Here is a great example of a scientist focusing on the environment and health. Dr. Elvia Niebla received a Bronze Medal from the Environmental Protection Agency for her work linking industrial sludge and human health. She also had the opportunity to form regulations based on her work. Dr. Niebla has also served as the National Coordinator of the Global Change Research Program.
How can you not want to learn more about her career and career advice when her personal essay starts like this?
Copied from The My Hero Project website:
I always had an interest in outdoor life and improving the world around me. I was the youngest of four siblings growing up in Nogales, Arizona. When I started school, science became my favorite subject. In junior high and high school, I had to make an important decision that would affect the rest of my life. I was advised not to continue taking science and mathematics courses because knowledge of those subjects was not necessary for a secretary or a Spanish teacher – the two traditional careers for Hispanic females in the 1960s. I didn’t want either of those careers. I enjoyed my science courses and I was doing well in them….
