get to wear many hats and it's a lot of fun.
Here's the first step for college students
You may have a rare opportunity to do research as a high school student and if you do, you should definitely jump on that but most research opportunities will come at the undergraduate level. Start participating during your freshman or sophomore year so that you have extra time to find a lab that's aligned with your research interests. Research, like many careers, is a lot of work, so you want to get into a research lab early so you can make sure research is something that really excites you.
"You're in the minority as a woman in mathematics."