FSPA

My name is Jessica Esquivel and I am a 5th yr. graduate student working on Liquid Argon TPCs. Community education and outreach is very important to me and I’ve made it my mission to make science more accessible to minority populations by attending various Fermilab run outreach programs discussing my experience and the difficulties of being “other” in a male dominated field. During these outreach programs, I noticed an emphasis on outreach for Fermilab staff and less on becoming a Fermilab User/Scientist. Although both career paths are commendable, minorities like myself seem to believe that one must be a “genius” to become the latter. Taking a leadership role in FSPA would allow me the opportunity and resources to dispel this myth as well as creating a bridge between Fermilab staff and users to do collaborative outreach.

Secondly, I’d like to run for FSPA due to the strong friendships and support I’ve gained working on collaborative experiments. My first three years of graduate school were really difficult; I felt ostracized due to my diverse background and found it difficult to connect with my peers, which affected my schooling. During my first summer at Fermilab, the community of support I found really helped me to remain focused and motivated to finish my classes. Moving to Fermilab permanently has helped me foster working relationships that have pushed me to grow as a scientist and remain motivated as I finish my PhD. I’d like to continue to help foster a sense of community amongst young scientists so that we can all have a positive impact on each others’ work. As an aside, I’m a great event planner and Halloween is by far my favorite holiday!