Name: Lauren Carter (she/her)
PhD: Geography and Environmental Science, University of South Florida, 2023
What was your main area of research?
I studied the migration patterns of people moving from Puerto Rico to the US before and after COVID-19, before and after Hurricane Maria, and created a predictive model to see how a worst-case scenario of a catastrophic hurricane during a pre-vaccine pandemic using COVID-19 and Hurricane Maria as proxies, with a focus on socioeconomics of the migrants.
What is your current job?
I am a Data Scientist at the Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development in Boston, MA.
I focus on app development, statistical analysis of healthcare data for veterans with cancer, writing for publications, and presenting at conferences.
I have my hands in a bunch of different things, so I’m able to use all my learned skills plus learn more skills I’ve never even thought of!
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
I posted on the Earth Science Women’s Network (ESWN) facebook page and someone told me about the BD-STEP fellowship through the VA.
PhD graduate ➡️ BD-STEP Fellow ➡️ Data Scientist
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?
I was a TA for my last couple years of PhD and decided the grading, long hours, and 24/7 emails from students were not for me.
What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
Programming/coding skills are so important for so many different fields. Cultivate them as best as you can with the time you can. Use those free school resources while you still have them!
Look for big groups of people that are diverse in fields (ex: Earth Science Women’s Network, groups on LinkedIn, etc.) and ask for advice! You’ll be surprised how many people want to help, and the diversity of advice helps when you don’t have any clue what to do.
Get comfortable with writing publishable manuscripts. There is a flow to it, but you need to figure out what works best for you. Try to do that before you graduate.
Are there any components of your identity you would like to share, including how they have impacted your journey?
I am mixed black&white, female, LGBTQ+, and late-diagnosed ADHD.
I’ve dealt with black microaggressions but very few - I’ve been fortunate enough to not have dealt with much bigotry in my journey. Undiagnosed ADHD was extremely hard though, especially when I started studying for my qualifying exams. Luckily my doctor suggested I get tested. I never would have known otherwise. Being medicated changed my life at the perfect time!