I am a scientist because of my stay-at-home dad.

He’s now a high school chemistry teacher and the chair of his department, but until I was in middle school, Dad spent his days taking me and my younger sisters to parks and science museums, and making learning fun—really fun. I grew up with a curiosity that manifests now as my pursuit of scientific research, and what confidence I have as a student, an athlete, and a young woman comes from those early years running around with Dad.