Meet Chissa Rivaldi | Evolutionary and Computational Biology

Chissa is a 35 year old PhD Candidate at the University of Notre Dame. She is currently studying Evolutionary and Computational Biology.

We recently interviewed Chissa, and want to share with you a little about her journey!

Future occupation: Currently undecided, but I'm exploring jobs where I get to teach computational analyses to researchers and students.

Q: What were your interests as a child:

A: I was raised as an only child, so I had a lot of time to explore the woods near our house. I always loved collecting insects and I had a binder of animals that occupied a lot of my time!

Q: How did you get interested in your field:

A: When I started studying biology in college, one thing I loved about it is that there was always a deeper answer to the question in front of me. Digging down to find more meaning was (and still is) a somewhat addictive part of my field. Sometimes it's even a problem as I can get lost in the details and need to back up and remember why I'm looking through a particular dataset, or pursuing a specific question.

My current work is extremely multidisciplinary, and I used what I learned in a lot of my past research projects to develop it. These things include studying the ways insect vectors move across large areas in response to the environment and how the bacteria and parasites in their guts interact with each other. I now study monkeys, which seems like a big jump, but I use a lot of the same methods. The monkeys we study in my lab move through their environment at will, and our major questions concern the bacteria and parasites living in their gut. When it comes down to the analysis, there's more in common than you might think!

Q: What was family and friends’ reaction to your choice:

A: I think mostly perplexed? I wasn't really interested in science classes when I was in middle or high school, and it wasn't until I got to college that I started appreciating research. One of the greatest lessons I learned was that doing research is MUCH different than studying for weeks for an exam, and I very much prefer the research aspect of science.

I was working in bars and restaurants for most of my undergraduate and master's work, and it was always funny when my bar patrons found out I was a researcher as they didn't expect that. This created a lot of opportunities for me to learn how to explain my work to people who weren't in a lab all day (but who were very interested in science!), which is an extremely valuable skill that traditional science training tends to ignore.

Q: What was your experience pursuing this field?

A: I had no idea how to begin doing research. There was a huge undergraduate research club at my undergraduate institution, but every time I went I was so intimidated because it seemed like the people there already had so much experience, and I eventually stopped going. There was also the inconvenience of having to work to support myself, which took me out of the running for a lot of labs which required being on campus after-hours or doing volunteer work.

I ended up joining the lab of a professor who was a regular at my bar, which, in retrospect, was a really lucky break. I've learned by talking to other scientists though that there really isn't a 'normal' way to get into research, and everyone has an interesting story as to how they began their careers.

Q: Favorite thing about working in your field:

A: I love starting new projects. It's the same feeling as when you get a new blank notebook - it feels like the possibilities are endless! I also really enjoy sharing my work, whether that's at an academic conference or at a public event where I get to share a lot of fun stories and pictures of the questions I've been able to answer.

Q: Words of advice for young girls interested in STEM:

A: Think outside of traditional academic careers! STEM fields extend way beyond academia, although quite a lot of research careers begin there. I won't pretend that working in academic research is all sunshine all the time - there are often unreasonable demands made of junior scientists. The good news is that I think the culture is changing, albeit slowly. If you're planning on going into research, it will likely be in a university lab, and the best advice I can offer there is that you cannot necessarily separate the science from the people who are doing it. Sometimes acknowledging this means turning down opportunities to work in labs that seem great but might have a toxic and unhealthy culture. Feeling valued by the people who act as your mentors and colleagues is essential and sacrificing that is never worth it - no matter the setting.