For as long as I can remember I have been inquisitive about the world around me. I love solving puzzles, playing board games, and a good trivia question. Growing up in rural North Carolina, it was not common for me to see Black scientists. I had the skewed perception that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) were all just majors people chose in college to become medical doctors. I never really considered that careers must exist for people that had degrees in STEM-related fields and did not decide to be a medical doctor, dentist, or pharmacist. That all changed the day I stepped foot on to the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Certainly, I was a small fish in the ocean!
In June 2010, I delivered my high school graduation speech and the very next day moved into Spencer dorm at UNC-Chapel Hill to begin my college education. When I arrived at UNC, I was not a chemistry major. This was partially because just a few months earlier I was told by my high school teacher that I was the “worst student” in my AP chemistry class. For a while I had accepted that the teacher may be correct, but after earning my International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma I figured that I could not be that bad after all. So I bravely continued along my path to become a medical doctor. I enjoyed learning about the human body and how it works. So I figured, by default, I needed to declare a Biology major.
“Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you’re focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don’t have, focusing on the limitation, then you will be limited.” – Ava Duvernay, American Filmmaker
At UNC, if you were a Biology major then a chemistry minor was inherently required for the degree. General Biology and Chemistry lectures at UNC were huge with up to 350+ students enrolled. Everyone did not come to class, but I knew that I needed those lectures. I am a visual learner so once I see it, I can recall it from my mind (most of the time). After successfully making it through the general science classes, by sophomore year it was time for me to enter the courses required for my major. This is the year everything changed! I registered for the “Evolution and Ecology” course and that semester decided that Biology was not for me. In parallel I was taking a lot of chemistry classes and enjoyed pushing electrons and learning the very fundamentals that make up everything. I left Biology behind and forged a new path in Chemistry.
With a little encouragement from my mentor, I confidently declared a Chemistry major in hopes of pursuing a career in science!
Matriculating through my academic years at UNC, I learned that I was really good at chemistry. I had to work a bit harder at some types – like Organic – and some were very intuitive. My senior year I discovered that I was really good at Inorganic chemistry! Metal complexes were fascinating to me. During my latter years in college, I realized that I wanted a career in chemistry because it expanded my creativity and provided intellectual challenge. It just felt natural.
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3 Practical Reasons I Chose Chemistry
1) There are diverse opportunities with only a Bachelor’s degree.
I did not know that I wanted to go to graduate school for chemistry at the time I declared my major in college. Matter of fact, I had no chemistry lab experience outside of the standard labs required for a degree. My mentor helped me understand the value of a career in chemistry. When discussing with her, I was excited to learn that chemistry degrees open a vast array of career opportunities. Chemists have roles in environmental issues, such as energy storage and pollution monitoring. They also can work in lab settings at pharmaceutical companies, manufacturing facilities, or hospitals. There are even chemists that work in culinary arts, developing new tastes and smells. Chemistry is all around us – in research, medicine, academia, engineering, and even ART.
2) Chemistry helps improve the quality of daily life.
Chemists are driven by curiosity and a desire to understand how the world works at a fundamental level. Most of us are very creative people, always ready to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems like climate change, disease cures, and pollution. Chemists contribute to discovering and creating new materials that constantly improve our daily life! This is part of why I love it.
As for me, I spend my time working on the chemistry that drives electric vehicles. Literally, chemistry is used to power cleaner, more sustainable energy for transportation and many other energy storage applications. I enjoy seeing the results of my scientific contribution and how they are impacting every day life.
3) It is hands-on, challenging work full of intellectual fulfillment.
Chemistry is full of intellectual challenge. From understanding the basic fundamental principles to accepting that there are some exceptions, chemistry is unpredictable. It promotes even the best scientists to be flexible, creative, and accepting of ambiguity. Science does not always work as we hypothesize, but there is great satisfaction in learning something that for a brief moment no one else knows. The moments of discovering something new are unmatched.
I have now been a chemist for over a decade. I am extremely proud and humbled by the maturity I’ve gained as a person and chemist over the years. It is amazing what the human mind can do when coupled with hard work and dedication towards reaching a goal in spite of the naysayers and systemic barriers that stand in the way. The higher I climb it becomes easier and easier for me to see how underserved, underpopulated areas (like my hometown) have limited resources compared to other communities around the United States. Chemistry has helped me bridge the gap. It has become a vehicle for me to gain perspectives and experiences I could have only dreamed of as a young girl in Wilson, NC. Every day, I am more grateful to be a chemist!
Dr. Crystal K. Waters 
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