S1 Ep 1: Get to know the host

Welcome to the Periodic Table of People Podcast, the podcast where we explore the careers chemistry offers. Get to know your host Niamh as she discusses everything from choosing a college course, exam tips and tricks, as well as postgraduate life and dyslexia. 

Transcript

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You are listening to the periodic table of people podcast. I'm your host, Niamh OMahoney and welcome to the show where we explore what really makes a chemist. Welcome to the first episode. It's been such a long time coming, it's hard to believe it's really here and I'm so glad to welcome you guys. So first off, who am I? My name is Niamh OMahoney. I'm a PhD researcher in UCC or student or candidate. We've got a lot of buzzwords for this and I work in the area of analytical chemistry. So, what is analytical chemistry? I hear all you secondary school students ask well, analytical chemistry is a background bone to chemistry, in my unbiased opinion, which is actually used in all areas of physical, organic and inorganic, those kind of key Penistone chemistry areas that you actually do study for your Leaving Cert. So what is analytical chemistry, analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods, and it identifies, separates and quantifies, unquote, qualifies campaigns. So the area that I actually research is called birds, which is broadband Acoustic Resonance distillation spectroscopy, really long winded name, hence why we go by the, the short version, right? So it's a greener time efficient and cost effective method of analysing drug formulations and in the hope that we can get those drug formulations released to market quicker. So there's never really been a time that there's been so much chemistry in our heads in the news, with vaccine rollout vaccine productions, like efficiency of vaccines, clinical trials, and it's just never been so potent, I suppose are in our faces and our day to day. And that was one of the main reasons I wanted to start this podcast, and to just spread the word of what chemistry really is like day to day, not just these mega corporations on the news. So I'm actually in the third year, I'm hoping to complete my PhD within the next 12 months as in to get graduate. And I've opened up to breed by publication, which is a bit of a cheat sheet, I suppose to a PhD, if you have a large data output throughout your PhD process, but I'm sure we'll go into that in more detail in future episodes whenever it's a little bit more applicable to talk about. So a little bit more about me, I'm a bit of a busybody with regard to my interests at work. I represent Sef. So the School of Science, Engineering and food science, the postgraduate community there, and ECC, and it mainly involves a lot of meetings, but it's very rewarding. I also have a huge interest in outreach. And I've seen the benefit of what a little bit of human contact can do for students. And what did I think New School students, or undergrad students, and I've just noticed a severe lack of that through COVID. And I just wanted to reignite that outreach goal, get up and go, that we have in the chemistry community by introducing this podcast. So this would be like an easy, informative way to approach chemistry. And I suppose ask the questions, were actually having to ask the questions we're hoping to, like, give you the answers without you having to like go to someone that you barely know, or you don't know, or you don't even know who to go to, to ask these questions of. So the first thing I'm going to ask all my guests is, What is your definition of success? And I just think that's such an interesting way to put your life into perspective. I think success is something we all chase our whole lives, we, we want to be successful. I think it's ingrained in us as humans, whether that's in a work sense in our personal lives and in hobby sense. And it's something we actually never sit down and say, What does success actually mean to me? Like, what is my dictionary definition of success? And I suppose I think it's something that everyone should do. I've only actually done it recently, through a online teaching programme I did. I suppose First off, I'm going to describe my definition of success. So very important to me, definitely as a PhD student who has very blurred lines between their work day and their off time is to have really good, like work life balance, okay? And I really need pressure to strive I need the pressure to make me work harder, go stronger, but also I don't want to be able to take that stress home with me and creating those boundaries between so that's more what I mean by a work life balance. I want boundaries between my work and my play, I suppose. I want to be content in my work. I know everyone strives and chases happiness, but I think if I'm contend to my work if it makes me comfortable or or doesn't need to fill me, but I want to enjoy it. If that makes sense. It doesn't need to bring me my joy. But it needs to be more than tolerable, let's say. And I am very much someone who strives to be uncomfortable. discomfort is where I push myself to be better. So I never want to have comfort in my job, I always want to feel a little bit overworked, a little bit on edge just to make sure I'm performing at the best of my ability. So I know a lot of you listening to this are either in secondary school, or you are in undergraduate. So I'm going to just feel a little bit of what I've seen throughout my undergrad and meet that actually my course from school, and any tips and tricks I might have for you guys. So first off, the thing you need to address the elephant in the room is your undergrad is designed to be challenging, it is designed to get a curve of grades of have people different levels not all achieve the same, there is no cookie cutter way for everyone to walk out that door with a tough grade. Because then whenever you go to the for a job, everyone has the exact same degree. So it is designed to allow the people who work hard to get the good grades. And unfortunately, a lot to do with the lab sciences, that theory is still balanced out to be the main way to get your grades as opposed to the lab work, um, which I suppose is a little bit unfair, particularly whenever you go to work, you're mainly actually in the lab rather than like writing and the internet available to you. And there's millions of databases out there for your help when it comes to the chemistry side of things. But I suppose if you don't learn the theory in your undergraduate, then you're never ever going to learn the theory of when you go to a job doesn't matter if you came in from primary school, or you came in with a PhD, you're going to be taught in industry the exact same, you're standing at the same base level, and you have to build up the skills and every time you change company, he did the exact same thing because everyone has their own work practices that they want to keep. So I think in undergrad, it's very important to work hard, and to make your work show. Okay, so that is in sign of assignments to show that you have been conscientious. And I know that requires a lot of time. And a lot of times people don't want to give. But I think if you're someone who's listening to this podcast, you are someone who is actually interested in putting in the time and the energy and the effort in the hope that you will actually achieve your grades. So study smart and not hard is probably the best tip that I can give you, I suppose hard, not hard, you will realistically have to study hard. But studying smart is such a major tool. And it took me a really long time to know that first and second year, I spent hours at the books I just didn't know how to study did so wrong. And then I kind of eventually figured out how to study in third year. And I suppose just in time before third year counted for final grades, and fourth year too. And it served me so well. And I just want to get people caught up on that they don't have to do to city years of shoot but I was studying before they have to fine tune and learn how to study themselves. So first off, biggest tip ever. And what I thought I would I should have known in first and second year. And I suppose something I took for granted because it's ingrained in how you work pretty mean search is exam papers are your best friend. Every University has previous exam papers available on their library website. And I cannot stress to you enough. That is how you theme your study guide. So whenever you're enabling series, you have 100 exam papers. Remember, when we were in math, we went through two different companies exam papers, because I was one of the first people who did project math. And we had to do the two different companies who've made up their papers. So we'd have as much practice as physically possible. And we went through like 10 different math papers in each company. And it's just something I never translated into my college life. And my best tip would be that you need to get your exam papers, okay, you go through it, and you say that's that area, that's that lectures topic with your highlighter. So let's say three lectures, you get three different coloured highlighters. And you go through the exam paper and you say, that is Professor s, that is Professor y, and that is lecture Zed, okay, and you group them into those topics and he spread them out. Then from there you go about answering your exam questions. And this is the really important part. You do not learn to answer a single question. You see your notes around the questions. So you study the topic, not the question. So let's say you have someone who is teaching you electrodes, you see your, your notes to be that's the electrode section. That's how I know to talk about electrodes, and then you make sure that every exam question that's ever come up has been answered within that text body of your notes. Okay, so that is my biggest tip. I would say use as much colour as possible just in the hope it'll be a memory trigger, coloured paper highlighters pens, change your notes, make sure you make them evolve. As you learn more, remove the stuff you now know and get them shorter and shorter. And I would say start this as early as you can, I will decrease the price. And I'd be studying for eight weeks before exams for about two hours a day. That's not sustainable. That's not possible for everyone. But I was just one of those people that thrived on that who enjoys to study. But by doing this way of making notes, you will cut down your study time compared to what you previously have been doing. Another tip or trick I have with regard to highlighters is my MC q hack. So, MC cues really scary. A really big thing in first year undergraduate study, in particular, or in biology is MC cues. So there's like 100 questions on a page, and you have to pick the right answer for each of them. So the answer is on the page, and that supposedly should make it easier. But I'm not sure if that's completely true, because you do get a lot of self doubt. So my first thing to do would be like get one colour highlighter, go through the whole paper and answer what you know is right, okay, and highlight the answer on your exam paper with that colour. Do not touch that pack sheet, do not touch the answer sheet. Next, go through with another colour highlighter and say, yeah, I'm pretty sure of that one, that one, I think is the answer. And do that and trust your gut. And then the next time go through and say that's my best guess. Okay? Particularly if it's not negative marking, you should answer every single question. And even if it is negative marking, typically, it's worth the risk in the hope that you've like a one in four chance of getting a road even if you're not that. Sure. Of course, that is personal preference, and what you want to do as the pert the student who's doing the exam, but in my experience, it's always been worthwhile to answer every question that you can just in the hope that you get those couple little extra sneaky marks. I would also say trust yourself back yourself, believe in yourself. If you've done the work, you the information is there, you've seen it before. And it's a matter of just fine tuning that information and developing a technique that you know how to bring that information to the front of your brain whenever you're answering that exam. Of course, whenever you're doing 10 or 12 modules, or like six a semester, it's all muddled up, and they're completely, especially if you're doing kind of an interdisciplinary undergraduate study. And so I think it's very important to trust yourself and understand how you can develop your own thinking skills and mechanisms to exam to be examined in the best to the best of your ability. And I suppose another big tip I have in undergrad is Do not forget to have fun. Your undergrad is supposed to be meeting new friends trying new activities. And it's just the start of developing into an adult. And you'll get so much life experience more than you'll ever understand until you've left until you're old like me, and I'm sure that people listening are saying she's not that old. But whenever you're in postgraduate study, you're just like God, I miss my friends in undergrad, or I miss the simple joy of being offered an afternoon and being able to do whatever I want my friends. So please play into that. Do the best you can to just have fun with your friends. But please don't forget to do some work while you're there. I suppose and I want to just touch on a little bit of trying to decide in your course. I know whenever I was in secondary school, I was all over the place. I knew I wanted to pursue science. That was a fact. I was thinking about speech therapy and pharmacy and then I ended up in general science. Even though when I was in fifth year, I did placement in sciences, absolutely insisted, I would never ever, ever do a lab science that I wanted a job that came straight from my undergrad that I wanted to do engineering to become an engineer. But I suppose look where I am today. And I am happier ended up where I am because I think a general science degree like chemistry, biology, physics, maths, they're also just solid foundation to show your work ethic. A Science degree in STEM degree shows the dedication you have to your studies. And that is all a future employer or a future course will want from you. It's really important to note that it's not very clear when you're in school and in particular, that once you get your first degree once you have a level eight or a level seven in some cases, you can use that as a passport to your future career that you did a degree in chemistry and then you actually realised No, I really want to open my own business. You can do business masters, you can transfer courses, you can do chemistry and go and do a conversion course to engineering. It is simply a passport to your career journey. I think it's very important to stress careers are a journey. And we're going to see that so much more now in the rest of the episodes of the podcast, that we are not trying to get to a single destination. That's definitely more of what our parents generation did and people Previous to that. But for us in our generation, I do think it will be lots of stepping stones throughout our career, rather than getting to a final destination. The last thing I want to touch on Before I go through what to expect from the podcast itself, is my biggest challenge. And probably the real motivating factor for this podcast was to show differences within the chemistry community and hence the name periodic table of people how everyone's really different, just like the elements, but we're all linked in the periodic table of people. And so my biggest challenge I've ever faced is the Leaving Cert year of my, my skill and skill. I was diagnosed dyslexic. And it knocked me for six, there's no two ways about it. Like I always knew I found spelling hurt, and my concentration wasn't really there. But at the time I just branded myself like, stupid is the best way to put it, which is horrific. When I think back as back then I felt debilitating and weighed me down. And I didn't want to talk about it, I didn't want to deal with it, I powered on through my Leaving Cert, going into first year in college completely resisted any luck at any help. I like drove on through, I don't mean to second year in college to just take a breath and think about it. And even when I was an undergrad, the only help I would accept was extra time in my exams. And that was purely because we always had exam papers that we get for questions and we give you told answer three, and I wanted the extra 15 minutes per hour and a half, they will try and answer the fourth question. And I suppose know how to reach my postgraduate level of study, and I've truly had a time to step back. And think I can see the perks of my dyslexia and how my dyslexia has actually changed my career trajectory, and my way of thinking and my openness to understanding new things. And I suppose this podcast wouldn't be in existence. If I didn't have my dyslexia and the creative side that that brings with me. It is definitely my superpower, even though it felt like my greatest curse in the in previous years. And I really do look forward to developing my skills as a dyslexic further. And I just wanted to say to any kids out there who are looking to go into college, having been diagnosed with dyslexia, or finding it difficult that it will get better the mainstream education system is not designed for on atypical thinkers, I suppose is the best way to put it. Anyone with a specific learning difficulty. And you can develop your own methods, once you're finished that structured educational system, and I do think the educational system is slowly shifting towards a more inclusive way of learning to allow those students to thrive in a constructed educational system. However, that is a little while off, I suppose. And I just need to say to any dyslexic to calculate this keyboard, dis calcula, or any specific learning difficulties, to really invest in your own time and internally look at what helps because I think a diagnosis, it can it can knock you and I know many people it has knocked. But it is either an explanation, or an excuse. And I really, really, really want to push you into trying to look at it as an explanation and try and harvest the joy and the beauty of having an atypical method of thinking and knowing what you can do to better the world. And in particular, anyone who's struggling, please look on Instagram. And like Twitter, and follow accounts that enhance your specific game difficulty and showed the pros and the number of people who actually have the diagnosis. I think that is so important. That's my little two cents on myself and who I am. And just a little bit on what to expect from rest of the show. I'm going to have interviews with lots of people and I say interview but it means more like a chat with lots of different people with lots of different career goals and career, day to day lives, I suppose. But they all have a backing or a foundation in chemistry. And we're going to speak to undergraduates, lots of post graduates in different areas who've had different ways of going about their postgraduate studies. So people who did certificates and masters an internship years prior to starting a PhD in different areas, people who are doing their PhD in their second language, people who work in the food industry, in environmental science, and pharma, to so many different backgrounds. And I really hope that you can get a great experience and learn as much as you can from this podcast and I hope to see you soon. So thanks for listening, you guys and we'll see you in a couple of weeks. Next time on the pod we're going to be speaking to just recently finished up a final year students who are hoping to graduate in October and these two women are going to discuss their experience Throughout their degree, time, as well as their future plans. So the two very different people are completed the same undergraduate course with very different perspective. One is going to further education and a master's and the other is going to complete a graduate job with the hope of doing a master's in the future. So it will be really interesting to compare these two lovely women's perspective on their degree thus far and their career and what they hope for the future as well as give some really handy tips and tricks to all you guys out there. So tune in next time to get all that info. Please rate review and subscribe to the podcast on all your favourite podcasting platforms including Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your favourite podcasts. We'd like to thank the Royal Society of Chemistry outreach fund for their support and funding for this podcast, as well as the School of chemistry in UCC for their encouragement, involvement, and support. please reach out to us on Instagram, Twitter, or wherever you use your social media platforms and give us any feedback or comments you would like to develop the podcast with us. We're really here to serve you. So we really look forward to that feedback. Apple podcast seems to be the best way to have a podcast out of the moment. So any ratings and reviews on there will be hugely appreciated, guys. Until next time.