Inspiring young women to pursue STEM careers, with a tiara and a lab coat

MUSC now has its very own princess, but this one has a power tool – her scientific mind.

Princesses with Powertools is a program sponsored by Reinvented Magazine, the mission of which is to inspire young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The program invites STEM professionals to dress as popular princesses and attend events, where they teach students how to create their own STEM-based projects.

“I wrote a cute short story about Rapunzel curing irritable bowel disease, since that’s what I study. I didn’t expect to be chosen, so when they reached back out asking me to be part of the calendar, I was really excited.”

-- Sarah Dooley

Reinvented publishes a yearly calendar featuring 12 female and nonbinary individuals doing their real-life jobs but dressed as the classic princesses many of us grew up with. The calendar, like the in-person program, strives to show young girls that they don’t have to choose between their femininity and future careers by featuring women in STEM and trades doing their everyday work in princess gowns.

This year, Sarah Dooley, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the College of Graduate Studies at MUSC, was selected to be the September scientist in the calendar.

The goal of this program is to show young girls that #BrilliantIsBeautiful, and femininity and the STEM fields are not mutually exclusive. Too often, young women are presented with the idea that they can be either beautiful or smart. This program sets out to prove that they can be both.

 

Dooley found out about the calendar from Kimberly Fiock, Ph.D., a staff scientist at the University of Iowa, who she follows on Instagram.

“She was in the 2022 calendar and posted on her Instagram story that the applications were open, and it was a rewarding thing to be a part of,” said Dooley. “I thought it sounded like an interesting opportunity.”

Dooley applied and wrote a story relating her specific job to the princess she was hoping to portray, something required of all applicants.

“I wrote a cute short story about Rapunzel curing irritable bowel disease, since that’s what I study,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be chosen, so when they reached back out asking me to be part of the calendar, I was really excited.” 

After being chosen for the calendar, Dooley did some more research into Reinvented and its mission.

“[The calendar is] all the things I love about science that don’t involve the bench, like engaging in outreach and communicating science in a fun way to a lay audience, so I felt called to it.” -- Sarah Dooley

“It’s all the things I love about science that don’t involve the bench, like engaging in outreach and communicating science in a fun way to a lay audience, so I felt called to it,” she said.

Dooley acknowledges that it can be challenging to be a woman in a male-dominated field, and she often wonders whether she belongs. The calendar reminded her that she most definitely does.

“The purpose of this calendar is to inspire the little ones to follow their passions, but it helped me a lot, too,” she said. “It helped me to remember that my femininity is an important part of me and only adds to my abilities.”

This year’s calendar features a variety of STEM professionals, from a spacecraft engineer and a science writer to a 3D chocolate printing engineer.

Dooley enjoyed being involved with this project and said she plans to make scientific outreach a more prominent part of her life.

“I just want the younger generations to know that they can achieve anything they set their minds to, no matter what their gender is or where they come from,” she said.

Calendars are available on the Reinvented website.