Allison Boley and the Journey into the Atomic World

Hello All!! I would like to introduce you to Allison Boley. She works to “see” into the atomic world. Let's learn about her below:

Allison Boley (Source: Allison Boley)

​JACQUE: What is your name?
ALLISON: Allison Boley

JACQUE: ​Where do you currently live?
ALLSION: Mesa, AZ

JACQUE: Where are you working now?
ALLISON: I teach at Glendale Community College, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, and Benedictine University Mesa. I also teach monthly pre-math and pre-science classes I created for 0-5-year-olds at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. I am also self-employed with Physics for Good.

JACQUE: What is the official title of what you do?
ALLISON: Graduate student, adjunct instructor, and educational YouTuber

JACQUE:  What is the layperson description of what you do?
ALLISON: At school, I work with transmission electron microscopes. Traditional light microscopes have a limit on how small the spacings between two objects can be and still be resolved. In other words, there are things that are so tiny, we can’t make them out with a light microscope no matter how powerful it is. That limit is based on the wavelength of visible light waves. So to “see” into the atomic world, we need to image with waves that have smaller wavelengths. High energy electrons qualify, and thus we have the electron microscope.
But electrons are different than light, and these differences lead to an interesting work environment. Electromagnetic fields can change the path of an electron, and since light is an oscillating electromagnetic field, we have to turn the lights off in the room when we’re using the transmission electron microscope. We also have to be quiet when we’re taking an image, and the walls are soundproof because sound vibrations can interfere as well. “What about everyone else in the room?” you might ask. “Wouldn’t it bother them to have to be quiet and have to turn the lights off?” Well, we don’t really have to worry about that. Transmission electron microscopes are very large, and each one gets its own room.
In my particular work, I look at possible future solar cell materials in the microscope. Solar cells make up the solar panels on your roof. Right now, most commercially available solar cells are made of silicon. But there are a lot of innovative ways we can combine different materials to try to make solar panels more efficient. Looking at these combinations at the atomic scale can help guide this research.

JACQUE: What are you currently working on?
ALLISON: I’m currently finishing my dissertation, and starting a YouTube channel called Physics for Good. In each episode, I explain a physics concept, then relate that concept to a charity. That charity then receives 50% of the ad revenue from their episode. I also have a thriller in the works about a physicist who finds himself unwillingly forced into the world of espionage.

JACQUE: Can you give us a broad picture of how your time is spent at work?
ALLISON: In terms of research, I spend time in the lab preparing samples and looking at them in the microscope, read journal articles, analyze my images and send the results to my advisor and collaborators, study textbooks, and write up results and evaluate collaborators’ manuscripts.

JACQUE: Can you give us a basic rundown of how a project is conducted? (From the idea to the end)
ALLISON: As a student, a project begins when my advisor tells me the background and gives me the samples. I prepare them, image them, and analyze the images. We discuss — via email, phone, or in person — the results with our collaborators. We may get new samples, and the process repeats. Eventually, a paper or conference abstract is produced. I know this beginning-to-end process would look differently for someone in a different position.

JACQUE: What kind of gear do you use to do your job?
ALLISON: Besides the microscopes themselves and their attachments, I use equipment to help prepare samples to study in the microscope (tweezers and vacuum tweezers are the instruments people can best relate to), and to load the sample into the microscope. I use software to analyze images.

JACQUE: Do you have a favorite tool that works as a lucky charm? (favorite book, shovel, piece of clothing, etc.)
ALLISON: Not a lucky charm so much, but I constantly listen to “Time Decides” by Trent Dabbs to help me feel calm and centered and less stressed.

JACQUE: What is your favorite part of your job?
​ALLISON: Helping others gain confidence and seeing the world of physics open up them.

JACQUE: What is your least favorite part of your job?
ALLISON: Grading labs

JACQUE: What is your motivation?
ALLISON: It makes me sad, and angry if I’m being honest, when I see science being twisted or dismissed or made fun of. I feel especially frustrated because I know the consequences range from worsened climate change to lost economic opportunities. If I can cause a cultural shift, even if just in my tiny corner of the world, I will feel like I’ve played my role. Even seeing the cultural shift in my classroom from the beginning of the semester to the end makes me feel accomplished.

JACQUE: What is your highest point so far?
ALLISON: My highest point was as an undergraduate when I was looking at a particular material in the microscope with my advisor, and he said we were probably the first people to be seeing this material in a transmission electron microscope. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of scientific discovery.

Source: Allison Boley

JACQUE: Is there a single reason that you are passionate about your job? Or is it several things?
ALLISON: I love making physics accessible to others. Watching students transition from fear of physics to recognizing the beauty of physics keeps me going.
​
JACQUE: Are communications a big part of your job?
ALLISON: It’s arguably the primary part of my job.

JACQUE: ​What was the most unusual location you have found yourself in?
ALLISON: I’ve gotten to attend conferences in a lot of fun cities I hadn’t visited before, and now that I’ve started the YouTube channel, I’ve gotten to see interesting places where charities work. But in both fields of work, I wouldn’t call any of the locations unusual.

JACQUE: Tell us about your educational path so far.
ALLISON: My educational/career path has been long and winding. Minus a brief period in 6th grade when I wanted to be a prosecutor after our class held a mock trial, my dream growing up was to be a physician who wrote mystery/thriller/suspense novels. After graduating high school, I fulfilled my premed requirements while earning a degree in Justice Studies at Arizona State University. Over this time, I also became more interested and educated in writing for television dramas. So I abandoned the idea of medical school, and after I got my degree, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer for the small screen.
I should pause here and note that during my first undergraduate experience, I also took a quantum chemistry class, and it rocked my world. Quantum chemistry (or more broadly, quantum mechanics), if I were to oversimplify, is basically the math of the atom, and to study quantum chemistry requires engaging your imagination. Math and imagination are two of my favorite things. I wasn’t sure how the quantum world would fit into my new life as a television writer, but I knew someone I had to continue to study it.
Back to LA. As luck would have it, I moved just in time for a writers’ strike and the recession. Despite having two jobs, one of which was in the entertainment industry, I ran out of money and moved back home to Arizona after about two years.
But I knew just what to do. I wanted to study quantum mechanics. Originally, I thought I would go to ASU to finish up the qualifications to get into grad school near Los Angeles and try to break back into Hollywood while earning a graduate degree in physical chemistry. But I took a physics class for fun, and it wasn’t too long before I decided to get another BS in physics. Physics was a challenge to me, and I knew if I studied physics, I’d never be bored.
I saw that the professor who taught that first class when I came back used quantum mechanics in his research in transmission electron microscopy of semiconductors, and I asked if there were opportunities for an undergraduate. I’ve been part of that research group ever since, staying for grad school. Now I’m about to finish my PhD.
While the research is interesting, my skills and passions are more suited to education. I’m constantly striving to find creative ways to connect people to physics. I teach at two community colleges and a university, created and teach monthly pre-math and pre-science classes for children ages 0-5 at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, made an app for kids to learn math while watching a baseball game, and am starting a YouTube channel called Physics for Good which relates physics to charities. And once I graduate, I know I need to reconnect with my fiction.

Allison Boley characterizing possible future solar cell materials in the transmission electron microscope. Here she is in sample prep. (Source: Allison Boley)

JACQUE: A question from 11-year-old Sarah- Do you get paid for being a scientist? In other words, how do you get paid for what you do? (If you are a student and working, tell us about that)
ALLISON: Before I started teaching full time, I was paid as a research assistant in grad school. The grants that funded my research also included enough for a stipend for me. They also paid my tuition.

JACQUE: How important is getting grant money?
ALLISON: Extremely

JACQUE: Can you tell us about a situation, whether in school or at work, that you could have handled better after thinking about it? What would you have done differently?
ALLISON: I can think of a lot of times I should have spoken up for myself.

JACQUE: Were there times you wanted to give up? How did you push through?
ALLISON: There have been multiple extended times where I’ve wanted to give up every day. I have pushed through by praying, exercising, having fun with my colleagues, reconnecting with what’s beautiful about physics, getting out of the lab and doing something that makes me feel happy or productive, listening to music, taking a nap, hanging out with friends and family, and confiding in one or two people who understand me and listen.

JACQUE: Who is someone you admire in your field? Why?
ALLISON: The people I most admire are students — both the students that I teach and my fellow graduate students. They work hard and overcome more challenges than people realize. These challenges make them stronger and more empathic. They all inspire me and give me strength 

JACQUE: ​Where did you grow up?
ALLISON: Phoenix, AZ

JACQUE: Who were your biggest supporters?
ALLISON: I’m lucky that my family, friends, and wider community are all very supportive.

JACQUE: What is your cultural background?
ALLISON: I’m a Caucasian American. Do we have culture?

JACQUE: Which socioeconomic group did you grow up in?
ALLISON: Middle class

JACQUE: Are you the first in your family to become a scientist?
ALLISON: In my immediate family, yes. My grandfather got a master’s degree in engineering but was a teacher. My cousin got her PhD a few years before me, and she studies animal science at Cornell.

JACQUE: Did you see real life scientists when you were a kid?
ALLISON: No

JACQUE: Were many people in your family educated with college degrees?
ALLISON: Everyone in my immediate family has a college degree (or is pursuing one). Education is very important on my mom’s side of my extended family. Even my maternal great grandmother went to college 100 years ago.

JACQUE: Did you have other friends or peers to talk to about science?
ALLISON: Growing up, I was interested in math, not so much science. I didn’t have any person who related to math the same way I did, but I considered math a prayer and felt connection in that way.

JACQUE: Did you have a teacher in middle or high school that saw something extra in you?
ALLISON: I had top notch elementary school teachers who poured into all of us students as individuals. I think they saw what was extra in each of us.

JACQUE: Who were the least supportive people in your life? How did they act?
ALLISON: No one was intentionally unsupportive. Everyone tried their best. What in practice was unsupportive was when I got well-intentioned but ignorant advice. I understand it’s easy not to realize how little you know about someone else’s situation unless you’ve been through it, but it is frustrating and harmful to receive that kind of uninformed input.

JACQUE: How did you handle situations when people underestimated you?
ALLISON: When people have misunderstood me in any way, including underestimating me, it has been a chance to dig down into myself and root out why I care about their opinion. It’s an opportunity to address weaknesses in myself and grow, so that my opinion of myself is enough, regardless of what others think. It’s also a chance to grow in speaking up for myself. Ultimately, I can’t help if someone underestimates me. I can only help my own reaction — to discern the situation and determine what response is necessary, if any. And whatever action I undertake, I try to do it from a place of being secure in myself because I know who I am. I don’t mean to say I’ve gotten there yet, but that’s the goal and I’m getting closer.

JACQUE: What are the parts about being a scientist that you didn’t expect?
ALLISON: I didn’t expect equipment to malfunction so often. I expected all of my failure to be failure I can learn from, but in my field it’s hard to learn from equipment failure.

JACQUE: What do you find MOST frustrating about your work?
ALLISON: Equipment failure. It’s extremely frustrating to be held up in my work because of external circumstances I can’t control.

JACQUE: What was your lowest point?
ALLISON: My lowest point was when I decided to drop out of grad school. For years, I had felt inadequate, and I finally reached the point where I acknowledged I didn’t think I was good enough to graduate. I had kept it inside so long, a lot of shame had built up. But when I finally started telling my friends in grad school why I decided to drop out, I found out they shared most of my feelings. The main difference was they saw the feelings and experience of being overwhelmed as normal, and I had thought I should be feeling 100% on top of everything. Once I changed my perspective, I’ve still had to overcome insecurities every day, but I stick with it, and I’m now about to get my PhD.

JACQUE: Can you give advice on what NOT to do when handling the stress of college and the job?
ALLISON: Don’t keep it inside, but be very careful who you trust to share it with. Take concrete steps to be as physically and emotionally healthy as you can be under the circumstances. That will look different for everyone, but get to know yourself and do what works for you.

JACQUE: Can you give us an example of a time that you were treated in a sexist way in your job?
ALLISON: I’m very lucky that my advisors are very aware of many specific issues of women in science and go out of their way to create a good working environment for women. I have not been treated in a sexist way at school or at the places I teach.
 I definitely encounter sexism in the general public — if I’m with strangers, it’s usually assumed I don’t know anything about anything technical. Fortunately, I’m not in technical conversations with strangers all that often, but when I am, I just contribute to the conversation in such a way that it’s clear I know more than they do. I don’t do it in a mean way, but I also don’t tolerate mansplaining.

JACQUE: Can you give us an example of a time that you were pleasantly surprised that sexism did not come into play?
ALLISON: Because I don’t encounter sexism all that much, I don’t expect it. So there’s never been a situation where the lack of sexism surprises me.

JACQUE: Were you influenced by the character Dana Scully from X-Files or another woman scientist character? If so, can you tell us how important that representation was to you?
ALLISON: Growing up, I found strength from strong women in all fields, fictional and nonfictional. Certainly the stories of Marie Curie influenced me, but no more so than Elizabeth Blackwell or Abigail Adams or Anne Shirley or Sidney Bristow or Jessica Fletcher.

JACQUE: Is there a part of your identity, whether LGBT, a person of color, a religious or cultural minority, or differently-abled, that influenced a facet of your experience as you became a scientist?
ALLISON: As a Christian, I grew up with evangelical culture telling me to fight science because it was contrary to God. When I actually learned science, I realized how preposterous it is to think that God and science can’t coexist. That was very easy to let go of, but conversations with those in my community who still disbelieve science is an interesting and often frustrating facet of my experience.

JACQUE: What is your social life like?
ALLISON: I have made a point to be emotionally healthy, which means spending time with friends. But school does keep me from spending as much time with them as I’d like.

JACQUE: What is your home life like?
ALLISON: I live alone by choice. I’m very much an introvert and I like coming home to quiet and being able to go to bed whenever I want.

JACQUE: Do you have any pets?
ALLISON: No. I might otherwise, but I’m allergic.

JACQUE: What kind of hobbies do you have?
ALLISON: My favorite pastime is playing drums. I played for my church for 15 years, and now I put on an annual benefit concert called Drums for Toilets to raise money to build latrines in Africa. I also volunteer with the Arizona Sustainability Alliance.

JACQUE: If money were no issue, what project would u do?
ALLISON: I would do a little of everything — spend a little time using my favorite microscope, teach one class, do some public outreach, write novels, and play drums.

JACQUE: Please tell us about the thing you are most proud of accomplishing so far.
ALLISON: I am most proud of making physics accessible to others.

JACQUE: Do you have a large, overall goal for your lifetime of work?
ALLISON: I want to better the public’s attitude towards physics and raise the level of general physics knowledge.

JACQUE: What worries you? Keeps you up at night?
ALLISON: Brain drain and climate change, and the willing ignorance that allows them.

JACQUE: What advice would you give to a girl coming into a STEM field?
ALLISON: Learn yourself very well. Learn what you need to be healthy. Learn your strengths and weaknesses. Learn what triggers your anger, insecurities, defensiveness, and frustration. Learn how to stand up for yourself and learn how to accept legitimate criticism.

JACQUE: Find what’s beautiful to you about the field you study and hold onto that no matter what.
ALLISON: Develop the natural joy you already have for tackling new and interesting challenges. Develop creative problem solving skills. Develop perseverance. Develop self-discipline. Develop self-care.
Go where your curiosity takes you, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t go all the way.

JACQUE: What advice would you give to parents like me to help prepare their child to go into the STEM field?
ALLISON: Rediscover the fullness of the curiosity you had as child before school and work and society and bills tried to beat it out of you. Model that curiosity. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know, but that’s a good question. Let’s look it up.”
From the time they’re babies, talk to them and point out what’s going on around them. Even though they’re little, don’t be afraid to use big words and accurate mathematical or scientific terminology. Listen to them and watch what captures their curiosity and encourage that. Give them time for free play.
Raise well-behaved children, so it will be easier for them to learn when they get into a classroom.
As they get older and start experiencing academic stress, teach them how to manage that stress (that means you have to be able to successfully manage your own stress). Carve out time for them to think and continue enjoying free play and observe the world and use their imaginations. Listen to them talk about what excites them. Be more focused on whether they’re developing the tools of learning (staying engaged, practicing and reviewing, persevering, etc) than whether they’re bringing home all A’s. If they need extra help, make sure they learn to ask for it instead of struggling in silence. If they dig themselves into an academic hole, teach them how to responsibly dig themselves out.
Search out special opportunities and experiences for them in the field they’re interested in, but be realistic about the pace at which they can take in these experiences. As time goes by, teach them to start taking over searching out these opportunities for themselves.
Once they get into studying their chosen field as an adult, remember you have no expertise in this area (unless you do), and do far more listening than advising. Respect that this is their experience, not yours.

JACQUE: Do you have a website we can check out?
ALLISON: My website is allisonboley.com

JACQUE: If a future scientist wanted to contact you, how could they do that?
ALLISON: Feel free to contact me on Twitter @allisonboley, or email me at Allison.Boley@gccaz.edu

I would love to thank Allison Boley for being interviewed on this blog. She is a perfect example of the unique paths a person can take to get to being a FANTASTIC WOMAN IN SCIENCE!