Dr. Caroline Addington, Biomedical Engineer

I am working to develop better methods for transplanting neural stem cells after a brain injury. My field is called "tissue engineering" and/or "regenerative medicine."

What first got you interested in science and engineering?

The very first time I got excited about science was in kindergarten. Our kindergarten science teacher, Mrs. Sykes, let us play with rabbits and eat flowers - so it was obviously everyone's favorite class. I first got excited about engineering when I joined the FIRST robotics team in high school. I wanted to be a mechanical engineer because I enjoyed robotics so much, but once I learned about biomedical engineering, I was hooked. I get to solve problems that will hopefully help a ton of people one day, so it's easier to stay motivated even when the problems are hard to solve.

Do you have any role models you've looked up to during your career?

Several! Even though my mom isn't in science, I look up to her a lot because she always accepts a challenge :) She's the person who taught me that the only way to get good at something is to jump in and try it.

I'm very lucky to have been mentored by a couple women in science. The first was my high school math and robotics teacher, Mrs. Cindy Kay, who encouraged me to get involved in engineering projects and to think critically about solving problems. The second is my current Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Sarah Stabenfeldt, who has taught me SO much about how to conduct research, how to be a good mentor to the next generation of scientists, how to communicate science to a variety of audiences, and how to balance work and play.

What's your favorite thing about working in science?

Designing experiments!! I love getting to come up with new questions that no one has ever asked before and figure out a way to get the answer! Human brains have just been doing their thing for ages; so whenever I find new data about how a cell behaves or how the brain reacts to something, it's like uncovering a piece of history that no one has seen yet. And I got to figure out how to see it!