Find Your Passion at the USA Science & Engineering Festival

Guest Blog By Melissa Rhoads, biotechnology strategist at Lockheed Martin

Every New Year’s Eve, my siblings and cousins wrote down what we wanted to be when we grew up, and year after year, I dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. It was not until I cleaned manure all day at a volunteer zoo event that I realized I wanted to explore other options.

So how did I find my passion? Well, I love to solve problems, and at its core, engineering is problem-solving. It is a way of thinking. As a result, while I started as a biology major, I graduated college with a degree in electrical engineering. Sometimes I struggled in class, however because I knew what I was going to be able to do one day, I pushed on, just like I knew that to play sports in college I needed to train and practice.

My degree in electrical engineering provided me a wide range of skills from writing software to circuit design, and even harnessing the power of satellite communications. Determining where to apply my love of biology and problem-solving is another story entirely. It has taken a lot of legwork and time, talking to people that work in various fields, conducting my own research and getting engaged in organizations.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival presents an opportunity to do this legwork for you, bringing professional scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians together in one place to talk about their passion. Over the course of a weekend or even one day, you have an incredible opportunity to learn more and figure out what your passion may be.

Which brings another great aspect of the Festival, it readily identifies people and professions you may not have thought of as being in technology. From professional athletes to TV personalities, their success has been possible due to their passion and pursuit of STEM.

So I challenge you to visit the Festival and the website and not only learn but be inspired or even just a little surprised by the opportunities science, technology, engineering and math provides!

Continue the conversation with Melissa on Twitter @melissakrhoads.