Flip through our 2025 Fall Zine and read the featured Full articles below.
Mathangi (Mattie) Soundararajan is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology program at the University of Minnesota. She works in Dr. Kathryn (Katie) Fixen’s lab studying the bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a jack-of-all-trades phototroph with incredibly neat biology. For Mattie’s project, she is interested in growing them IN SPACE!
Learn more about Mattie’s scientific journey below!
What has been your scientific journey up until this point, and what inspired you to pursue science?
“I've always been interested in science. I was the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and Nat Geo kid. I grew up on Magic School Bus. There was this very random show that I loved, which I think, thinking back now is probably from the 80s, something about some ‘Beakman's laboratory…’”
[“Oh my God, are you serious? That was my favorite show as a kid. Beakman’s World.”]
“I have never met anyone who has heard of that!”
[“Me neither! We have the same science origin story!”]
[Mattie and I proceed to gush about this show for the next five minutes…]
“I used to like write letters [to send to the show] and found out when I was eight that the show probably ended. I had this lovely letter penned out and my mom had to tell me, ‘This is not going to happen, I'm so sorry, these are reruns.’
“So, yes – I was that kid, so I was always interested in science, and it was always my happy place growing up.
“I remember when I was 15, we had a chapter in biology on heredity and genetics that blew my mind – the molecular biology, genetics, and how complex biology is, but also how simple it is. That led me to take classes in biotechnology, doing my undergrad in Biomedical Sciences in India. Then, I came to the U.S. for a Master’s in Biochemistry. Afterwards, I worked at NASA Ames Research center as a research scientist for three years. I decided to go back to school because I had a lot of research ideas that I wanted to pursue, and that brought me back to Minnesota.”
[We then, again, geek out about Beakman’s world for another five minutes before getting back on track…]
Tell us about your thesis project!
“So, when I started my Master’s I was introduced to the magical world of microbes, because I started working with my advisor who is an expert in this process called nitrogen fixation. This involves microbes taking nitrogen from our air and making fertilizer, which can be used by other microbes or plants, eventually making its way up the food chain to humans. It’s a really cool process, a really cool reaction that they carry out, and I became fascinated by it.”
[This process, called biological nitrogen fixation, is something that only microorganisms can do. Nitrogen is an essential element for life, but the nitrogen in our atmosphere, N2 gas, cannot be taken up by most organisms. Before the invention of industrial fertilizer manufacturing, or the Haber-Bosch process, nearly all the nitrogen that biology could use had to come from microbes. Without nitrogen fixation, we would not be here! Read more about nitrogen fixation here!]
“My master’s project was to develop a fertilizer making technology that would be used on Mars to support future space missions. This got me thinking about all these weird environments that we wouldn’t ever face on Earth but could impact processes like nitrogen fixation.
“This has turned into my thesis project: I look at how exposure to different things present in unique environments like the moon or Mars may affect nitrogen fixation and the microbes that do it.”
[One challenge that Earth microbes would have to adapt to on the moon or Mars is an increase in heavy metal concentrations: moon regolith (the dust and loose rock that covers the surface of a planet) has twice the amount of aluminum than what is present in Earth’s soils. This is one of the many factors that Mattie is testing!]
Do you have any favorite works of science communication (or methods of SciComm you find the most compelling/inspiring)?
“Even though I grew up watching a lot of shows on science, as an adult that has kind of phased away. My entry back into exploring science was through a lot of really amazing books.
“A few that I wanted to highlight include Nick Lane’s Origins of Complexity. Dr. Lane is a researcher at University College London, and he wrote this amazing book talking about the theories of the origins of life. It goes over why we hypothesize that it all started with one organism, LUCA [“Last Universal Common Ancestor”], and what contributed to the origin of life. I had already read a little bit about the science, but reading the SciComm version of his book was mind blowing because he did a great job explaining these very intricate concepts without dumbing it down and losing anything in translation. It’s one of my favorite books.
“Another book is Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. She’s a canine behaviorist and researcher and talks about both how science has taught us about the perceptions of a dog, and how to better understand our dogs through that. It walks us through the motions of, what is their vision like? What is their hearing like? What is their smell like? And what does this mean for how they take in and interact with the world? I also thought this was a really, really cool book.
“I also got into a lot of podcasts. One of my favorites is Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. It’s like going back to science being my happy place, it’s the funniest, weirdest, most mind-blowing things about science that people are talking about.”
[“Do you have a weird fact that you’ve learned from that podcast?]
“Oh, one of my favorites is actually a bacterium fact: back during the Civil War, these soldiers had wounds that they wouldn’t be able to attend to immediately. It had gotten a little cold, and people noticed that some of the wounds were glowing, and those soldiers got better. I think in the last ten years or so, some researchers found that they glowed because of a particular bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens. It had colonized the wounds and prevented pathogens from getting in, helping to protect the soldiers.” [read more about it here!]
What led to your participation in science communication projects like Petri Dish?
[Petri Dish is an event organized by UMN’s College of Biological Sciences in partnership with the Bell Museum exploring how biology affects different aspects of our lives. Local experts are invited as panelists and are interviewed about their thoughts on a particular topic. Mattie was one of the panelists for Relocating to Mars: How will we transform extraterrestrial environments? alongside Drs. Aaron Engelhart and Katie Fixen.]
“I have always been interested in participating in science communication, but I’ve never been a panelist or anything. For Petri Dish, Katie [Mattie’s advisor] got this NASA grant, and the college wanted to highlight that. Since a lot of us are talking about missions to the moon, missions to Mars, they reached out to her to be a part of this panel, and she recommended that they also invite me. I was floored. I was so honored! Typically, Petri Dish is not an event that graduate students speak at, and she did not have to invite me. That’s why I love Katie. It’s just good to have an advisor that knows their grad students are talented and will push them to be recognized for it.”
[“Have you done any other SciComm recently?”]
“I had a middle school teacher come up to me and ask me to talk to her kids. That’s when I realized I need more training to talk to kids. Especially since I did not go through middle and high school education in the U.S., so I don’t know what they know and what they don’t. It was quite a learning experience for me.”
[Mattie also mentioned that she’s been interested in doing more, but grad school gets in the way, and like many others she is often too busy. This led me to my final question:]
How do you think we can get other scientists involved in SciComm?
“I have thought about this question a lot, because my first instinct was that every scientist I know is so busy. But, everyone I know is also really excited to talk about their research. And I can’t speak for everyone else, but for me personally, the barrier is that I have been trained to talk about science in a very technical, very specific way. Science communication requires a completely different way of approaching information. Going back to Nick Lane’s book, there is a balance between not dumbing things down and losing things in translation but still communicating effectively so that someone with a sort of high school level understanding of science is able to get what you’re saying. That, for me, is the biggest barrier because it’s a skill I currently don’t have.
“That’s where I feel people like Alex Eilts, who was the host of Petri Dish, are so great. Alex especially was amazing at making us feel comfortable and guiding the discussion, so I didn’t have to think much about it. I just had to be there and give my expertise. I think this partnership could be really useful, where journalists and communicators, those that are part of magazines and other platforms, can help us bridge the gap between the information scientists know and the understanding of the general public.
“I know that if you’re someone like me, it doesn’t come naturally to you. That’s where having a liaison helps. It takes a lot of burden off the scientist, especially if you’re just trying to get into it for the first time.”
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Hello SciComm! My name is Olivia Kuckhahn and I'm a Ph.D. candidate in Kaylee Schwertfeger's lab through the Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics (MPaT) program. In May, I got the chance to participate in the Medical School's 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The goal of the 3MT is to distill your doctoral research to a general audience, with one static slide, in under three minutes.
In any form of communication, you're telling a story. My thesis work is at the intersection of cancer biology and immunology, so I took the approach of trying to find a real-world analogy for the "characters" in my work: the cell types and their functions became construction workers on a job site. Quite relevant for this summer if you've seen University Avenue recently! I saw the tumor-associated macrophages that I study as construction workers on a job site, capable of both taking a jackhammer to the pavement or paving new roads, depending on the instructions they're given. The same is true for macrophages- who have the capability to be both pro-tumor or anti-tumor, depending on context!
To prepare for the competition, I first watched as many winning 3MTs that I could find on YouTube, taking notes on what I liked or didn't like about the presenter's slide content and delivery. Then, I got to work designing my slide based on my construction idea, making sure to distill down complicated biology as much as possible, while making it attractive to look at and convey the construction analogy. After I had my slide design, I wrote a script, testing as I went by recording my time on a stopwatch. To practice, I workshopped my script and slide with GPS director Brenda Davies in a 1:1 meeting along with all the other competitors, getting her feedback and changing around words to better focus my narrative.
Finally, the day before the competition, I memorized the script! I used the Voice Memo tool on my phone to alter between speaking the script out loud and listening back to my recording. All the hard work paid off with a win-- from the 6 AMAZING presentations at the Medical School Research Recognition Day, I was selected as the first prize winner by the judges, and am headed to compete again in the University-wide competition in the fall. Like all projects, this took teamwork. Special thanks to Brenda and the GPS office for their help, the Relational Experience Development (R.E.D.) Seminar Series for individualized coaching on my SciComm skills, and of course to my PI and labmates for coming to cheer me on at Research Recognition Day. I'm looking forward to competing again and recommend the experience to anyone looking to practice their SciComm skills!
Olivia won the medical school's 3MT competition and got to compete at the University wide competition.
Interview with a Scientist, Abby Stitgen
Article by Lizzie Wash
SciComm has an initiative to connect scientists, communicators, and communities to build interdisciplinary engagement and strengthen the bond between science and society. Ph.D. graduate student, (almost) Dr. Abby Stitgen, is incorporating chemistry and communication into her thesis project, a feat I had no idea was even possible. Lucky for us, Abby is also a generous interviewee and gave us the insight on what it is like to be in this position. But first, let’s learn a little more about Abby’s backstory.
Hailing from the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin, Abby holds an impressive repertoire built at Ripon College. With a degree in Chemistry and minors in both English and Psychology, Abby explains how her extensive knowledge across disciplines has helped to develop her current research.
I asked Abby what it was about science that kept her interested after undergraduate and prompted her to continue with a Ph.D. Chemistry, Abby describes, is like a puzzle that allows you to answer questions using tactical approaches. This curiosity and satisfaction that chemistry creates drew Abby into her current research, focused on sustainable nanoparticles. Now if you are anything like me, you probably have no idea what a nanoparticle is, nor anything about their sustainability. Abby describes her research this way– current nanoparticles like quantum dots are small, fluorescent particles that have a variety of uses, like the particles in your TV that make the picture visible. Quantum dots, however, use cadmium compounds. Cadmium compounds are toxic, and the process of acquisition is harmful to the environment. Abby is researching a way to make use of a low-cost, safe, and sustainable alternative called carbon dots, using them to create new diagnostics of food borne pathogens. The satisfaction of this type of research, Abby shares, is that it has a real-world impact on sustainable development of products.
When asked what kind of research appeals to her the most, Abby shared a fascination with analytical chemistry of historical art. This cross-disciplinary approach to applied sciences highlights the value of scientific research in multiple spheres. Speaking of a diverse range of interests and disciplines, Abby’s advice to other graduate students is to develop and maintain hobbies outside of research, and to be disciplined in your dedication to yourself.
Gracefully weaving in a diversity of skills, interests, and expertise, much like that of a crochet project you’d likely find Abby working on, I next prompted Abby on her research in science communication. A unique opportunity presented by Abby’s mentor at an annual review meeting has developed into a thesis chapter, where Abby is exploring the impact of active science communication in graduate school on career success. As you can assume, I am sitting very patiently in anticipation of the outcome of this research project. The value of science communication cannot be overstated, especially in our current state of distrust and miscommunication, shares Abby. Building dialogue allows us to learn from each other, and explore how complex scientific ideas can be made better and more accessible. A sentiment shared by both Abby and myself was the unmatched value in the humanism of communication- something that is so necessary in changing the way we seek to understand science and each other. Whether it be through Youtube videos of the wonderful Hank Green, ancient art depicting native plants, or an interview overview linked to the SciComm Volume Two Zine, we can find ways to appreciate and communicate science.
Hear from the University of Michigan about what a model system is and why scientists use them!
Melanie Lex is the communications coordinator of the math and chemistry departments. Her favorite science communicators are Ms. Frizzle for her fashion and ability to make science fun and Hank Green for his ability to blend raising funds for good causes and learning. She refuses to choose her favorite department but did detail that while her chemistry office is quite spacious, her math department cube hosts her weekly fun fact about animals. The tradition started when a co-worker thought that a red panda (Melanie’s favorite animal) was a Pokémon and didn’t know what a marsupial was. Melanie’s favorite marsupial is a wombat because they poop cubes.
Between weekly animal fun facts, her days consist of maintaining departmental websites and social media pages, writing news stories for both departments, designing posters for events, and photographing events. She also works on large projects like a workshop hosted in December titled, “What’s the Big Picture? Adapting Research Communication to your Target Audience.”
She grew up in southern rural Minnesota but moved to Chicago to pursue a degree in photojournalism from Columbia College where she also minored in environmental science. She was always very interested in science and included a scientific aspect in many of her projects throughout her college career. In her first semester, she created a photography project centered around pollution and went on to learn microscope photography, and photographed collections at the Field Museum. She had inspiring Earth Science professors including Robin Whatley, who hosted a 3-week paleontology excursion at the Petrified Forest National Park to learn more about fossil excavation and identification and Michele Hoffman taught Melanie about scuba/underwater photography and encouraged her to try scuba diving at a hotel pool. After college, she worked in the food industry and obtained a museum study certificate program online through Northwestern which she was interested in but found the field difficult to break into. She moved back to Minnesota during COVID to live with her partner and found a job doing marketing and communications for Zachary Ltd., a luxury furniture company. While she enjoyed her first marketing experience, she decided it was time for something new and found her job here at UMN.
Melanie was originally intimidated by the concept of having to translate science 24/7 but it ended up being a perfect fit where she’ll spend one day doing professional headshots outside and the next day translating research.
Her favorite part of her job is writing news stories and helping people “translate their stories”. “It’s satisfying and fun and nice to help people translate what they want to say to a general audience.” Additionally, it’s fun for her to learn about many different areas of math and chemistry. “I used to think chemistry was just like herbicides and cleaning products- I didn’t know that it also includes things like lasers, pharmaceuticals, and so much more interdisciplinary research!” Her advice to make science more understandable is to use plenty of metaphors, don’t over-sensationalize your work, summarize without getting hyper-specific, but have some faith in the people you’re talking to.
To connect with Melanie, find her on LinkedIn!
Melanie Lex
Communications coordinator
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