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There has been an overwhelming positive response to the Adopt a Scientist pilot program. Thank you! We had to cap enrollment at 600 scientists due to technical constraints, but please email us at education@aip.org if you are interested in participating next fall (2006).

Enrolled Scientists

Students will be choosing 3-5 questions from this list to ask their adopted scientist. Please preface each response with your name, job title, and place of employment.

For all scientists:

1. How would you describe your job? What do you do in a typical day?
2. What type of organization do you work for? Is this unusual for someone with your background? Why did you choose to work there?
3. Do you think that your educational background prepared you for your current occupation? What would you change?
4. When you were 18, what did you want to do when you grew up? How has that changed? Why?
5. What is your favorite aspect of your job? Least favorite?
6. What skills or personality traits are important for someone working in your field?
7. What is the most interesting or unusual project you’ve worked on?
8. What advice do you have for current high school students interested in science? What advice would you give to someone looking to enter your field?
9. What do you feel is the most significant or pressing problem in your field?
10. What are the logistics of your work? (pay, hours, vacation time, collaboration with other scientists and non-scientists, balancing work and family, time spent gathering or analyzing data…)
11. What personal challenges have you encountered in your pursuit of science? How did you overcome them?
12. Where do you find inspiration? How do you think of original ideas or choose the problems you work on?
13. How is your approach to science different than when you were in high school?

For women and minority scientists:

1. What is it like to be a woman or minority in your field?
2. What are the biggest challenges?
3. What resources are available?
4. How have things changed during your career?

For undergraduate and graduate students:

1. Why did you choose your school?
2. What resources did you find for paying for your education?
3. How do you decide to go to graduate school?
4. How is studying science at your level different than science in high school classes?

For retired scientists:

1. Did you work in the same field for your entire career, or did you change fields?
2. What are you doing now that you have retired?
3. What changes in society or science were most meaningful to you as a scientist? Why?

Still have questions?

Check out our FAQ! You can also email us at education@aip.org