Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Kathy, an electrical engineer, launched the podcast in 2020 to share real, unfiltered stories of women working across STEM disciplines. Now with over 130 episodes, the mission remains the same: to amplify the voices of ordinary women doing extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math.
We’re deeply committed to:
- Normalizing the presence of women in STEM by making their stories visible
- Building community for women who may be the only ones like them in their workplace
- Educating listeners about the wide variety of STEM careers — and what they actually look like
- Empowering growth and retention by addressing the challenges behind the leaky pipeline
From early-career professionals to experienced leaders, our guests share how they got started, how they’ve grown, and what they’ve learned along the way. This podcast is a space where women in STEM can be seen, heard, and supported — because representation isn’t just powerful, it’s essential.
Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
90. Adriana Talianová, 16 yo student, Research Assistant at Northwestern University & NASA Intern
Adriana Talianová is a 16 year old student in Slovakia. She recently completed an internship at NASA and is also working as a research assistant at Northwestern University.
Episode Notes
Adriana talks about her experience working at NASA SEES (Stem Enhancement in Earth Sciences) and as a Research Assistant at Northwestern University at such a young age. She talks about the importance of just going for it - applying for jobs, etc. even if you don't think you will be hired or accepted.
She shares her experience taking hard math and science classes and being the only girl in some of those classes. She talks about her interest in space and what got her interested in space. She shares how biographies of women in STEM peaked her interest and let to her taking more math and science classes and being interested in STEM.
Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio
Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check
NASA Earth Science NASA’s Earth Science Division uses unique global observations from space, air, sea and on land. This data enables informed decision-making for agriculture, water and food security, urban planning, disaster preparedness and response, transportation, climate and weather, and myriad other things that benefit life on Earth. (https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science)
23% of engineers in US are women. 27% of people working in STEM fields in US are women. (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/01/women-making-gains-in-stem-occupations-but-still-underrepresented.html)
Approximately 19% of STEM University graduates in Slovakia are women (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Share-of-university-graduates-in-STEM-related-subjects_fig1_280298391)
In the US, Physics classes are generally taught/taken in 11th grade (https://www.time4learning.com/homeschool-curriculum/high-school-physics.html)
