Jennifer Sinclair Curtis | "God's Faithfulness in an Unlikely STEM Journey" | Math3ma Symposium 2024
00:00:00.000 | Thank you for that introduction and I also want to specifically thank Tai-Danae for inviting
00:00:16.200 | me and the opportunity to speak to all of you.
00:00:20.400 | It's truly an honor.
00:00:22.880 | So my talk today is going to be a little bit different than maybe than some of the others
00:00:29.240 | you've heard thus far at this symposium in that I am going to share more of a personal
00:00:34.560 | testimony.
00:00:36.520 | When I was asked to speak at this symposium on a topic of my choosing, I felt compelled
00:00:42.120 | to share a testimony relating to my own career in STEM, which for me specifically has been
00:00:49.160 | in the field of chemical engineering.
00:00:52.240 | I believe I felt compelled to share this testimony for a couple of reasons.
00:00:57.160 | First I am nearing the end of my work career, I'm 63 now.
00:01:02.360 | My research activities are winding down, I have a few PhD students left who I'm advising
00:01:09.400 | in my own research group and the most junior one will graduate in about three years.
00:01:15.440 | So I've been doing a lot of reflection on my life more generally and on my STEM career
00:01:21.960 | journey which has certainly been a significant part of my life.
00:01:26.360 | I've been reflecting on what I did right, what I did wrong, what went well, what I would
00:01:32.040 | have changed.
00:01:35.200 | And as I reflect on my career, the dominant theme in these reflections has been how was
00:01:40.800 | such a career journey even possible?
00:01:45.080 | Definitely not of my own doing.
00:01:47.620 | My personal circumstances or even in some cases my own abilities would have never resulted
00:01:54.480 | in such a career.
00:01:56.700 | That is the reason why I've entitled the talk "God's Faithfulness in an Unlikely STEM Journey"
00:02:03.840 | because this unlikely journey was clearly God ordained.
00:02:07.920 | For me, my path has been a miracle.
00:02:11.160 | Not a miracle in that natural laws were violated, but a miracle in the sense that reflecting
00:02:17.320 | on the path brings amazement and wonder to me and more holistically a confirmation of
00:02:23.760 | the Lord's sovereignty and that the Lord's purposes will be accomplished for each of
00:02:29.440 | us who are servants of our risen Lord.
00:02:32.880 | As Ephesians 2.10 says, "For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good
00:02:38.520 | works which God prepared in advance for us to do."
00:02:44.060 | So I share my story to encourage you in your own career journey, confident that God's plan
00:02:49.080 | for you is always the best, for your good and his glory, even during periods of turmoil
00:02:55.240 | and doubt, and to remain faithful witness to him and his truth in whatever job or career
00:03:00.760 | he has placed you.
00:03:03.520 | So to start off with, even my STEM career journey began in an unlikely way.
00:03:09.440 | A high school guidance counselor advised me to study chemical engineering based on my
00:03:14.360 | interest in math and chemistry.
00:03:16.960 | I knew very little about the field and my parents didn't either.
00:03:20.640 | My parents were not STEM people.
00:03:22.660 | My father was an accountant and my mother did not go to college, so none of us had much
00:03:27.860 | idea about what chemical engineering entailed.
00:03:31.560 | Now in retrospect, I'm also pretty surprised that the counselor gave me such career advice
00:03:37.160 | back in 1978, given that there were so few women in the engineering field at that time.
00:03:43.440 | However, my parents and I didn't even know that.
00:03:46.700 | We viewed my counselor as an authority figure, and from the information that we had access
00:03:53.080 | to in his guidance, chemical engineering looked to be associated with a potentially stable
00:03:58.480 | and in-demand job, so we followed his advice.
00:04:02.400 | I should also add that my father was very keen on me getting a college degree.
00:04:07.020 | That is a degree that could result in a good job.
00:04:10.480 | He was quite adamant that I should be prepared to support myself and my children, and in
00:04:16.240 | case something ever happened to my future husband, which as I will get to did in fact
00:04:21.600 | happen.
00:04:22.600 | I applied to and was accepted at a few schools across the country, but ended up deciding
00:04:28.520 | to attend Purdue University in Indiana, a decision solely based on its proximity to
00:04:34.240 | my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
00:04:37.080 | I was extremely reluctant to venture far from home.
00:04:40.960 | I very rarely traveled outside of Ohio at that point in my life, and I did not really
00:04:46.520 | even know Purdue was a terrific engineering school.
00:04:49.000 | I just knew it offered engineering as a major, so I started attending Purdue and enjoyed
00:04:54.640 | my engineering classes.
00:04:56.280 | The high school counselor was absolutely right.
00:04:59.120 | However, I did have one major hiccup in my studies during my freshman year in physics.
00:05:04.960 | I flunked the first test on statics and dynamics, a subject that is now pretty integral to my
00:05:11.360 | current research area of fluid and particle dynamics.
00:05:16.120 | I just didn't understand the concepts in the class, or I wasn't thinking about them
00:05:19.480 | in the right way.
00:05:20.920 | In any case, I made the decision to drop out of engineering, firmly believing that my lack
00:05:29.760 | of understanding was a clear indication that engineering was not for me.
00:05:35.080 | Also part of my logic was that I had never failed any tests in school previously, so
00:05:38.960 | this major must have been wrong for me to get my first failing grade.
00:05:44.160 | So I made an appointment with my academic advisor, changed my major, and called to tell
00:05:48.120 | my parents.
00:05:49.120 | I reached my mother.
00:05:51.320 | My mother listened to me amidst my tears and told me in no uncertain terms that I was being
00:05:56.600 | ridiculous, that I needed to get back in there and keep trying.
00:06:03.000 | She said that it made absolutely no sense to give up on my major after one failure.
00:06:08.440 | And while I really was not convinced, I did what she said and canceled the appointment
00:06:14.080 | to change my major, mostly because this counsel was coming from a person who I knew unconditionally
00:06:20.560 | loved me and who I also knew mostly just wanted me to be safe and happy and foremost in Christ.
00:06:29.440 | Anyway, shortly after that disastrous test, physics started to click for me, and somehow
00:06:35.280 | I ended up getting an A in that class.
00:06:37.840 | And clearly I am not the only one who has ever felt like dropping out or changing majors
00:06:42.240 | because of a setback, because whenever I share my career journey with students or young professionals,
00:06:48.800 | this story is always the one that resonates the most with the audience.
00:06:53.620 | So at this point, even though I've somewhat stumbled into engineering and then almost
00:06:57.800 | dropped out of engineering, I'm enjoying college and my classes, but with no thoughts or ideas
00:07:03.240 | about a career.
00:07:04.680 | I was clueless in that regard.
00:07:06.960 | But the Lord provided in abundance.
00:07:10.200 | The Purdue Chemical Engineering Department had recently instituted a new advising process
00:07:16.680 | whereby every student was assigned a faculty member who had to approve the student's course
00:07:21.440 | plan each semester.
00:07:23.600 | My assigned advisor was Professor Nicholas Peppis.
00:07:27.000 | I was not thrilled with this process.
00:07:29.100 | I didn't want to bother a professor, plus I was intimidated by them.
00:07:33.440 | I remember at my first meeting with Professor Peppis and not even wanting to step in his
00:07:39.160 | office.
00:07:40.160 | I just extended my hand and announced, "Here's my form, please sign it."
00:07:44.760 | To my incredible surprise, he invited me into his office and spent almost an hour talking
00:07:49.440 | with me.
00:07:50.640 | He asked me about my family, my educational background and interests, and my career goals,
00:07:55.840 | of which I had none at that point.
00:07:58.560 | He then graciously invited me to do undergraduate research in his group, to try out research
00:08:03.720 | as a possible career.
00:08:05.260 | So I did and found out I loved research.
00:08:08.160 | I came to find out after my undergraduate days that Professor Peppis is a fellow believer.
00:08:15.320 | He's also been an incredible mentor and blessing to me throughout my entire career, providing
00:08:19.760 | advice when I didn't even know what questions to ask, helping me to apply for graduate school
00:08:25.120 | and faculty positions, teaching me how to write research proposals, and nominating me
00:08:30.600 | for many professional awards.
00:08:34.160 | During my freshman year of college, I also met fellow chemical engineering student, Gavin
00:08:39.720 | Sinclair.
00:08:40.720 | Gavin was a Christian and we were both pretty motivated to do well in school.
00:08:45.400 | We started by doing homework together, later fell in love, and we were married after our
00:08:49.400 | sophomore year in college at 20 years of age.
00:08:53.240 | After we both graduated with our bachelor's degrees in chemical engineering in 1983, Gavin
00:08:58.120 | went to work in the chemical industry for Air Products in Allentown, Pennsylvania, while
00:09:03.400 | I started graduate school in chemical engineering at Princeton.
00:09:07.040 | We later bought a house in Flemington, New Jersey.
00:09:10.520 | All was going well for several years.
00:09:12.320 | Gavin was on the fast track in his career at Air Products and I was into my third year
00:09:17.880 | of PhD, having passed the qualifying exams, and I was four months pregnant with our first
00:09:22.800 | child.
00:09:23.800 | But things drastically changed a few weeks after that, when Gavin, at 24 years of age,
00:09:29.680 | was diagnosed with a football-sized tumor in his chest, after having flu-like symptoms
00:09:36.480 | for a few weeks.
00:09:38.280 | He was given four months to live, based on the type of cancer he had, malignant fibrous
00:09:43.320 | histiocytoma, a cancer that grows and spreads rapidly.
00:09:48.440 | Needless to say, Gavin took a leave of absence from work and I also paused my graduate studies.
00:09:54.040 | We moved in with my parents in Cincinnati and Gavin had aggressive chemotherapy and
00:09:58.160 | radiation over the next three months.
00:10:02.120 | These treatments left him extremely weak and thin.
00:10:05.640 | The treatments appeared to be halting the spread of the cancer, but nothing more.
00:10:09.320 | Gavin's prognosis was still not good.
00:10:12.560 | Fortunately, his oncologist in Cincinnati was able to get the attention of physicians
00:10:18.000 | at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, as well as a surgeon willing to perform a
00:10:23.480 | very risky operation to potentially remove the massive tumor.
00:10:28.280 | By God's grace, Gavin survived the surgery and the tumor was completely removed.
00:10:34.120 | However, the surgery was extremely extensive.
00:10:39.680 | Most of one of his lungs was removed, the sac around his heart was removed, he had radioactive
00:10:45.200 | seeds placed in his chest, and the nerve that went to one of his vocal cords was cut.
00:10:51.320 | This surgery was only 10 days before our daughter was born.
00:10:55.880 | On the day of her birth, somehow Gavin was able to sit in the corner of the delivery
00:11:00.560 | room, but since he was deemed radioactive due to the implanted seeds, he had to wear
00:11:05.880 | a lead vest.
00:11:08.400 | Gavin often joked that most of the doctors who came into the delivery room were much
00:11:13.040 | more interested in the guy wearing the lead vest rather than the pregnant woman.
00:11:20.400 | Gavin's surgery also left him in chronic pain, and the months following his surgery were
00:11:24.520 | very dark days.
00:11:27.120 | He laid in bed pretty much all day, could only whisper because of his non-functioning
00:11:32.360 | vocal cord, and was totally unable to deal with our daughter Jeanette's arrival.
00:11:37.400 | He was so weak that he could not even pick her up.
00:11:40.440 | On my side, after several months of taking care of a sick husband, a new baby, and numerous
00:11:45.920 | failed attempts to restart computational research for my Ph.D., the whole situation became beyond
00:11:52.520 | my ability to handle.
00:11:54.720 | Even though I was a Christian up until that time, I used to think God won't give me
00:12:00.480 | any more than I can handle.
00:12:02.320 | A very bad take on 1 Corinthians 10.13, which says, "No temptation has overtaken you except
00:12:11.400 | what is common to mankind, and God is faithful.
00:12:15.600 | He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear."
00:12:20.320 | I needed to learn that saying, "God won't give you any more than you can handle," is
00:12:24.960 | a man-centered statement, which focuses on my abilities, my resourcefulness, or even
00:12:31.040 | my own self-imposed limits.
00:12:34.720 | But in 2 Corinthians 1.8-9, Paul says, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers
00:12:41.720 | and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia.
00:12:47.160 | We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of
00:12:53.640 | life itself.
00:12:55.040 | Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.
00:12:59.200 | But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead."
00:13:06.740 | No one wants to go through times that are beyond their ability to endure.
00:13:12.280 | But sometimes the Lord, in his sovereign purpose, breaks us so that he can remake us.
00:13:20.440 | The Word of God tells us in many places that we need to be refined.
00:13:24.920 | Isaiah 48.10 says, "Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver.
00:13:30.320 | I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."
00:13:33.560 | And in Proverbs 17.3, "The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but
00:13:39.680 | the Lord tests the heart."
00:13:42.200 | And finally in Psalm 66.10, "For you, God, have tested us.
00:13:46.800 | You refined us like silver."
00:13:49.880 | Well that process was certainly happening to both Gavin and me during that time.
00:13:55.360 | Before Gavin's illness, we thought we were doing pretty well, and we felt arrogantly
00:14:00.680 | rather self-sufficient.
00:14:01.680 | But there were so many spiritual lessons that we needed to learn, as well as a lot of other
00:14:07.960 | important truths about life and priorities.
00:14:12.160 | God put us through what we needed so he could teach us these lessons.
00:14:16.560 | I won't go through all the lessons here, but Gavin wrote a book about his experiences,
00:14:22.240 | and those around him also shared their experiences.
00:14:25.840 | The book is entitled All Things Work for Good, based on Romans 8.28.
00:14:31.840 | Gavin wrote the book to be an encouragement to people with cancer or other serious illnesses,
00:14:37.800 | as well as an encouragement to their family and friends.
00:14:41.120 | In the book, he outlines 14 spiritual, physical, mental, and family lessons that can be helpful
00:14:47.880 | to others.
00:14:49.180 | He also starts off the book by making the statement that he was actually glad he went
00:14:53.200 | through all his medical problems, so that he could learn these lessons, and hopefully
00:14:57.960 | help others learn these lessons without traveling the same road he did.
00:15:02.600 | He often said, "If one person comes to know Christ because of what I went through, it
00:15:07.720 | was all worth it."
00:15:09.760 | One lesson in Gavin's book that I do want to share here that has impacted my career
00:15:14.000 | specifically is related to the support I received from Christian family and friends.
00:15:19.580 | They consistently prayed and helped out in innumerable practical ways over the long haul
00:15:25.040 | of Gavin's illness.
00:15:26.720 | I'll never forget the lady who was not in good health herself, who sent me a card almost
00:15:31.800 | every day in the mail for several years, telling me she was praying for us.
00:15:37.920 | That was such an encouragement to me.
00:15:40.440 | The lesson I need to learn was to ask for help.
00:15:44.560 | I will also never forget when one of my lady friends from church admonished me regarding
00:15:49.780 | a child care situation in which I clearly need to help and did not ask for it.
00:15:54.200 | She told me in no uncertain terms that I was being prideful.
00:15:58.600 | Once again, I was relying on my own self-sufficiency, still an area of weakness for me, as well
00:16:04.780 | as I was denying someone else the blessing of service, and she was absolutely right.
00:16:12.340 | So Gavin had a Teflon injection into his vocal cord to help his voice, and he took doctor-prescribed
00:16:19.080 | narcotic drugs to manage his pain.
00:16:22.180 | His strength slowly improved so that within one year after his initial diagnosis, he was
00:16:28.280 | able to return to work.
00:16:30.440 | I was also able to fully resume my Ph.D. studies.
00:16:34.880 | Fortunately, my Ph.D. research was computational, so I could do most of it at home by logging
00:16:41.560 | into the Princeton computers via modem.
00:16:45.160 | Now I'm really dating myself.
00:16:48.780 | So I continued working on my degree until my funding and NSF Graduate Fellowship ended,
00:16:54.840 | at which point I had completed the necessary simulations and analysis but had not yet written
00:17:01.620 | my thesis.
00:17:03.800 | A chemical engineering teaching position opened up at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
00:17:09.800 | While Lafayette College is an accredited engineering college, it does not offer any graduate degrees
00:17:14.560 | in engineering, so there were no research opportunities there to speak of.
00:17:18.880 | But I applied for this position without finishing my Ph.D. degree because there were limited
00:17:25.360 | faculty job opportunities in the area and we could not move.
00:17:30.400 | Gavin could not change jobs due to his pre-existing medical condition which created medical insurance
00:17:37.200 | eligibility constraints.
00:17:39.800 | So I told Lafayette College I would finish up my degree soon because all I had to do
00:17:44.320 | was write up my thesis and I foolishly thought, again probably relying on my own abilities,
00:17:50.240 | "How hard can that be?"
00:17:53.480 | Well it turned out to be extremely difficult to write a thesis while teaching full-time,
00:17:59.360 | taking care of a young child, and Gavin had spinal surgery for a nerve block to mitigate
00:18:05.120 | his chronic pain during that period of time.
00:18:08.560 | Gavin was also often sick, sometimes involving hospital stays, as his immune system was very
00:18:15.400 | weak after his intensive chemotherapy.
00:18:18.720 | A year went by with no thesis.
00:18:21.600 | Frankly, I had not even started it.
00:18:25.480 | So my parents graciously offered for me to return to Cincinnati, yet again, to help with
00:18:30.800 | Jeanette so I could write my thesis.
00:18:34.200 | My mother and father took care of Jeanette for 8 weeks straight while I pretty much stayed
00:18:39.000 | in a bedroom with a table, chair, and a Commodore 64 computer that I used to type my thesis.
00:18:46.860 | My father-in-law was also a professional typesetter for a publishing company and he volunteered
00:18:52.980 | to typeset all of the over 200 equations in my thesis.
00:18:57.740 | So getting my PhD thesis finished was certainly an all-family project.
00:19:04.040 | I then successfully defended at Princeton.
00:19:07.440 | After 6 years, 2 years longer than the average time to finish a PhD at that time, incredibly,
00:19:15.160 | I had a PhD in chemical engineering.
00:19:17.600 | Again, this would have never happened without God putting others in my path who provided
00:19:23.360 | support and expertise when it was most needed.
00:19:27.200 | As Proverbs 19.21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose
00:19:32.860 | of the Lord that will stand."
00:19:37.040 | About this time, Gavin's 3-year pre-existing condition for his medical insurance eligibility
00:19:42.440 | was no longer applicable.
00:19:45.160 | His cancer had not returned so we could move.
00:19:48.680 | I enjoyed teaching chemical engineering at Lafayette College, but really missed the innovation
00:19:53.720 | and new knowledge aspect associated with research.
00:19:57.140 | So Gavin started looking for new job opportunities and I applied to a number of research intensive
00:20:02.680 | universities.
00:20:04.360 | In my job search, I got asked a lot of questions about why it took so long to get a PhD, why
00:20:11.120 | I was teaching at Lafayette College if I wanted a research intensive faculty position, and
00:20:15.840 | why I had not written any new journal manuscripts for the prior 2 years.
00:20:20.880 | I answered these questions frankly and received a lot of rejections, but Carnegie Mellon University
00:20:26.560 | in Pittsburgh expressed interest.
00:20:30.440 | Gavin also had secured a job offer from PPG Industries in Pittsburgh.
00:20:36.200 | So I had an on-site interview at Carnegie Mellon and received a faculty offer, along
00:20:40.180 | with the feedback that if I would have stayed at Lafayette College one more year without
00:20:45.160 | any research activity, I would have not been hired.
00:20:48.960 | That said, I joined the faculty and my colleagues treated me very well.
00:20:53.240 | And at this point, Gavin and I are 30 years of age and Jeanette is 3 years old.
00:20:58.880 | But when I began at Carnegie Mellon, I started feeling pretty apprehensive, worrying about
00:21:04.760 | if I would be able to receive tenure while raising a small child or if I would be able
00:21:09.760 | to secure sufficient research funding to support all my graduate students.
00:21:15.280 | But this apprehension only reared its ugly head when my thoughts were focused once again
00:21:21.240 | on my own abilities or perceived problems.
00:21:24.720 | Although I had thought I had learned some important lessons through Gavin's illness,
00:21:28.200 | I kept slipping back into pride and self-reliance.
00:21:31.680 | I should have spent more time in prayer, both humbling myself in my constant need for God
00:21:36.760 | and praising him for his clearly abundant provision in my life.
00:21:41.660 | When I actually did focus each day on being a faithful steward of the gifts God had given
00:21:47.560 | me and in the position in which he had placed me, my worries about the future dissipated.
00:21:53.560 | I then had peace that surpasses all understanding, the same peace that Gavin came to possess
00:21:58.560 | through his medical trials.
00:22:00.720 | I also knew with full confidence that even if this position didn't work out, God would
00:22:05.760 | show me a new and better path.
00:22:09.040 | God commands us not to worry, but he will help us fulfill this command if we keep our
00:22:14.400 | eyes focused on him and not ourselves.
00:22:19.160 | Matthew 6.34 says, "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
00:22:25.880 | be anxious for itself.
00:22:28.000 | Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
00:22:31.400 | Philippians 4.6-7 says, "Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything
00:22:37.880 | by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your requests known to God.
00:22:43.320 | And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, stands guard over your hearts
00:22:49.040 | and your minds in Christ Jesus."
00:22:52.920 | Things at Carnegie Mellon turned out to go extremely well.
00:22:55.880 | I received a lot of grants, had great PhD students, wrote research papers, and was promoted
00:23:02.680 | to associate professor.
00:23:04.880 | Teaching was also a breeze because I had taught almost every chemical engineering course during
00:23:09.840 | my time at Lafayette College.
00:23:12.480 | Because I had teaching down and lecture notes for all the courses, I was able to use my
00:23:16.520 | more limited time, work time, compared to my colleagues to focus on research.
00:23:23.480 | Gavin was also doing well in his job at PPG and managed to complete a PhD in economics
00:23:28.680 | at Carnegie Mellon at the same time while working full-time.
00:23:32.040 | He was an amazing person, incredibly productive and creative.
00:23:36.520 | However, Gavin was also diagnosed at the time with congestive heart failure during our time
00:23:42.400 | in Pittsburgh and after having a mild stroke.
00:23:45.120 | The stroke was associated with blood clot formation due to his heart not pumping very
00:23:50.320 | efficiently.
00:23:51.320 | Fortunately, he did not suffer any permanent physical effects from the stroke, only minor
00:23:57.480 | damage to brain tissue which temporarily affected his speech for a few weeks.
00:24:03.040 | Gavin also continued to suffer with chronic pain which was significantly exacerbated by
00:24:10.720 | the changes in weather and barometric pressure in Pittsburgh.
00:24:15.640 | Because of this, Gavin wanted to move to a warmer, more temperate climate and he picked
00:24:20.880 | Tucson, Arizona.
00:24:23.120 | He asked and received permission from his company to work remotely and I resigned my
00:24:27.600 | position at Carnegie Mellon and accepted position at the University of Arizona.
00:24:33.440 | To the academic community, this career move of mine made absolutely no sense.
00:24:40.240 | Many questioned me on why I would leave a top 10 engineering program for one ranked
00:24:45.060 | at least 50 spots lower.
00:24:47.920 | So this move provided plenty of opportunities to have discussions of life priorities with
00:24:53.040 | others.
00:24:54.600 | While giving up such an excellent position was difficult and certainly disruptive to
00:24:58.720 | a young career, there was no question in my mind that it was the right thing to do.
00:25:04.680 | During our time in Tucson, Gavin and I were blessed with the birth of our second child,
00:25:09.200 | Derek, who is here with me today.
00:25:14.080 | We ended up only staying in Tucson two years.
00:25:18.280 | Gavin got a new manager at PPG and this manager decided to eliminate his position.
00:25:24.680 | So we contacted Professor Peppis at Purdue University and he and the chemical engineering
00:25:30.760 | department chair very quickly facilitated faculty positions at Purdue for both of us.
00:25:37.520 | Gavin's position was in the Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision
00:25:41.800 | and mine was in chemical engineering.
00:25:44.560 | Gavin also thrived as a faculty member, winning best teacher awards and he also wrote a book,
00:25:49.480 | an economics textbook entitled Life, Love and Economics, a textbook that undergraduate
00:25:56.500 | students actually read.
00:25:59.400 | This book was also featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and in Newsweek
00:26:03.600 | magazine.
00:26:06.440 | By this point in my career, I was viewed as a job hopper.
00:26:10.120 | I was now on my third tenure track faculty position in seven years.
00:26:15.920 | Although I was well aware of how this perception might negatively impact a career, when it
00:26:20.840 | came down to it, I was really not that concerned because there were compelling family reasons
00:26:26.640 | for each move.
00:26:28.400 | And being back at Purdue in Indiana was wonderful in a number of ways.
00:26:32.500 | It put us closer to our families.
00:26:35.000 | I was back at a top engineering school with great graduate students, was promoted to full
00:26:40.000 | professor and was given the opportunity to try out academic administration by leading
00:26:46.280 | a small freshman engineering education department with seven tenure track faculty and 20 staff.
00:26:52.840 | It was at Purdue where I discovered that academic leadership was something I enjoyed and a career
00:26:57.640 | path I wanted to pursue.
00:27:00.960 | After a few years at Purdue, Gavin's congestive heart failure became acute, such that he was
00:27:07.880 | basically suffocating and his lungs were not getting sufficient oxygen.
00:27:14.080 | Another risky operation was undertaken, one in which a battery-operated left ventricle
00:27:21.000 | assist device would be installed to help his heart pump blood.
00:27:27.640 | A couple of days before the surgery, Gavin wrote to those praying for him, "My wife and
00:27:33.880 | parents support having this surgery, and I am also guided by my favorite Bible verse,
00:27:38.800 | Romans 8:28, 'For we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love
00:27:45.600 | him and have been called according to his purpose.'
00:27:49.920 | I realize that I just need to love God and do his will, and everything else will be taken
00:27:56.880 | care of.
00:27:58.160 | If I don't make it through this surgery, that means I am in a better place, so don't feel
00:28:02.160 | bad for me."
00:28:03.680 | And I also know that since I have loved God and done his will, my wife and kids will be
00:28:07.480 | taken care of.
00:28:10.440 | Gavin did not make it through the surgery, and he died on December 19, 2000, at 39 years
00:28:15.880 | of age.
00:28:17.360 | I wrote to those same prayer warriors later that day, "We have had and have confidence
00:28:23.520 | no matter the outcome, Gavin is in a much better place now.
00:28:26.960 | I rejoice when I think of that.
00:28:28.880 | I trust, as Gavin said in his email, that God will take care of the rest."
00:28:35.040 | And even though I love Gavin and miss him greatly, God has taken care of the rest, as
00:28:40.800 | I will now share.
00:28:42.040 | He is faithful.
00:28:44.960 | After Gavin died, my mother came to live with us in Indiana for about ten months.
00:28:50.320 | Going back to her home, she was going back to her home in Cincinnati every other weekend.
00:28:56.000 | Eric was four years of age, and Jeanette was 14 at the time.
00:28:59.780 | This selfless gift she gave to me was an incredible support, both emotionally and in many practical
00:29:04.960 | ways, as you can imagine, with me now being a single mother with two young children trying
00:29:09.960 | to get into a completely new rhythm of life.
00:29:15.200 | Not long after the ten months passed and my mother moved permanently back to Cincinnati,
00:29:20.360 | I met my then future husband, Barry Curtis, at a Purdue chemical engineering alumni event.
00:29:27.040 | He then volunteered to lead a strategic planning exercise for the freshman engineering department
00:29:32.200 | I led.
00:29:33.680 | Barry had grown up going to church.
00:29:37.560 | His parents mostly sent him to church, though, and they stayed home.
00:29:43.520 | But he had stopped going by the time he was in college.
00:29:47.480 | It was shortly before September of 2001 when Barry and I started working together on this
00:29:52.880 | strategic plan for that department.
00:29:55.360 | 9/11 occurred, and this event shook Barry, as it did all of us.
00:30:01.800 | Discussing this event opened the door for me to have some deep conversations with him
00:30:07.200 | about various events in both his and my life, and his views on the meaning of life more
00:30:12.280 | generally.
00:30:14.120 | And as he would say, I had no good answers for Jennifer's probing questions.
00:30:20.520 | I also mailed Barry a copy of Gavin's book.
00:30:25.080 | I have to say that I am not the type of evangelist who, by nature, is comfortable or has much
00:30:30.600 | experience with witnessing to complete strangers, unlike Gavin's father, who was such a gift
00:30:37.700 | for this.
00:30:38.700 | I could tell so many amazing stories.
00:30:39.880 | He was truly gifted in that regard.
00:30:43.960 | But as I am getting to know someone better, I am very interested in learning about that
00:30:48.640 | person's worldview.
00:30:49.640 | I'm into apologetics, so it is natural for me to engage in those types of discussions,
00:30:55.520 | sharing my own thoughts and beliefs also.
00:30:59.120 | Then I pray that those discussions lead future fruit in the lives of the people I speak with.
00:31:05.060 | After many such conversations with Barry, he was open to going to church, and I checked
00:31:10.320 | out potential churches online for him to attend near where he lived in Houston and suggested
00:31:15.580 | one.
00:31:16.580 | He started regularly attending, was convicted to repentance, and was saved in that church.
00:31:23.200 | He also says that Gavin's faith and story, as related in his book, was a key factor in
00:31:27.320 | his conversion.
00:31:29.180 | So going back to Gavin's frequent statement, "If one person comes to know Christ because
00:31:34.800 | of what I went through, it was all worth it," well, at least one of those people is
00:31:40.240 | my husband, Barry.
00:31:43.080 | Incredible.
00:31:44.640 | Gavin's parents embraced Barry into the family, and Gavin's dad even walked me down the
00:31:49.120 | aisle at my and Barry's wedding as my own father had passed away by that time.
00:31:54.880 | Barry also formally adopted Jeanette and Derek.
00:31:59.960 | As I mentioned earlier, my career was flourishing at Purdue University.
00:32:03.880 | I was also receiving more invited lecture invitations, and there were more travel associated
00:32:08.920 | with my administrative duties.
00:32:11.240 | To accommodate my schedule, Barry had already switched to a part-time role in his company.
00:32:16.040 | Later about a year into our marriage, Barry lost that job and suggested to me that he
00:32:21.520 | stay home full-time.
00:32:24.040 | That idea was a surprise to me, and frankly, took me a lot of time to get used to, as I
00:32:29.920 | had never seen that family model lived out in practice.
00:32:33.880 | But it did make sense, and Barry was convinced that pausing his own career was the best thing
00:32:37.800 | for our family.
00:32:39.600 | So Barry ended up taking such a career pause for about 10 years.
00:32:43.360 | Since he has returned to work, he has leveraged his background in industry by serving in several
00:32:47.880 | university positions related to various facets of industry-university engagement.
00:32:54.360 | Given my desire to continue in academic administration, I then started applying for chemical engineering
00:32:58.760 | department chair positions.
00:33:00.920 | An opportunity at the University of Florida opened up, and I served in that role for five
00:33:04.480 | years, followed then by a role as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering
00:33:09.000 | for three years.
00:33:10.600 | In between, we had the opportunity to spend two longer-term separate sabbaticals in Australia,
00:33:15.840 | which would have been more difficult to manage if Barry had still been working.
00:33:20.600 | While serving in these administrative positions, I did not teach classes, but did continue
00:33:25.800 | my research activities while supervising master's and PhD graduate students.
00:33:31.120 | I then started looking for opportunities to lead an engineering college, and an opportunity
00:33:35.160 | arose at the University of California, Davis, to serve as Dean of Engineering.
00:33:39.880 | And this is the position that brought me here to California.
00:33:43.320 | I served as Dean of Engineering for five years, and have since returned to faculty activities,
00:33:47.920 | teaching, research, and professional service for the past three years.
00:33:52.440 | And last year, I was elected to the National Academy of Engineering with a nomination package
00:33:58.020 | led by none other than Professor Pappas, my lifetime mentor, who I met as an undergraduate
00:34:03.800 | 45 years ago.
00:34:06.880 | Last year, I was also awarded by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers the Margaret
00:34:11.480 | Rousseau Lifetime Achievement Award for a Woman Chemical Engineer.
00:34:16.080 | This award is named in honor of Dr. Rousseau, the first woman to receive a PhD in chemical
00:34:21.240 | engineering for her design of the first commercial penicillin production plant to mass-produce
00:34:27.480 | penicillin, which saved countless lives during World War II.
00:34:32.520 | So this is a short synopsis of my life story and my career story, which as you can see
00:34:38.960 | are inextricably linked.
00:34:42.360 | As my mother often says, "Jennifer, you have not lived a boring life.
00:34:47.440 | You have had massive highs and massive lows, but it certainly hasn't been boring."
00:34:53.320 | And I would say that God's hand of faithfulness is clearly evident throughout all of it, both
00:35:00.320 | in my life and my career.
00:35:02.880 | And why do I say God's hand of faithfulness is evident in my career?
00:35:08.160 | First of all, because of the people He has placed in my life, who have prayed, helped
00:35:12.880 | and encouraged me, and shared needed truths at critical times.
00:35:19.180 | But most importantly, because of my Christian parents and Gavin's Christian parents, who
00:35:23.720 | modeled being a follower of Jesus in their own lives and who surrounded us with unconditional
00:35:28.200 | love and support through good times and bad.
00:35:31.080 | I cannot imagine Gavin and me persevering through the trials we did starting at 24 years
00:35:36.880 | of age without them.
00:35:39.560 | Also I cannot imagine how I would have finished my PhD without my parents' help or navigated
00:35:44.640 | the new normal for my life after Gavin's death without the help of my mother.
00:35:50.040 | And in my career I had supportive manners.
00:35:51.960 | I talked about Professor Peppis, but there is also Professor Roy Jackson, my PhD advisor,
00:35:57.280 | who was very supportive, patient and encouraged to me as a pregnant female graduate student.
00:36:03.400 | I was his first female graduate student with a sick husband.
00:36:08.160 | There is also John Anderson, who was the department chair in chemical engineering at Carnegie
00:36:12.240 | Mellon when I was assistant professor.
00:36:15.040 | John was a straight shooter, and he gave me frank feedback on what I was doing well and
00:36:20.640 | on areas I was not doing so well as a young faculty member.
00:36:24.760 | The "not so well" part was hard to receive, but it was feedback I really needed to hear
00:36:30.640 | and respond to.
00:36:32.040 | Dr. Anderson is currently serving as president of the National Academy of Engineering, and
00:36:37.000 | it was he who inducted me into the academy last year, so my interactions with him certainly
00:36:42.760 | came full circle.
00:36:45.400 | Other Christian faculty and Christian campus organizations were a source of encouragement
00:36:49.720 | to me in my career.
00:36:51.320 | While I was at Carnegie Mellon, the director of faculty ministries at InterVarsity, Terry
00:36:55.440 | Morrison, visited me frequently and prayed for me.
00:36:59.440 | At Purdue and the University of Florida, there were many Christian faculty, and the crew
00:37:03.120 | faculty ministries there are pretty active on those campuses.
00:37:07.640 | At these universities, there are also full-page inserts into the student newspaper at Easter
00:37:12.480 | and Christmas each year with a biblical message and a listing of Christian faculty by department.
00:37:19.240 | Howie and Nancy Coffin, with crew at the University of Florida, were particularly supportive.
00:37:24.040 | Nancy led five women faculty in a weekly Bible study in my office during lunch.
00:37:29.440 | During my time as department chair, Howie, and an elder from my church, came to my office
00:37:33.800 | every week to pray for me.
00:37:36.320 | In my own field of chemical engineering, at the annual American Institute of Chemical
00:37:40.320 | Engineers National Meeting, there is a Christian fellowship breakfast that includes one faculty,
00:37:46.480 | Christian faculty, sharing a testimony as it relates to their career.
00:37:50.080 | I organized that breakfast for over 20 years, and the breakfast still continues.
00:37:54.000 | It's definitely a time of encouragement.
00:37:57.280 | First of all, God's faithfulness is evident in the numerous doors that were opened just
00:38:00.760 | at the right time and the right place.
00:38:03.680 | For example, Gav and I were always able to secure jobs in the same location, even under
00:38:07.920 | short time frame constraints as the situation when Gav lost his job in Arizona.
00:38:14.160 | God's faithfulness in my career is also evident in the provision of two Christian husbands
00:38:18.960 | who have fully supported God's calling on my life as an engineering faculty member,
00:38:24.280 | even at their own personal sacrifice.
00:38:26.600 | Having lived in New Jersey, Gav and I drove an hour and 15 minutes each way for over four
00:38:30.520 | years to and from our products in Allentown so I could attend Princeton.
00:38:36.080 | Barry paused his own career for 10 years.
00:38:38.680 | Gav and Barry have reviewed and edited numerous papers, proposals, and talks, and have given
00:38:44.040 | me great ideas and input on a wide variety of matters in my work.
00:38:50.160 | This faithfulness of Lord throughout my unlikely career has provided me many opportunities
00:38:56.560 | to model Christ and share my faith.
00:38:59.200 | I was encouraged early on in my career by the directory of faculty ministries at a university
00:39:05.200 | to include a statement or two about my Christian faith when I introduced myself orally to students
00:39:10.280 | at the beginning of any course I am teaching.
00:39:13.480 | I have done this my entire career.
00:39:16.200 | I start off these introductions with my technical background, where I went to school, my research
00:39:21.440 | expertise, sabbaticals in Australia and Germany, and my teaching expertise.
00:39:26.280 | Then I talk about personal things, like where I grew up, my family, my hobbies and interests,
00:39:31.720 | and I close with mentioning that the foundation of my life is my Christian faith, sometimes
00:39:37.120 | also mentioning involvement in church or Bible study groups.
00:39:41.760 | Recently I found saying this in my self-introduction to class as an encouragement to Christian
00:39:46.000 | students at secular universities, who may have few or no interactions with Christian
00:39:52.560 | faculty during their college years.
00:39:55.280 | This past quarter, for example, a Christian student emailed me midway through the course
00:39:59.560 | asking to meet.
00:40:00.940 | He was having concerns about how he's going to integrate his faith with his work after
00:40:05.360 | graduation and also have a healthy family.
00:40:10.560 | I shared some of my experiences and advice, as well as Pat Gelsinger's book.
00:40:15.600 | Pat is the current CEO of Intel and a Christian.
00:40:18.680 | The book is entitled The Juggling Act, Bringing Balance to Your Faith, Family, and Work, and
00:40:23.640 | one I highly recommend.
00:40:26.760 | Also mentoring is an integral aspect of everything I do as a professor.
00:40:30.920 | I engage with undergraduate and graduate students in the classroom and advising students and
00:40:35.140 | research activities, as well as K-12 students in outreach activities.
00:40:39.960 | At my current career stage, I also serve as a mentor to junior faculty members.
00:40:45.320 | In all of these situations, students, postdocs, and other faculty are observing you at all
00:40:51.000 | times.
00:40:52.000 | This is a wonderful opportunity to model Christ.
00:40:54.640 | How I act in every situation during office hours, interacting with staff and faculty
00:40:59.120 | meetings conveys how I value other people who are made in the image of God.
00:41:04.720 | By projecting an other-focused mindset that is genuinely interested in their educational
00:41:10.400 | or career progress, you are sought out for advice and counsel.
00:41:15.160 | Frankly, I'm energized by helping others, mentoring others.
00:41:20.160 | It is a privilege.
00:41:21.440 | It's also a reminder to me how much others have poured into my own life over the years,
00:41:25.320 | shaping my career in so many ways.
00:41:28.520 | Because of both my career progression and being a female chemical engineering professor,
00:41:32.840 | I am frequently asked to speak to engineering students and faculty on topics relating to
00:41:38.640 | career advice and my own career journey.
00:41:41.880 | It is very natural in these settings, when I share my somewhat unusual career path, that
00:41:48.360 | I discuss my personal life, including my Christian faith.
00:41:53.000 | While I don't explicitly share the gospel message in these talks, I discuss Gavin's
00:41:58.520 | book, bring copies to pass out to those who want to pick up a book, and the gospel messages
00:42:04.480 | in there.
00:42:05.480 | I also have had many opportunities one-on-one to share my faith in my office or on Zoom.
00:42:13.160 | The Lord has certainly been patient with my many lapses back to self-reliance, forgetting
00:42:18.560 | that I am his and made for him.
00:42:21.520 | It is he who provided my passion for teaching, research, and administration, along with the
00:42:26.480 | talents and energy necessary to fulfill my professional responsibilities.
00:42:31.240 | When I use these talents to glorify him, I please him, and his faithfulness becomes even
00:42:36.160 | more abundantly evident.
00:42:38.360 | There is no doubt that my unlikely STEM career journey has been God's calling on my life.
00:42:46.080 | As I was preparing this talk, the hymn "Have Thine Own Way, Lord" kept coming to my mind.
00:42:52.640 | I would like to recite the lyrics to this hymn as a close to my talk.
00:42:57.980 | Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
00:43:02.300 | Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
00:43:06.020 | Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.
00:43:13.960 | Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
00:43:18.560 | Teach me and try me, master today.
00:43:22.960 | Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, as in thy presence humbly I bow.
00:43:31.440 | Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
00:43:35.400 | Hold over my being absolute sway, filled with thy spirit till all can see, Christ only always
00:43:44.920 | living in me.
00:43:47.400 | I am so very thankful for this opportunity to speak with you all and share my story.
00:43:51.600 | I'd be happy to answer any questions if time allows.
00:43:56.560 | Thank you so much for that.
00:44:04.960 | I loved the encouragement to be faithful, knowing that God has the outcome in mind already.
00:44:11.880 | And just your reminder that the Lord is faithful.
00:44:15.000 | That is so helpful.
00:44:16.000 | Also, I cannot imagine having a new baby, first baby, and taking care of a sick husband
00:44:21.520 | and doing research.
00:44:22.800 | And I think we can all relate.
00:44:24.520 | The Lord has brought us into situations where we are weak, where we have to rely on him.
00:44:30.840 | And I encourage you all to share those during lunch as well.
00:44:36.040 | If anyone has any questions, please ask now.
00:44:40.520 | We can take some questions.
00:44:59.160 | Thank you for being so vulnerable and open about your career journey and also certain
00:45:05.440 | things like the self-reliance, I can definitely relate to that.
00:45:10.800 | What's some advice that you would give?
00:45:13.280 | I think as women in science and math, we often have young women looking up to us or asking
00:45:19.040 | us advice.
00:45:20.040 | What's some advice that you would give to mentoring young women that may not be walking
00:45:25.440 | in the faith, that might be prioritizing the career to a point that you might want to give
00:45:31.680 | some guidance to, but you can't necessarily talk about it from a Christian perspective,
00:45:36.240 | if that makes sense?
00:45:39.120 | Yeah, certainly mentors have helped me.
00:45:44.240 | I mean, looking for role models and seeking their advice.
00:45:51.600 | Obviously I think advice from a Christian would be the best advice.
00:45:59.000 | But also getting a wide variety of input and ultimately you get a lot of input, and I did
00:46:04.840 | early on in my career too about, oh, you should move your research in this direction or that.
00:46:10.640 | But ultimately you have to do what fits your passion and what fits your skills.
00:46:19.040 | So I think matching what you do with your own gifts is really the best advice that I
00:46:27.480 | can give.
00:46:29.160 | Thank you.
00:46:42.040 | Thank you so much for your talk today.
00:46:44.980 | Kind of along those lines of mentorship as well, but as women, there's a lot of pressure.
00:46:50.760 | The only real example is feminism and diversity inclusion.
00:46:55.600 | So I'm curious, especially as so many of us Christian women are asked to mentor other
00:47:00.320 | young Christian women in the faith who are starting this journey, aside from the one
00:47:05.800 | book you had shared, what other resources have helped you think through this topic of
00:47:11.720 | biblical femininity in a secular workplace?
00:47:18.440 | I'm trying to think of specific examples I have.
00:47:31.400 | In terms of your family life and combining family and work or?
00:47:37.280 | I think it can be both.
00:47:38.280 | I think some of, definitely combining family and work is part of that from a biblical perspective
00:47:45.560 | as well as even just, the world says that as women to act like men in the secular workplace.
00:47:53.000 | And so aside from the Bible, not aside, but with that, I'm often asked for resources and
00:48:02.000 | I've struggled to find things to point people to of things like this testimony, which is
00:48:08.080 | really encouraging.
00:48:09.080 | And so I'm curious if you've come across anything.
00:48:12.320 | So the family and work, I mean, the key element is your husband.
00:48:20.320 | Discussion with him on how the priorities of how things are going to get done in the
00:48:25.560 | family and just making sure you both are in one accord.
00:48:30.760 | And I also have got a lot of wonderful advice from successful people in my church, how they
00:48:38.400 | manage it.
00:48:39.400 | And I do highly recommend that book that I mentioned.
00:48:42.840 | It's full of lots of practical tips.
00:48:46.920 | In terms of femininity at work, I mean, I never felt like I needed to act like a man.
00:48:53.360 | I mean, I acted like myself.
00:48:57.120 | I always dressed feminine and I never felt called to act anything like what I was.
00:49:07.840 | And I felt confident, like I said, about the Lord.
00:49:14.160 | If this didn't work out, something else would.
00:49:16.760 | So I always felt like I should be myself, who I am.
00:49:22.640 | And I went with that.
00:49:23.640 | And I always had the confidence if my, if myself was not a fit, the Lord would provide
00:49:30.440 | something else.
00:49:35.240 | Excuse me.
00:49:41.360 | Hello, while you were getting your doctorate completed, I under nowhere near as trying
00:49:53.240 | circumstances but was very much empathizing with trying to finish a doctoral program while
00:49:58.640 | being married and children and full-time work.
00:50:02.120 | As you did that and you accomplished that, what might be one bit of advice that you found
00:50:06.640 | useful towards meeting your deadlines and getting things done?
00:50:12.320 | The biggest advice I would have is taking one little step at a time and not looking
00:50:20.920 | at the massive, what's got to be done, just each day, what am I going to accomplish?
00:50:29.760 | That inch by inch, that is the best advice.
00:50:33.440 | And when you take that approach, things get accomplished.
00:50:39.920 | Hello.
00:50:43.720 | Thank you for your talk.
00:50:45.600 | As a member who's in like UC faculty administration, we increasingly see, you know, the world getting
00:50:52.240 | more politicized, especially university environment.
00:50:54.760 | Do you have any thoughts about the future of Christians in these very secular politicized
00:51:00.160 | environments?
00:51:02.000 | Yeah.
00:51:03.600 | There is a, yeah, there's a worldview that pervades the university.
00:51:11.840 | And as a faculty member thus far, I don't, there's not much pressure to adhere.
00:51:22.600 | I mean, you can conduct your own business pretty much the way you want.
00:51:26.600 | I felt like I, and I've had opportunities to share my faith.
00:51:31.400 | Even when I was dean, I was interviewing, I told the provost I was a Christian and I
00:51:35.840 | still got hired.
00:51:39.080 | That said, it is becoming, especially since the pandemic, very, very politicized.
00:51:46.200 | And in part, that was part of the reason I stepped down as dean.
00:51:51.880 | Because when you get into these senior administrative positions, there is certainly more pressure
00:51:57.640 | for you to be one of the spokesperson for these kind of worldviews, which I'm just not
00:52:07.860 | comfortable with doing.
00:52:09.140 | So my prayer though, is that some of these positions, I mean, the administration takes
00:52:18.680 | some of these positions because they think, but these people are lost.
00:52:23.000 | They think that this is what will help students.
00:52:26.760 | And my prayer is that they see that this is not helping the students and they rethink
00:52:33.760 | some of these views.
00:52:36.140 | That is my prayer.
00:52:38.560 | Thank you.
00:52:41.560 | I have a question.
00:52:46.380 | You mentioned some of these ways, but what are ways where that us maybe more senior faculty
00:52:55.840 | or can encourage mentorship, can encourage other people to come to us and making ourselves
00:53:04.180 | available for this kind of selfless service to these younger professionals?
00:53:11.260 | Yeah.
00:53:12.780 | So my department just instituted that every student had to have a, just like when I was
00:53:20.140 | a freshman at Purdue, every student needs to meet with a faculty advisor, you know,
00:53:28.880 | with such frequency.
00:53:30.380 | So students, I think a lot of students don't want to approach a faculty member.
00:53:35.560 | So a lot of times I think we as the mentor have to reach out and set appointments with,
00:53:42.340 | Hey, I'd just like to touch base.
00:53:44.140 | Hey, I see that you did poorly on this test.
00:53:48.900 | Certainly for me, I would have never reached out.
00:53:50.900 | I mean, so I think the onus is a lot on us to do the reaching out, especially for undergraduate
00:53:58.300 | students and, you know, people in high school or middle school that may be considering STEM
00:54:03.980 | as a career because most of them are not comfortable to send emails to a faculty member to try
00:54:11.460 | to meet or talk.
00:54:14.180 | So I think we have to do be, be very proactive about reaching out to them.
00:54:19.380 | That's been my experience.
00:54:20.380 | I mean, graduate students are much more comfortable, but for college age students and younger,
00:54:27.020 | I think most, even unless they're very confident students, they don't tend to do that.
00:54:35.940 | Dr. Curtis, your testimony is truly inspirational and you've clearly demonstrated that God's
00:54:54.260 | grace is all sufficient in any circumstance that you find yourself and you truly have
00:55:03.620 | been a light shining in the darkness of this world.
00:55:10.420 | And people saw the good works that you did through our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ,
00:55:17.740 | and I believe gave the glory to God.
00:55:21.420 | Thank you.
00:55:22.420 | I can't, I can't quarrel with somebody's testimony because that's a fact of what God
00:55:29.220 | did in your life for many, many years, demonstrates the goodness of the Lord.
00:55:36.020 | I'm really so encouraged.
00:55:37.020 | I'm so happy to be here today because kind of amazing how the Holy Spirit of God works.
00:55:44.940 | I'm a professor of Surgical Oncology in Atlanta, but recently God has truly been speaking to
00:55:55.480 | me.
00:55:56.480 | I was just looking at the devotion that I share with my children.
00:56:01.660 | It's interesting that the scripture verses that were apparent in that song you cited,
00:56:11.700 | "Have thy own way, Lord, have thy own way, thou art the porter and I am the clay.
00:56:21.560 | Make me and mold me after your way," which are so, so moving.
00:56:27.820 | I have really been meditating on that and especially the third stanza that says, "Have
00:56:36.460 | thy own way, Lord, have thy own way."
00:56:41.300 | And then goes on to say that, "Fill me with your spirit, you all shall see Christ only,
00:56:49.300 | Christ only."
00:56:50.300 | Just so moving.
00:56:52.300 | So thank you for what you're doing.
00:56:54.820 | That is what I strive to do where I am, and when you are transparent, when you are honest,
00:57:03.500 | and when you are really, really doing what the Holy Spirit ministers you to do, it's
00:57:09.500 | just amazing how, what a great impact that you can have around the people that surround
00:57:18.060 | you.
00:57:19.060 | So I have no question, but just to tell you, but just to tell you that you are truly an
00:57:29.860 | inspiration.
00:57:30.860 | Thank you.
00:57:31.860 | He will be exalted.
00:57:32.860 | Amen.
00:57:33.860 | Amen.
00:57:34.860 | Thank you so much for...
00:57:35.860 | Let's do one more question.
00:57:39.540 | Hello.
00:57:42.100 | My friend and I, we drove up here.
00:57:44.900 | We both work at Cal State San Marcos and we met in the social work program.
00:57:49.920 | We both provide administrative support to faculty in that department.
00:57:54.380 | It's a master's program.
00:57:55.700 | And until Debbie started working with me about a year ago, I was silent in my views in meetings,
00:58:05.540 | department meetings, which were very different from my own.
00:58:09.940 | And since Debbie came to work at the university, the first day I met her, she prayed with us
00:58:17.460 | at lunch and there was a faculty member there and I was just shocked, you know, like, and
00:58:23.100 | also very convicted because I hadn't been sharing my faith.
00:58:27.540 | And so we have walked around the campus and prayed together for students and we see these
00:58:34.580 | students struggling with mental health issues while in a mental health program, right?
00:58:40.860 | Learning to counsel other people and it's pervasive.
00:58:47.940 | And we see that the views that they're being taught and modeled and we're concerned.
00:58:56.020 | So since you've been department chair and faculty, what would you say to your staff
00:59:01.740 | members who want to share their faith in a university that's very liberal?
00:59:08.700 | How would you, what are your thoughts on that?
00:59:10.780 | I mean, I think there are many opportunities.
00:59:14.780 | I have to say like in a department meeting or larger groups, these meetings for some
00:59:22.700 | other purpose, I don't tend to share my faith in that.
00:59:25.740 | But certainly on one and one, I mean, there are many opportunities for one-on-one.
00:59:31.140 | And as I was thinking, you know, people see you as someone that they can trust or maybe
00:59:37.180 | they might look up to, they will come to you one-on-one and these are perfect opportunities
00:59:44.260 | to share.
00:59:45.940 | And that's the key way, but there are also little things that happen.
00:59:51.300 | I remember one time we were reviewing graduate applications and one of the students in their
00:59:59.260 | statement of purpose said that they want to go to graduate school to share their, this
01:00:06.260 | is God's calling.
01:00:07.260 | They want to share their faith.
01:00:08.660 | And I did not say this actually, there was another Christian faculty in my department
01:00:13.620 | said, and they were saying, oh, you know, the other faculty, well, we don't like this.
01:00:17.940 | And I said, well, he said something to the effect that I think there's certainly other
01:00:22.940 | things that we can be concerned about in this application.
01:00:27.220 | And he got accepted.
01:00:28.780 | So just sometimes one person to speak up about a specific topic, I think can be very effective.
01:00:38.060 | And I've seen many little examples like that, but certainly one-on-one.
01:00:41.900 | And like I say, I share my faith to large groups when asked to speak about my career
01:00:46.940 | journey, because I cannot share, it's impossible for me to share a career journey without sharing
01:00:53.540 | my personal and faith journey, it's impossible.
01:00:57.140 | So it's a natural setting, I've never had any issue.
01:01:01.940 | The only time I ever had an issue in my career was these faculty ads I mentioned.
01:01:08.860 | And when I was at the University of Florida, every faculty member had a bulletin board
01:01:14.020 | outside their office door, and people put all manners of things on there.
01:01:19.040 | So I posted the ad, and I had one faculty complain about the ad not being there.
01:01:27.440 | And I called up, I think it was Heritage Foundation or something to see if I was legally fine
01:01:33.480 | to do that, and I certainly was.
01:01:36.160 | And my department chair, who was not even a Christian, supported me to have that there.
01:01:42.840 | But I prayed about it, and after a while, I decided to take it down, even though I didn't
01:01:47.880 | legally need to do that.
01:01:49.300 | But that was the only time that I've ever had any issues with sharing in different contexts.
01:02:01.440 | So I think there are opportunities in a secular environment to do it.
01:02:05.840 | [BLANK_AUDIO]