Christine Liu

Describe the path you took to end up where you are now.

I wasn’t known as an exceptionally smart or artsy kid when I was younger despite being quite curious and creative. Part of this was probably due to growing up low-income in an immigrant family, and I didn’t have the opportunity to do a lot of extracurricular activities to explore my interests. It came as a pretty big surprise to everyone in my family, including myself, that I ended up being a successful artist and a neuroscientist getting a PhD at UC Berkeley!

I grew up in the Bay Area, and my family moved to Oregon when I was 14, so I attended high school and university in great public schools in Oregon. I worked part-time jobs like babysitting and making smoothies while I was in high school and ended up working at the Oregon Museum Science of Industry (OMSI) the summer after graduating high school. While science was my favorite subject in school, I didn’t know what I wanted to major in or what kind of career I wanted to pursue. I got to watch planetarium shows and IMAX science movies as part of my job and visit the exhibits on my breaks, which really fostered a sense of fun and wonder in science for me. That fall, I started college at the University of Oregon, where I took classes like general chemistry and intro to writing. While those classes were stimulating, I didn’t get the same sense of wonder that I got when walking through a museum or reading a book about neuroplasticity. One night during winter break, I emailed the director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon saying I’d volunteer and do whatever kinds of work was necessary to be in a stimulating environment like a research lab. A couple weeks later, my journey into neuroscience started after Dr. Mike Wehr saw potential in me to help out with research projects studying the circuits in the brain involved in auditory perception.

I spent as much time in the lab as I could until I graduated, working jobs like being a resident assistant, teaching assistant, and outreach coordinator to make ends meet. These jobs taught me how to communicate effectively, and I finally combined my science and communication skills into an artistic science communication project during my junior year when my art major friend was visiting and needed to spend a weekend in the library. I told her I’d keep her company even though I didn’t have any assignments due or tests to study for. So, I decided to write and illustrate a children’s book to communicate a physics concept I had just had a midterm on: the kinetic theory of matter. This was the first big step I took into STEAM by combining art with science, and it has been a rewarding journey since!

What does a normal day in your current job look like? What are some cool things you work on in your job?

As a PhD researcher in neuroscience, my daily routine changes all the time. I really like the freedom that I have to design my experiment schedules, especially during years that I had to balance my research with teaching and taking classes. Now that I’m finishing my project, I’m spending most days reading and writing, but in previous years, I would have a lab coat and mask on all day as I did behavioral experiments with mice. My goal in my research is to understand how different circuits in the brain respond to recreational drugs like nicotine. In particular, I study dopamine neurons and the neurons that communicate with them. In order to dissect these circuits, I use really cool techniques like optogenetics that allow me to control the activity of brain cells using light or to record their activity while a mouse is receiving drugs. While I love the mental puzzle of designing a series of experiments to understand how the brain works, it takes a lot of time and effort, and the day-to-day can be pretty strenuous and boring.

I also run a science-art business in my spare time to balance out the kinds of work that I do in my days as a research scientist. When I have a long streak of experiments where I need to do everything rigorously and perfectly, I like to go home and make an abstract painting to loosen my brain up. During lulls in my research where I might be preparing animals for experiments and the routine is so mindless that I need to listen to podcasts just to stay awake, my art often takes a more intellectually stimulating turn, and I create zines or other kinds of art that communicates science in clever ways. Sometimes, my scientific tendencies like data analysis seep into my art business too which helps me determine what kinds of art I should make more of, based on the data of what’s being purchased and by whom. Being an artist and a scientist go hand in hand for me and balance each other out a lot to make my life more fun and fulfilling!

What advice do you have for high school age girls who want to go into your field of study (or STEAM in general)? What skills were most beneficial to you on your path, and what do you wish you had known starting out?

I’d say to follow your curiosities, no matter how irrelevant they may seem to your overarching goals. It is tempting to follow well-traveled paths as a roadmap to success, but cultivating your own interests will make you stand out. You’ll also be happier, more fulfilled, and passionate about what you’re doing! Also, you are always capable of learning something if you are dedicated to it. You might need the right motivation, a different method of teaching, or hands-on tinkering, but if someone else has figured it out before, so can you. It wasn’t until I was around 22 years old that I first learned coding basics (like printing “Hello World”), and I even published a little activity book to teach kids concepts about computer science before I truly identified as someone who could code, which finally happened when I was 28! Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to get comfortable sending “cold emails," which are emails to people you don’t yet have any connection with. Don’t be afraid to ask for opportunities by detailing your interest, experience, and dedication in a concise way! This is how many people get unique invitations -- by asking for them!

What is one thing you think people don’t know or would be surprised to learn about your occupation?

Doing scientific research is almost nothing like learning about science in school. Research is about discovering the unknown, whereas studying is about memorizing what has been established as knowledge. Being a researcher requires so much creativity, critical thinking, and is a lot more like solving a puzzle or painting a masterpiece than it is like studying flashcards and textbooks!

Describe any challenges you had on your journey to where you are now. How did you overcome those challenges, and what influence did they have on you?

My biggest barrier to a career in science was probably the fact that I needed to work other jobs in order to afford to be able to volunteer in a lab. The culture of academic science can be pretty insular; it’s relatively common for a PhD scientist to have PhD scientist parents which means that they have insider knowledge on how the system works, and they usually have financial support during college. I was lucky to work jobs that were somewhat compatible with working in a lab, like being a resident assistant that allowed me to live on campus, and most of my work was in the evenings rather than during standard 9-5 work hours. I eventually got science-related jobs and was able to get paid to do research in the summers through special undergraduate research programs, but these opportunities are rare and usually so competitive that you need to have a year of research experience before even being considered. I was lucky that I got started doing research in my freshman year and got scientific mentors early on who advised me in my journey!

Have you ever faced discrimination, peer pressure, or gender bias as a woman interested in STEAM? How did you address it and what is your advice to young women who might face the same things today?

Gender discrimination can happen behind closed doors or to your face; it wasn’t until starting my PhD that I was able to recognize sexist comments and culture as gender discrimination. Unfortunately, speaking up, asking for help, and even reporting incidents did not bring forth justice, and frustrated me further. While I wish that all people experiencing discrimination could be advised to confront and report the issues, there are power dynamics in place that could disadvantage the marginalized even further. I would say to follow your gut, surround yourself with supportive people, and give yourself permission to focus on your own wellness and survival. I would also urge anyone to reflect on how they can support others who are experiencing discrimination, pressure, or bias. For example, when addressing gender discrimination, people who are transgender and nonbinary will have distinct experiences from people who are cisgender. Gender minorities of color may encounter racism in addition to sexism. Acknowledging how different people experience discrimination is vital to solving systemic problems through solidarity and inclusion. Listen with empathy, ask how you can help, and don’t dismiss what someone else is feeling; downplaying the issue or providing justification for a complicated incident rarely helps. Each of us have privilege in certain domains, and we can use it to support those that don’t, just like we would expect those who represent a gender majority to stick up for us!

Why do you think it is important for women in STEAM to support each other? How can young women support and influence their peers?

In science, technology, engineering, arts, and medicine, there has been a long history of excluding participants based on gender, ethnicity, wealth, cultural background, disability, and other differences. In fields where the power tends to be concentrated among people from a very narrow intersection of identities, it is extremely important that people come together to remove barriers and support each other’s success. For STEAM in particular, simply amplifying and sharing the work done by others can lead to far-reaching impact. Supporting others also helps to build community where success can be shared, and collaborations can be made. Young women can support each other in STEAM by attending each other’s events, resharing posts on social media, nominating each other for awards, by being role models, standing up against injustice, and countless other ways!

What does it mean to you to use STEAM for positive change?

For me, it means leveraging the technology and knowledge that is being generated to help people. Sometimes that involves reflecting on whether the work we are doing has a net benefit on the world or whether it might be damaging. For example, the current space race between wealthy businessmen is an amazing feat in STEAM, especially with intentions to send artists into space, but is this the best use of Earth’s resources for positive change? Opening ourselves to ethical inquiries to acknowledge sociopolitical contexts is important because STEAM does not exist in a separate world from the one that is experiencing refugee crises, climate change, and domestic terrorism.

Do you have any dreams or goals for yourself or women/girls in STEAM for the future?

I hope that science and arts are no longer seen as distinct and perhaps even the acronym “STEAM” won’t be necessary anymore, as the commonalities of creative problem-solving will become clear and embedded into education! I hope that gender and other identities will no longer be stereotyped as belonging to certain fields more than others so everyone has a chance to pursue the topics that interest them most!