Photonic - Desiré Whitmore

Dr. Desiré Whitmore - Physicist; Senior Physics Educator at the Exploratorium

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Her Research: My science and research (at the University of California, Irvine and UC Berkeley) was studying how fast molecules dance or move, and how fast electrons move in metals and semiconductors. The point of studying dancing molecules was to take actual, real-time, movies of molecules vibrating, so that we could better understand how molecules interact with each other when they are reacting. The point of studying the speed of electrons was so that we could better understand what limitations there are in the really fast electronics that we are creating, like cell phone processors and other microchips. I also studied how quantum dots--tiny tiny man-made atoms--reacted to light, to understand how to make optical displays more efficient. The big picture of all of my research was to use light and LASERs in really fast pulses (attosecond pulses - one billionth of one billionth of a second) to try to better understand how tiny things behave when they are isolated from other tiny things.

A great video in the lab showing off some of the lasers she built when Desiré was a graduate student.

Her Scientific Superpowers: I build LASERs that are so fast that I can slow time down for atoms and molecules, making them freeze so that I can take snapshots of them while they move. I'm kind of like an atomic or molecular movie-maker. (The attosecond laser won the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics read here or watch a video)

Her Current Work: I am now a physicist at the Exploratorium (an AMAZING science center in San Francisco) in a department that is dedicated to teaching middle and high school science teachers. We work with science teachers and help them to think about how they can teach their classes using inquiry to get their students to really ask the good questions that are allowing them to learn science in the way that they learn best. We have a focus on equity in the classroom, which means that everyone gets what they need to end up in the same place, instead of equality, which means that everyone gets the same thing, no matter what their needs are. 

We really work hard at the Exploratorium to help teachers do hands-on science in their classrooms. 

Teachers can’t have large museum exhibits in the classroom and they can’t necessarily bring their students to the museum. Part of my work is to create miniature versions of our museum exhibits that are affordable, because many teachers don't have a lot of money in their districts. It’s the most amazing job that  I've ever had and it really incorporates all of my skills. 

I’ve taken many different roads in my career which has led me to have a diverse set of skills. I studied marine biology for a minute and I have a degree in chemical engineering. I was a chemical physicist and now I'm a teacher. Having these different components to make up who I am has made me realize that I'm actually very creative and I think in ways that are different from others. 

That Scientific Spark: I'm not sure if there was a particular event, but I do remember that when I was really young (like 3-5), I was obsessed with bubbles! I would watch them float away, super high in the sky, until I couldn't see them any more. I always wondered why they change shape when they float, why they change colors, and why they were rainbow-colored. I also was VERY curious as a kid and would always disassemble electronics and other devices around the house, just to figure out how they worked. Then I would put them back together and make sure that they worked again.

Her Heroes: My great grandmother, Claudia Pairs -  my father’s grandmother. She was also a teacher. She taught me everything I know from childhood and she always instilled in me that I would go to college. A lot of my determination and appreciation for education comes from her. I also look up to Dr. Kensha Clark (a chemistry professor), Dr. Regina Barber (a science podcast journalist), Dr. Micia Mosely (a teacher) and Dr. Julie Yu (a museum scientist)

Her Top Tip: The first, is to stay curious about everything that’s around you, try to understand it and when you do that, you’re going to stay interested in it. You’ll find a path forward because you’ll always be looking for something new to learn. The second, is don’t be afraid to fail, that’s how we learn. Learning to accept your failure, embrace it and take lessons from it are all really important. 

What Characteristics Do You Need to Succeed (in order): Curiosity, communication, creativity and hard work. When you have curiosity and you’re able to communicate that with other people what you’re trying to learn, you can then use creativity to bring these two together and you put your hard work into it. If you’re curious about something, you are going to be passionate about it and the hard work kind of comes easy. Even though this is all hard work, the other pieces fall into place if you prioritize the first three characteristics. 

What Else Do You Need: Morality - having an understanding that the work that we do has an impact on other people, animals and the planet. Community is also what you need. I think it’s very hard to do science alone in a bubble. When you're able to do it with others, you get to have more perspective and you're able to understand different viewpoints and different impacts that your work is going to have. I think community and empathy for others is really important. 

Scientists Have to Be Super Smart, Right? I failed geometry in 9th grade, and almost failed trigonometry in 11th grade. I was not good at figuring out proofs and thinking in the way that my teachers asked me to. It wasn't until years later, in college, that I started tutoring high school students in geometry and trigonometry that I finally understood what geometry and trigonometry were all about. I also failed a course in college--fluid dynamics. It's not just that the material was hard, but I also wasn't showing up to all of my classes. That made it even harder for me to catch up on my understanding of the material.

Why is Diversity in Science Important? I think the reason why diversity is important in science is because we all live our lives in our individual way and we all have things that we’ve learned growing up. We each see the world in a very narrow and specific way and each of us will look at a problem and see it very differently. We will either have different answers or will have similar answers but arrive at the answer in different ways. If we are working together, we can understand each other's perspectives a little bit. Now our narrow view of the world actually gets a little bit wider. That doesn't happen unless we have people from different backgrounds, people from different cultures, people with different abilities, people with different ways of being. Unless we have all of those different people working together, we're not going to be able to solve problems in the most creative and useful ways. 

Unless we’re considering everyone in as many different perspectives as we can get, then we’re limiting ourselves, and we’re not able to solve the problem for everyone. Instead of just thinking about problems, we should be thinking about possibilities. In order to do that work, we have to have diversity. We need this huge plethora of people of different kinds and different backgrounds working together because otherwise who's going to call out your blind spots and help you to grow as a human? 

Her Hobbies: I enjoy playing and listening to music and reading books. I love to go bowling, roller skating, and play video games (mostly Nintendo).

Learn more about and from Desiré:  

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