“What you do everyday is not glamorous,” says Meghan Thurlow, a graduate student at Harvard University. She spends her days behind the ivy-covered walls, working hard to one day make a meaningful contribution to science.  An alumna of Carlton College and Brainerd High School, Meghan is learning that an important impact on science does not mean that she must be a “human calculator;” but instead a creative mind. 

Though life at one of the country’s top institutions does tend to keep Meghan in the lab, she finds it essential to be aware of the great world that exists outside the confines of her studies. To her, knowledge of a diverse range of subjects is essential to modern science as a means of changing it. She says it is apparent that many issues troubling scientists today have been around for many years. Some of the world’s greatest intellects have pondered the very same issues now being considered by young and elastic minds.

To continue to make progress, Meghan says, this generation of scientists has to be creative and ready to break the boundaries of classical science. To do this they must be able to combine ideas and theories from all areas of study with scientific thought hundreds of years old.

Meghan is part of an army of researchers filling up the laboratories of America’s universities; on the brink of what she believes will be a revolution. She says, quite frankly, that she cannot imagine what progress will be made in the coming years, because new and fundamental changes are going to be made about our understanding of science.

Nanotechnology, Meghan’s field, is a perfect example of this. As the instruments scientists are creating become continually smaller, their inventors are coming to realize the need for new types of battery cells that produce significantly less heat. This means throwing all of our current ideas about battery power-- and in many ways energy and science-- out the window. This task is by no means easy.

Meghan is a woman of change. She realizes that quality thought and research show how tiny things are globally important. The most productive part of science, to her, is thinking about how her specialized knowledge can solve other people’s problems. With her minicomputers Meghan was able to watch how free radicals infest and mutate cells to form cancer. With the monitoring device she is now creating, she is investigating how miniscule molecular structures in our atmosphere are destroying our huge planet.

Academic pursuits are not always glamorous. Science does not always lead to fame and fortune. Meghan admits the everyday likelihood of failure. But she accepts it as part of her progresses.

“If you are on the cutting edge you have to expect that failure will be routine,” she says. “Major successes are rare, but will pay off.” And in that one percent, fame and glamour just might be hiding waiting to be discovered.