Andrea Diaz was fresh out of her bachelor’s degree, designing ways to reduce consumer products’ environmental impact for a global company dedicated to sustainability.
In many ways, it was a dream job for a young scientist committed to environmental issues. But she realized the cutting-edge innovations she needed were locked in academic circles.
“Industry hires a bunch of individuals with bachelor's degrees and asks them to solve the world's sustainability challenges,” she said. “When I came back to academia, I very much came back seeing this need to bridge a gap between academia and industry in order to make real, true change.”
She currently builds change by working on more recyclable forms of common waste plastic as a PhD candidate in the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering’s Patel Group.
“Andrea is an innovative researcher with a true dedication to environmental issues, especially at the interface of sustainable materials and energy,” said Principal Investigator Shrayesh Patel. “Her insights and her drive have been integral to our research along with fostering a positive lab safety culture.”
Diaz credits her successes in part to three women - teachers and mentors who provided the young scientist new opportunities. At PME, she has built programs that reach back to her community, helping provide similar opportunities to others.
Remedial to gifted
Growing up in the low-income Chicago suburb of Melrose Park, Diaz spoke only Spanish at home. Her school saw the English language gap as a learning gap, placing her in remedial classes.
This was until her fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Daley realized Diaz’s potential, placing her in the accelerated after-school program.
“We did the egg drop. We made slime and Oobleck. I got to have all those enriching science activities, which was not normal for our school district or a lot of low socioeconomic school districts,” Diaz said. “That's when I fell in love with science.”
Her middle school didn’t offer any equivalent accelerated program until the second woman on Diaz’s list of mentors – her seventh-grade science teacher Mrs. Trotta – created one, recruiting Diaz as the first student.
“She actually pulled me aside and said, ‘I have this plan, what do you think?’” Diaz said. “I told her I’d love to, and she said, ‘You bring that enthusiasm, we’ll get more girls.’ It became this community of Hispanic women.”
West Leyden High School science teacher Ms. Zygas, the third woman who changed Diaz’s life, turned the love of science toward chemistry. She let Diaz borrow the lab after school and ensure she had the right chemicals to prepare for Science Olympiad events or experiments of her own devising.
“She made sure we had the right resources,” Diaz said of the now-retired educator. “It wasn’t just me. She did that for anyone who wanted to ask.”
Back to school
At PME, Diaz became involved in a range of Educational Outreach programs, including one she designed and spearheaded to build ties to local high schools, starting with West Leyden
Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck was impressed by the proposal, but not surprised. It fit what she had come to expect from the committed student.
“Andrea has a holistic approach to outreach and mentoring – not only does she create experiences and opportunities that support students’ exploration of science and engineering content, she also designs programs that help student immerse themselves into STEM communities of practice, uncover the hidden curriculum, and expand the scope of what they think possible for themselves,” Rico-Beck said.
Diaz said it all started with Mrs. Daley in the fourth grade.
“The reality was that it changed my entire life trajectory and the way that individuals interfaced with me because they saw high potential now,” she said. “And so I was fed opportunity after opportunity after opportunity.”
Diaz’s commitment to offering those opportunities to others includes the After School Matters STEM Lab Internship program, where she mentors science-minded teens including Chicago Public Schools student Alexandra Raez.
“She had overcome the challenges I was experiencing today and had overcome situations I feared would happen to me,” Raez said. “It gives me more confidence to know that someone from a similar background can achieve all these amazing things in life and contribute significantly to society.”