A lab works best when chemists prioritize their health

After honing his mechanical insight through tinkering with cars and carbon fiber, Scott Cushing is changing how we investigate how light interacts with matter. At the California Institute of Technology, he and his lab craft novel instruments for quantum sensing using tabletop ultrafast X-rays, extreme ultraviolet light, and entangled photons. Cushing is also changing the conversation around mental health and disabilities in chemistry by building spaces where students can focus on support and well-being. Charlotte Fuqua talked to Cushing about lasers, resilience, and community building.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Scott Cushing

HOMETOWN: Charleston, West Virginia

EDUCATION: BS, physics, 2011, and PhD, physics, 2015, West Virginia University

CURRENT POSITION: Assistant professor, chemistry, California Institute of Technology

FAVORITE ELEMENT: Iron. I have made part of my career studying how it affects
polarons in solids.

PROFESSIONAL ADVICE: Overcoming health disorders is going to take time, money, and
work—but you can still be an amazing scientist in between all of that.

FAVORITE WAY TO UNWIND: Meditation and watching wildlife

Image Credit: Courtesy of Scott Cushing

So, what does your lab focus on?

We build new forms of scientific instrumentation based on laser technology to solve outstanding chemical problems.

We tackle renewable energy problems from a very quantum front. For example, we have used transient extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopy to understand how electrons and phonons in materials strongly interact to route energy flow in photocatalysts and solar cells.

I noticed we both work on ultrafast lasers. I use them in investigating and tuning quantum behaviors in organic molecules to find new qubits and ways to control molecular qubits. I got into physical chemistry because I’m the kind of person that always wants to know, “Why?” What did your path into physical chemistry look like?

I spent my childhood and early adulthood working on cars and fixing things. My passion was learning how to reverse engineer engines and how to make carbon fiber.

When I went to college, I was interested in maybe going into engineering, but I wasn’t quite sure yet. Then I saw lasers, and I was like, “Shut down everything!” I learned I could keep tinkering with large contraptions and do cutting-edge science that way.

Later, when I had a choice of staying in industry or becoming a professor, I became a professor because I realized I love mentoring graduate students.

I also saw that you gave a talk at Caltech in a lecture series on disability and STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics]. That series is really jump-starting a sorely needed discussion! What has it been like navigating academic research as someone with a disability?

Trying to find time to tackle my disability and deal with its ongoing progression at the same time as balancing mental health issues is a unique thing. I have to say it got near breaking me at points.

My disabilities developed later in my life, as I was finishing grad school. But once I started to have a disability, my undergrad and PhD adviser Nick Wu was one of the biggest advocates of “you better take care of yourself.” One time he told me, “You’re not a good scientist if you’re dead.” He’s a very blunt person!

I also have to give a shout-out to all the professors at Caltech who check up on me and care that I make it as a professor. That level of support, unfortunately, is missing at the grad-student level. But those bonds are what saved me.

What accommodations have made the biggest difference in your life as a researcher?

It’s funny. It’s not the big, flashy accommodations, like rebuilding all my laser tables to be a [certain] height or anything like that, though I do keep them at a lower level. It’s the simple ones, like making sure that there was space around all the tables so I could use a walker around the lab.

But the biggest thing was setting up a group culture that was based around flexible work hours and making sure we have open communication about mental health and health issues. Learning alongside my students how to work in the most efficient manner, especially under extremely restricted hours, is my big adaptation.

That’s a really interesting departure from the usual work expectations. As a grad student, I’ve had people tell me it takes 70-to-80 h weeks to produce meaningful results.

Some of this is field dependent, but I tell my grad students, “If you’re working too many hours, I don’t think you’re going to make progress.” Physical chemistry is about thinking, so you can really take the time to focus on understanding and let things blossom from there. My students may end up with only two or three papers after 5 years, but they’re going to have fundamentally altered the field. And I think it’s that slowing down—not just bludgeoning through experiments—that leads to more flexible work hours in my group.

Also, I tell them, “Look, these instruments cost millions of dollars. If you break it, we’re done, so please sleep!”

Oh, man. I feel that. Our femtosecond laser went down earlier this year, and we were all just praying . . .

Pray to the laser gods!

You touched on it a bit, but how do you think that we can work to establish better community and belonging for disabled scientists in chemistry?

One of the things I’ve advocated a lot for is just putting mental health front and center and taking the time to actually understand how mental or physical disabilities affect your mental health or thought processes.

When mentoring people with disabilities, I’m also not afraid to show my physical disabilities or talk about the consequences of them. After I started [being more open about that], I realized I could help other people by just being vocal.

But we’re still missing things on the level of national organization. National organization is critical not only to push for inclusion but also to create the specific communities and events that bring us together as scientists. Only those [of us] experiencing a disability can truly understand the issues and empathize with each other.

I agree. You don’t know what it’s like having a disability until you’ve lived it. I saw that you were awarded Caltech’s inaugural Shirley M. Malcom Prize for Excellence in Mentoring, and I was really intrigued by the outreach and activities you’ve set in motion. Can you tell me more?

I have started efforts ranging across various areas, but what I am most proud of is my Caltech Connection program. This program links local community college students with Caltech graduate and postdoc mentors for training in how to be a scientist. We target students with little experience but a large enthusiasm for STEM. The informal, peer-to-peer approach has allowed us to help 30–50 students per year to future STEM careers.

Charlotte Fuqua

HOMETOWN: Atlanta

EDUCATION: BS, chemistry, Georgia State University

CURRENT POSITION: PhD student in Tomoyasu Mani’s lab at the University of
Connecticut

MEMORABLE MENTOR: Gigi B. Ray at GSU. She was the first person who supported my
dream of becoming a principal investigator/professor, and she helped me recognize my love of
teaching and mentoring.

FAVORITE LAB TOOL: The homemade contraption I made to dry out my quartz electron
paramagnetic resonance tubes because I can’t put them in the oven.

I AM: ADHD, physically disabled

Charlotte Fuqua uses spectroscopy to find and manipulate quantum properties in organic donor-acceptor molecules using light, spin, and magnetic-field effects. She likes inventing creative metaphors (and interpretive dances) to make quantum concepts more accessible and working with CHEMentors, a mentorship program she founded at the University of Connecticut.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Charlotte Fuqua

Mentor relationships are crucial in supporting disabled students in STEM. Speaking of mentoring, do you have any advice for scientists who are trying to start their career while dealing with disabilities?

Dealing with a health condition is going to be more challenging in your scientific career, but you have to find a way to take care of yourself. There’s no way to avoid it. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t handle your science too.