A study released earlier this year showed that the U.S. is on its way to a major shortage of science talent; about 1% of American students score above proficiency on national science assessments. Some blame school curricula; others fault kids’ video game habits. But whatever we lack in actual science skills as a nation, we make up for in entertaining TV scientists.
Every generation has had one. Back in the 50’s, it was Mr. Wizard. Then there was Bill Nye the Science Guy. And today there’s Sid the Science Kid.
And maybe it worked. Maybe you watched growing up and bucked the trend, thinking, “Hey, I want to be a scientist one day.” But then life got in the way and you didn’t get around to it. In that case you might empathize with Eri Gentry. After she graduated college...
ERI GENTRY: I found jobs in finance, but I wasn’t sure that was the right thing for me. I knew that I wanted to do good. It sounds so vague and a lot of people say that, but I really felt that way. And as I got older I realized the big problems facing humanity, you needed to find cures through science.
So Gentry decided to take her science education into her own hands. And now she wants to give others a chance to awaken their inner scientist, too. KALW’s Mitzi Mock has the story.
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MITZI MOCK: This is a story about science. So let’s start with an experiment. Close your eyes and picture a science lab. What do you see? Scientists in white lab coats? Microscopes? Sure. And what do you hear?
Got it in your mind? Good. But, chances are you didn’t imagine you in there. You and your friends analyzing DNA. And you probably didn’t picture a garage. But if you’re like biotech entrepreneur Eri Gentry, sometimes you have to get creative.
ERI GENTRY: We didn’t necessarily want to build a lab out of our garage.
But hey, this is Silicon Valley. Google, Apple and HP – they all grew out of garages. Major innovations can come from humble places – even scientific innovations.
GENTRY: When we first moved to Silicon Valley we looked at other incubator spaces, but we couldn’t afford something like that. We’re not making any money. We just wanted to do good.
Alright, let’s back up a minute here. There’s a backstory.
Gentry used to work in finance, but a couple years ago she started thinking she could do more for the world. So she quit her job and moved from New York to Mountain View with one goal: cure cancer. She teamed up with a molecular biologist and founded a bio-tech start-up – in her garage. And since many companies were downsizing that meant...
GENTRY: People like us could get some of their pennies-on-the-dollar equipment at a great value.
Gentry installed thousands of dollars worth of biology equipment. Not just test tubes and beakers, but the good stuff – like a DNA copying machine.
And it was fun. Real fun.
GENTRY: Science was one of those exciting things as a kid when at school you would be able to dig up worms and talk about it. You would be able to grow seeds into plants in little Styrofoam cups. And you would watch life happen.
I grew up in a very poor, rural town. I unfortunately didn’t have a lot of access to science education when I was younger. But as I got older, I looked to myself and I saw that there was a budding scientist who didn’t have the right set of skills.
Gentry went on the hunt for scientist friends – people who could teach her what she never got in college or high school.
GENTRY: While we were building the lab, I tended to hang out at this great place called HackerDojo in Mountain View. You could tell right away that you could ask anyone for help. You could ask stupid questions. I realized there that this culture could be created. And it could be done for science.
Gentry, the born-again scientist, began to envision a science lab that would be open to … well, everyone. So she teamed up with a few scientist friends to create one. She called it BioCurious, a nonprofit that would offer science education along with community lab space. And would-be scientists geeked out.
GENTRY: In the summer of 2010 we did a fundraiser on Kickstarter and we raised $35,000 to help kick us off.
And they got more than financial aid.
GENTRY: We had supporters writing to us from all over the world. From the Philippines. From Ireland. All over the country, as well. And mostly the request was, “Is there going to be a BioCurious next to us soon?” It’s such inspiration.
MOCK: Okay, so great, you want to have these labs. You want to get people who aren’t traditionally in the sciences into science. What about safety?
GENTRY: People who will react severely to the basic idea that you’re creating a non-professionally filled space will say, “You’re letting people off the street do science? You’re kidding me?” And will come up with ridiculous ideas of people cloning other humans or infecting people with Ebola virus, but that’s not it. So I’m really thrilled to announce that we have a lab. It’s 2,400 square feet, and it’s in Sunnyvale.
The doors will open next week thanks to a corps of volunteer scientists offering safety trainings and lab orientations. It’s available to anyone willing to pay nominal monthly dues. The only real limitation is age: Members must be 18 or older. But some people hope that will change.
GENTRY: My god! Some of the most passionate people we’ve ever had at BioCurious meet-ups have been moms who wanted their kids to learn about science. I was amazed. I’ve never met people with so much vigor about science education.
So Eri Gentry has found her inner scientist. And she’s found some friends to share her experience with. She may or may not help cure cancer. But she just may inspire others to seek a cure, too.
In Sunnyvale, I’m Mitzi Mock, for Crosscurrents.
For more information, visit biocurious.org.