VM: Hello, everyone. My name is Viridis Miranda. I am a science communication intern at EarthScope, and today we have the intern Sara Gasca, how are you, Sara?

SG: I’m good. How are you?

VM: Doing good, doing good, awesome. And interviewing you. So, Sara, tell us a little bit about yourself.

SG: Oh, sure. So I am a first generation undergraduate student at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, California. I am a geology major, and I hope to transfer out to Cal State Fullerton next fall for my bachelor’s and I am a mother to three year old twin girls, and I am currently an intern with EarthScope.

VM: Awesome. That sounds amazing. That’s cool. Tell me a little bit about the cool work that you do at EarthScope.

SG: Yeah. So EarthScope internship is my first undergraduate research opportunity, so I’ve been learning quite a bit. I was assigned a mentor, Dr Enrico Zorzetto, and we’re working on hydrologic research. And we’re basically looking at how large scale climate drivers like El Nino, La Nina and the North Atlantic subtropical high, which are just climate drivers, impact stream flow patterns in the southeastern US. And to do that, we’re using Python. It’s my first time coding, and I’m a remote intern, so yeah, we’re doing it all online, and I’m learning quite a bit about hydrology and how climate can impact that.

VM: That’s amazing. So it’s kind of interdisciplinary, because you’re combining coding with hydrology as well, which is a really big, big, big part of geoscience. And what do you like most about coding?

SG: Yeah, so I am brand new to coding. I did, like, a one hour tutorial before I ever started this internship. So to me, I was always interested in linguistics, and I took French all throughout high school when I lived in France with a host family. So coding I’ve had to learn is truly like a second language. And I think that’s the most interesting thing, is you can perform, you know, statistical analysis, you can create maps, all with this really concise language. And I think that’s so interesting to me. Yeah, just seeing what you can do with that,

VM: That’s amazing. I’m trying to learn a little bit of Python myself. So I’m a grad student, and I process seismic signals in the Moon with my committee members, Carrie Nunn and Elizabeth and Lisa Rodriguez. And coding? Let me tell you… Just want to bang myself inwith the laptop, yeah, but patience comes a long way, and perseverance as well, and it’s very rewarding at the end, when you get to see like data, the post processing is the most fun,

SG: for sure. Yeah, I’m hoping to get there soon, especially with all the recent flood events happening in Texas, New Mexico, Italy, I really feel there’s a lot of value in my work, and it’s been motivating me even more to just get better at coding, so hopefully we can, you know, have a better response to those types of natural disasters.

VM: There was an event on flooding very recently on Texas that it was it was impacted throughout a lot of communities. And I feel like your research and what you’re doing right now, it’s very valuable to the communities. As geoscientists, we have to do lots of community outreach. So that’s very important. How do you feel about like engaging with community, with the type of work that you do? Do you feel like the internship in EarthScope gets for you the opportunity to do that?

SG: Yeah, so in our orientation, we met a lot of different professionals from different different backgrounds, and I remember we were out installing geophones, and a hydrologist actually walked up to us and told us about, like, what a day in her life looks like. And you know, once I finish my internship, we’re going to give this code and this research off to water management managers, and hopefully they’ll be able to manage their water resources a little bit better with the research that I’m doing. So I think there is a direct impact and a lot of outreach, even though I don’t live in the southeast us. I grew up in the Midwest, and I have a lot of connection, because one of my favorite vacation spots was Myrtle Beach. So. So I can see that’s going to directly help and impact people in the in the southeastern US. Yeah,

VM: that’s pretty amazing. Water is such a valuable resource, and we have to do as best as we can in order like to help out the communities as much as we can with our background and question that I asked you. So do you feel like hydrology is something that you might do for graduate research if you’re interested in graduate studies after you finish your with your bachelor’s degree.

SG: So I have a bunch of different pipeline dreams. I’m definitely interested in hydrology, but I actually completed a program called L’SPACE with NASA recently where I was a project manager for a student led team, and I found this, you know, passion for planetary geology. So I think that’s something more down my path I’ll pursue. But there is a lot of new research with finding water on Mars and water on exoplanets. And I think there’s, you know, down the road, gonna be the perfect combination for me to incorporate, you know, this learning that I’ve done with hydrology into planetary geology, because it’s all really just one big system. So, yeah, I can see myself using this down the road, for sure.

VM: That’s amazing. I actually did all space two times in a row. Yeah,

SG: that’s so cool. Nice.

VM: It was very rewarding. I wasn’t project manager. I was the chief scientist and evidently, twice,

SG: awesome. That’s cool. Yeah, I was also our chief scientist too, or planetary geologist. We I don’t know how your teams went, but we had a pretty low numbers by the end of it. So we were taking on two roles.

VM: Oh, that’s amazing. Well, in my division, we got the option to take two roles if somebody you know couldn’t, but thankful, I just did chief scientist. So I make sure that the science was coherent, and I did some digging and research on the topic that the project scientist, the PI, the one that coordinated and administer everything like and help her out as much as I can. And we’re very good friends,

VM: yeah, for sure. I love the connections I did about space.

SG: Yeah, same I haven’t met like there is one other “l’fam” in in our cohort. So this is so cool meeting one more person. Yeah, it is.

VM: And hydrology is also very much studied on exoplanets, especially like Europa, Europa and a nice icy moon that’s under study as well. I for myself for my graduate project, I deal with Moon quakes, so I find signals during like the Moon surface really interesting. And since I work in the geophysical network in Puerto Rico, so I’m stationed in Puerto Rico, that’s where I currently live in, and I love earthquakes. I mean, like, I don’t like them when they happen.

VM: I like the science. The science side of it..

SG: That is really cool.

VM: So my next question would be, um, it’s so cool that you have this planetary geoscience interest, and you want to combine it with coding and hydrology. And you also mentioned that you’re doing your undergrad degree and you’re also doing an internship, and all of those things are super important, but also finding a work life balance as well. And you mentioned that you were also a mom. So how do you like divide your time? I know this is a very difficult question, because, like, time management is a super important skill that we’re all learning. So any advice that you can give to any of the students?

SG: Yeah, so it’s a learning process, you’re not gonna know you know your balance or perfect everything your first week, maybe not even your first month. So you just have to let your, like, give yourself grace and allow yourself to, you know, oh, man, I got behind on this. Oh, I submitted this later than I wanted to. And, you know, just work each week, just a little bit, try to plan a little bit better, make the time. And that’s, like, easier said than done, especially as a mother, you know, after I go to school all day, or I work my eight hours for the internship, I pick my girls up from school, and I’m on mom shift for another like six hours. So for me, I find time after they go to bed, that’s just my time to do me. So I make my time for self care to catch up on anything I got behind on, and also just having a network. So having people, you can reach out. Hey, can you come keep my girls company while I just work for a couple hours? Or, you know, go sit at a library undisturbed and have my husband watch the girls. So I’m thankful. I have a partner that’s super helpful, but, yeah, just just trying to improve. But being okay with not being perfect is so important. Like, no one’s expecting you to know everything. It’s your first time at this too. So yeah, just, just go with it, and you’ll get better by the end of it.

VM: I also agree. I think, like as students, we all are very hard on ourselves. We’re very hard on ourselves because we want to perform very well. And sometimes when we don’t do things perfectly, we get like this, in this loop, and then we get stuck in but it’s very important to remember the end of the day, hey, we’re all human. Yeah. Yes, learning as as you know as we go, yeah. Another thing is, I’m really interested, like, aside from all the cool things that you do, what are some of your hobbies?

SG: Oh yeah. So, uh, I met my husband through video games. So I grew up in the Midwest, and I ended up moving to Southern California at the end of 2019 so I play a big variety of games. I really like card games, like Hearthstone. I like first person shooters, just strategy, strategy games. And, you know, after work, after the girls are in bed, that’s my time to, like, decompress. And I have a group I’ve been gaming with for, like, almost a decade, and we all hang out. And outside of that, I go rock collecting. I love going to rock shows. I’ve got, like, I have so many things I just have. So I really like collecting rocks. I’m also an active member of, like the Audubon Society. So I’m learning to identify birds, and I’m a really active member of our geology club, so I kind of dip my hands in a lot of different things to kind of decompress. But I like the variety.

VM: SO yeah as scientists, we need our hobbies to decompress. I mean, it’s not, it’s not easy, and we have to, like, destress, yeah, for sure. Yeah. It’s, it’s absolutely for sure. Question that I ask you is one of your samples like bismuth?

SG: Yeah. So this is some bismuth. It’s lab grown. I have these because my daughters love my rocks, so they’re all over my house now, but yeah, I think this was grown in a lab in Germany, and then I have some fibrous malachite and some septarian nodule. So, yeah, beautiful. That’s, like my major hobby.

VM: That’s beautiful. Thank you. Oh, I love collecting rocks and minerals. Like, I have a whole bunch. My favorite is labradorite. Like, I love that mineral

SG: That’s so beautiful, yeah,

VM: And I really love that you have lots of interest. Like my fiance, he plays Helldivers, and he also plays another game that’s like, with with pirates, and—exactly that one. And he’s been trying to get me the game to decompress, because, like, I do grad school, and then I have also the internship. And sometimes it’s, it’s that time for self care that you know, it’s really important as well, which we also have to promote.

SG: Exactly. Can I ask you reverse question? Balance all of that in your life, like, what do you do to make that work for you?

VM: Well, let me tell you, it is, it is quite challenging, because at as a geophysical analyst, I monitor earth and locate earthquakes within the area responsibility in Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. So and I do not work the same work shifts. So I work from 1pm to 9pm Mondays and Tuesdays, Friday, Saturday and Sundays, 5am to 1pm and I’m still quite learning, like, how to set up, like the routine during the day, and it looks very different, like old days, which is, which is a challenging part. Also, like, how do I fit in? Like grad school? So I have an advantage that my advisor also works at the network, so if I have a doubt in the moment with my grad school work, I just, you know, walk over there through her office, and then just knock on her door. So that’s one of the advantages. And since I have a graduate advisor that works with me, like she does her class works within my job. So that means, like, even though, like, the network is on campus, so it’s just like a 15 walk away from the main building where I take all of my other classes. It she tries as best as possible to accommodate my my work and my student life as well. So I have a few. Fiance, he has a seven year old daughter, which I consider my stepdaughter. And like, how do I all fit with this? I said times, right? For example, the days I go to, the later for work, I accompany him to take her to school. And then I also, like, see, like, okay, so what you’re studying, what you’re doing, and also engage the little breaks that I have for myself. So I choose, like, a chunk for work, a chunk for academics, and then a chunk that’s like, reserved family time. And that reserve family time for me is sacred. I do not look through my phone at all. And for me, like, that’s, that’s the time I set for my family, and it’s very precious, like, for example, for dinner, um, we also like going to the beach a lot. So here in Puerto Rico, we have that advancement as well. So I also do lots of like, water sports. I love to do exercise, and that’s what keeps me sane.

SG: Yeah, I will say lifting heavy weights will definitely I’ve been doing like Olympic style weight training for the last two years, and there’s nothing like lifting some heavy weights that will help you to, like physically de stress. That’s awesome.

VM: I full 100% recommend like exercise, any type of exercise that you love to do, for de stressing. And also, there are lots of time management apps, like, for example, I think one, it’s called, I think Notion and Trello. I think you could also use like, Loomly, Loomly, EarthScope uses it a lot to schedule, like, lots of things that will be published, and those are really important, because my like all of my people in my life that I have networked during the years, they’re always like, do something visual, like visual calendars, visual digital calendars, and set up reminders. And it’s not perfect, because sometimes I may get delayed in doing some tasks, but as soon as I keep using like, these schedules and these visuals that I get to see the time that I had, the time is required to do something and fit in breaks, I get better as I go along. Yeah, it’s not perfect, because sometimes I’m like, okay, it took me longer than I expected to do this type of assignment. But you know, as as I keep using, like, all of these like strategies and these task management apps, they have it in digital that you can have in your laptop, you can have in your phone as well. If you have, like, a smart watch, you could also, like, embed it and, you know, link it both of your calendars there. You know, that’s so that’s something that I do, and we’re like to balance, you know, everything out.

SG: That’s so true. Yeah, I have a big whiteboard hanging up on my wall, and I put all my homework assignments coming up everything, and then, yeah, doing a Gantt chart with Le space helped me manage my time better, because I could see the timeline. I don’t have a personal Gantt chart, but if it, if my life ever gets too chaotic, I’m gonna go there.

VM: Really good, like, I learned that in L’SPACE, and that is really good, like, for like, deadlines as well. Oh, yeah, yeah. So my other question would be, like, what advice would you give for students that also aspire, you know, a geoscience degree, and also aspire to apply to an internship at EarthScope?

SG: Yes, so I would tell them to be tenacious, be resilient, even though somebody might look like they have it all together, they probably went through some of the same things you’re experiencing. I know, for me, I’m 30, I am in classes with freshmen and sophomores, and you know, people think because I’m older, I have it together. I didn’t know what a subduction zone was three years ago. So just know that like your peers and even your mentors throughout it, have been through similar things, and for me, I didn’t think science was ever possible. I grew up with most of my immediate family in prison or jail and on substances, so I didn’t see people in my community being scientists, so I gate keep to that from myself. I said I could not do it. I’ll never be able to do the math, you know, I, what, what will I be? And I just encourage incoming students, you know, keep applying. You belong in science. Science is an open community. It’s not gated. And I got denied by EarthScope my freshman year, I think at least twice when I applied, and I kept building my, you know, skill set. So keep working at it. One denial isn’t the end of it. And, and just the main takeaway, I think, is you belong in science. Like, don’t tell yourself, don’t let imposter syndrome keep you from going what you actually love. Like, I’ve always collected rocks since I was six, and now I’m on the path to being a geologist, so it’s possible. And just keep, keep going. You belong here.

VM: Awesome. I fully agree. I’m 31 so I know the feeling very well, yeah. And also, I’m a first generation in my family too. So I completely, I completely get it. But science is for everybody, is super accessible, and if you truly want and you truly dream about it and work hard enough, you’ll definitely get there. My dad always has a saying that quitters never win. So what that means is you keep persevering. You know you only need one yes in order for that gate to open to so many possibilities out there. And just because you have a no doesn’t mean you can’t try and try again until you get it.

SG: Yep, yeah, and us right here, you being first gen and doing everything, and being a bit older too, like it’s playing out right here in this interview. So I think that’s like the best evidence that you know, even in our EarthScope orientation, I heard from my peers who I’m like, wow, they’re a volcanologist and they’re a doctorate, like, wow. They’re, I’ll never be there. They went through the same or, you know, different, slightly different. But the thing I love about geoscience is it’s not a traditional path. There’s not a one size fits all. So you know, don’t be afraid to change your major. Keep going and yeah, you belong. So

VM: Yeah, we reign on versatility.

SG: Yes, yeah,

VM: Wow. Thank you, Sarah, so much for discussing, like, what do you do in EarthScope, discussing a little bit about your work life balance, and some cool advice for undergrads and for aspiring students who also want to study geoscience, that’s pretty cool of you.

SG: Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the great interview.