Bioinformatics PhD, Motherhood, Amplifying Black Voices ft Melyssa Minto | Tech Girl Thursdays Ep 1
Welcome to the nineteenth episode of my new series about women in tech! In this Thursday's episode, I talk with Melyssa Minto, who is a current PhD candidate at Duke University studying Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. We discuss her journey into the field, her current research and experiences in grad school, how she balances motherhood and her research work, as well as her experience as a woman in tech and black woman in tech specifically. Melyssa talks about the amplification of black women's voices especially in the field of computational biology, below is a link to one of the organizations she mentioned does this. CONNECT WITH MELYSSA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelyssaMinto Black Women in Computational Biology Network: https://twitter.com/blkwomencompbio?s=21 ABOUT TECH GIRL THURSDAYS: I'm releasing a new series where I have been having conversations with women in tech, where everyone has different backgrounds, roles, journeys, experiences, and are at different stages in their career/school. Women belong in tech too, and these are just a few stories of the women working behind the scenes and pursuing different tech roles. Make sure to subscribe for more advice, technology/data science, and women in tech lifestyle related videos! New video every Sunday and new episodes of the Tech Girl Thursdays series will be released on Thursdays :) SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/shalinik?sub_confirmation=1 talk with me on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/shalziekay LAST EPISODE (Tech Girl Thursdays Episode 18 with Haley Stumvoll): https://youtu.be/2cTGVFpLPQA RELATED VIDEOS: Let's Talk about Women In Tech: https://youtu.be/1ityJSu2uVc Applying to Grad School: https://youtu.be/c844VfXh4bQ 10 things we've learned so far in Grad School: https://youtu.be/Am8IK9ZoCk8 My Favorite Apps to be Productive and Organized: https://youtu.be/p6veHwhM80c 5 Tips for Starting Out In Data Science: https://youtu.be/WEWiO96JLUo Things I wish I knew before my Data Science Internship: https://youtu.be/TWUl8zYdqE0 TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 intro 01:04 getting into tech 02:48 what is computational biology and bioinformatics/current research in her lab 08:44 statistical tests and assumptions 11:16 favorite and hardest part about research 13:57 communicating to both biology and CS audiences 17:17 day to day work as a researcher 19:28 project timelines 22:11 important skills for research 23:44 resolving miscommunication 25:18 why pursue a PhD? 26:53 talking about PhDs in general 28:39 transition from undergrad to PhD 30:20 experience as a woman in tech 32:15 what does the industry need to do better for black women in tech? 35:46 black women role models in the field of computational biology 40:26 how can we ensure representative data in research going forward? 42:34 balancing motherhood and researching as PhD candidate 47:51 advice for people interested in tech 49:45 outro #womenintech #computationalbiology #techgirlthursdays
Welcome to the nineteenth episode of my new series about women in tech! In this Thursday's episode, I talk with Melyssa Minto, who is a current PhD candidate at Duke University studying Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. We discuss her journey into the field, her current research and experiences in grad school, how she balances motherhood and her research work, as well as her experience as a woman in tech and black woman in tech specifically. Melyssa talks about the amplification of black women's voices especially in the field of computational biology, below is a link to one of the organizations she mentioned does this. CONNECT WITH MELYSSA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelyssaMinto Black Women in Computational Biology Network: https://twitter.com/blkwomencompbio?s=21 ABOUT TECH GIRL THURSDAYS: I'm releasing a new series where I have been having conversations with women in tech, where everyone has different backgrounds, roles, journeys, experiences, and are at different stages in their career/school. Women belong in tech too, and these are just a few stories of the women working behind the scenes and pursuing different tech roles. Make sure to subscribe for more advice, technology/data science, and women in tech lifestyle related videos! New video every Sunday and new episodes of the Tech Girl Thursdays series will be released on Thursdays :) SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/shalinik?sub_confirmation=1 talk with me on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/shalziekay LAST EPISODE (Tech Girl Thursdays Episode 18 with Haley Stumvoll): https://youtu.be/2cTGVFpLPQA RELATED VIDEOS: Let's Talk about Women In Tech: https://youtu.be/1ityJSu2uVc Applying to Grad School: https://youtu.be/c844VfXh4bQ 10 things we've learned so far in Grad School: https://youtu.be/Am8IK9ZoCk8 My Favorite Apps to be Productive and Organized: https://youtu.be/p6veHwhM80c 5 Tips for Starting Out In Data Science: https://youtu.be/WEWiO96JLUo Things I wish I knew before my Data Science Internship: https://youtu.be/TWUl8zYdqE0 TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 intro 01:04 getting into tech 02:48 what is computational biology and bioinformatics/current research in her lab 08:44 statistical tests and assumptions 11:16 favorite and hardest part about research 13:57 communicating to both biology and CS audiences 17:17 day to day work as a researcher 19:28 project timelines 22:11 important skills for research 23:44 resolving miscommunication 25:18 why pursue a PhD? 26:53 talking about PhDs in general 28:39 transition from undergrad to PhD 30:20 experience as a woman in tech 32:15 what does the industry need to do better for black women in tech? 35:46 black women role models in the field of computational biology 40:26 how can we ensure representative data in research going forward? 42:34 balancing motherhood and researching as PhD candidate 47:51 advice for people interested in tech 49:45 outro #womenintech #computationalbiology #techgirlthursdays