Nebraska Women in STEM talked to University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Dr. Surabhi Chandra about her unexpected path to leadership in academia.
In June, University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) professor Dr. Surabhi Chandra was promoted to the position of co-chair of the Department of Biology. Seven months in, she is learning lessons and adapting to the new leadership role. Her role as co-chair is to focus on student and class schedule responsibilities.
The other department co-chair is Dr. Letitia Reichart. Chandra says she and Reichart are learning how to balance the research work they love with their new responsibilities. For Chandra, her research focuses on the advancement of breast cancer with diabetes. While her new role gives her less time to work in the lab with students, it is important to Chandra and Reichart to keep their research going to attract more grants and create more lab opportunities for students.
“I really like working with the students. It’s such a pleasure to see them progress from when they start in my classes to when they graduate and see how much knowledge they have gained through the process.”
She has seen former students return to tell her how much she helped prepare them for their careers and for life in general. “You can help mold someone’s life into what they really want it to be. It’s a big gratification.”
Chandra embraces challenges and where her career has taken her. An academic career was not the path she anticipated earlier in life. She originally wanted to become a medical doctor, but due to testing structures back home in India, she ended up on a PhD path that led her to Tulane University in New Orleans. Even then, her goal was to go into industry after graduating.
“The only reason I came into academics was because my husband got a job at UNK, and it’s through the years that I’ve really started liking it.”
Academia turned out to be a great fit for her and has supported her desire to have strong work life balance. “I think a major problem for women in STEM is balancing work and personal life. You are not so sure if you’re giving the best to either world and you feel guilty about not spending enough time at home or work.”
“The UNK Biology department is understanding when I have to take off for my child being sick or if I have to attend some of their events.”
Her experience embracing a career she didn’t originally plan for taught her an important life lesson she shares with students.
“I tell my students to be flexible. Life does not always take you the way you wanted it to. Just take life, be inclined towards a career, have a career goal, but if it doesn’t work, be flexible like a stem cell. Take the best of what you can and try to enjoy wherever you are.”