Opening Doors for Future Generations • Fernanda Sulantay
(Chemical Engineering PhD Student, Yale University || CT USA)
“All of my experiences as an undergrad, they felt like something new. I was born and raised in El Salvador, then came to the US when I was 19. My parents didn’t go to college and don’t know much about science, but were always supportive. At first I went to a community college because I didn’t think my English was so great. I liked my experience there — I saved a lot of money and was able to take the next steps: I studied chemical engineering at University of Connecticut and this year I’m starting a PhD at Yale.
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I’ve always wanted to be a professor. I like both research and teaching — to be a professor you need both. I like research because you’re getting paid to learn, but the coolest part as a professor is continuing to see what new generations have to offer. We always think of learning from the professor, but in reality the students bring new knowledge from which the professor learns as well.
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At the end of my sophomore year, I was getting ready to do a summer of research at a university in the Czech Republic when I found out I was pregnant. I still wanted to go! I called the person who runs the research program; she was very understanding and suggested I try out computational research instead of lab work — I ended up really liking it. I returned for fall semester eight months pregnant. I never stopped going to school — in my college, if you lose one semester you lose the whole year because of class schedules. I had a great support system at home — my husband and his mother, and my grandmother came to stay with us. But I literally went to YouTube to get advice about being a mother and a student. There was not a lot of information online, so I started sharing more about my experience on my Instagram for other girls to see that it’s possible. I learned to work more efficiently. When I had my son, my busy life stopped. My mindset changed, but not my goals. My parents didn’t go to college, but now with my career I’m opening doors for my future generations — my son will have more tools than I had. He’s my motivation.”
