Impacting sciences and research outside of the lab with Sloane Evariste - Funded Research Officer
Dr. Sloane Evariste (she/her) is a Funded Research Officer in the Faculty of Arts & Science at The University of Toronto. She is the lead support person for the Sciences Sectoral units, with a primary focus on supporting grant application development for faculty members. Through her extensive research and travel experiences, Sloane gained valuable skills including grant writing, a solid understanding of the importance of research funding for advancing research, as well as strong communication and relationship building.
Sloane completed her BSc and MSc at Paris Diderot University then obtained her PhD at The University of Rennes I. She then spent a year as a Postdoctoral Scholar at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and most recently, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto.
I had the pleasure of sitting down (virtually) with Sloane to dive deeper into her research experience, her work, and her life as a mother. Her knowledge, passion, and wisdom is incredibly inspiring, and I had a difficult time picking the best parts of our conversation to highlight. Take a look at Sloane’s story below!
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
At first, I didn’t really know when I started my undergrad because I was in life science, so I studied biology, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics - it was very broad - but I fell in love with organic chemistry, so that’s why my Master’s was in medicinal chemistry. I didn’t really know what was going to be my path, I just knew that I loved organic chemistry. When I did my first internship as a Master’s student, I knew organic chemistry on paper, but this time it was in the lab and being involved in the reactions. My supervisor in the lab, who was a PhD student at the time, really helped me with everything, and I really loved the way we were working together. I didn’t know that I wanted to do a PhD in chemistry, but because I loved working in the lab, he told me, “I think you really need to do it.” At the time I wasn’t sure, but after a couple of months working in the lab, I knew this was for me, and this was when I decided to apply for a PhD. My goal was to just stop after the Master’s, but this internship really helped me figure out what I wanted to do, and that’s why I carried on in chemistry.
When I did my second internship, I was at Sanofi, and I was really close to the PI. We had very deep conversations about chemistry and what is going on in the world. And he was like, “you know what? I know you really like medicinal chemistry, but it seems like while we have so much to learn and to discover in medicinal chemistry,” – this was when I started 20 years ago – “when you are ill, usually they will tell you just to take this or this drug. They know what you need to take as medications. But right now what is very interesting is displays - OLED, photovoltaics, and renewable energies. This is what is going on right now in the world. This is where the main focus is. Because you already have a background in medicinal chemistry, it can be helpful for your career to have another perspective of chemistry, and I think this path will open more doors for you.” So I really thought about it, and I read a lot of articles, papers, went to conferences, and I was like, “that’s right! The trend is about renewable energy, about all of these new applications,” and that’s why I decided to jump in this new experience. It also allowed me to go out of my comfort zone and see something different about chemistry and other applications. I didn’t even know about organometallic chemistry because I didn’t do that in my Master’s, so I really learned a lot during my PhD, and I think it was the right choice.
So if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change anything because I think you have so much to learn in science. I think it’s a shame to stay in exactly the same area and to focus only on one thing. Even in chemistry, it’s so broad and you have so many applications. So for me, I think if you want to be a chemist who knows about a lot of aspects of chemistry, it’s better to not stay in the same field.
You see, when I arrived in Toronto and was working in polymers, it was the first time ever that I worked on polymers. At first it was really challenging because the graduate students knew much more than me in that field, and I had to provide them with advice and supervise them. I had to read and learn a lot, and quickly learn more about my research because when you are supposed to supervise someone, you need to know what you are doing. So that was very challenging, but in a good way.
I also knew I didn’t want to stay in academia and be a professor, so I decided to see something else instead of staying in phosphorus chemistry and to learn about polymers instead. And I loved my experience at U of T – the lab was great, the members were awesome, and because I was new to the city, it was a good way to learn how it works here in Toronto. It was good for my career, but the personal experience was great as well.
It wasn’t easy at the time because I was thinking about going into industry as well and continue doing research. I talked a lot with people who were working in industry, and it was like they have almost no life. As a post doc, you work countless hours. You go, you work, you work. You know when you will arrive, but you never know when you will leave. So is it something I really want to do for all my life? I was thinking, “if I want to impact chemistry, research, science in general, but outside the lab, what can I do?” This is when I started to look at other jobs outside the lab and really read the job descriptions. And I thought, “that can be very interesting. I have so many years of experience working in the lab, let me see how it is outside the lab, and then I will be able to decide what I really like.” They opened the funded research officer job at U of T and I really liked the job description. So I talked with other funded research officers to know about their day-to-day job, how they like it, and what they are really doing, and after that I decided to apply. When I got the job, I was afraid of not being in the lab and not doing chemistry.” But finally, I loved it! What I love is that it’s not only chemistry right now, it’s science in general. It feels like you are impacting science with a big S and not just your chemistry in your bench. Honestly, I don’t know in a few years what it’s gonna be, but right now it seems like I found my place.
It feels like you are impacting science with a big S and not just your chemistry in your bench.
When I moved to the US, that was the most challenging move, because I didn’t know anybody there, and my English was not so great at the time. When I arrived, I was the French girl, so that was kind of stressful because I was worried about working only in English. In Cleveland, nobody was speaking French, so I was afraid of this at first. My PI could see my stress at the time, and one time he just said, “Sloane, don’t worry about this, even if your English is not perfect, trust me, I wish I could speak French like you are speaking English right now, so don’t worry. Even if it’s not perfect, we can understand you, so don’t be afraid and just let it go.” When you have this stress, it’s not a good way to improve and to learn, because each time you are afraid to talk – because you’re worried if it’s going to be a good word, a good tense, the accent – but once you face this fear and you just talk and try to meet people, it’s much better. That was the stressful part, but honestly, everyone there was so, so kind and very helpful. They really helped me to be fully integrated in the team and in the city, so my fear maybe lasted the first month.
The most stressful experience for me was when I was in my PhD because I was in partnership with a Hong Kongese lab. I went there for a month to do some characterizations of my compound, and that was very stressful. I was the only girl in the lab. Only girl and only black person. There, you don’t have so many black people, and some people were asking to take photos of me! *laughs*
Oh my gosh, was that a strange experience for you? How did you feel?
Some family will come next to me and ask to take a picture all together, so YES, *still laughing* that was kind of strange, but I think it was a culture thing, and they weren’t mean. They were just curious, you see, because for them, it was their first time meeting a black person. But it was a very good experience because afterwards, I met new people there and we did so much outside the lab. We visited a lot of places, and they brought me to some new restaurants. I tried new food. As a cultural thing, that was a very great experience because it allowed me to see also how the Asian culture can be very different from ours.
Right now, the exciting stuff in my life is that I’m a mom of two. I still cannot believe it, and it’s a journey because you are learning so, so much from your kids. My daughter is only 18 months, and now she’s a big sister. Even if she’s young, she’s doing grown-up stuff being like, “I want to carry him,” and everything. So that’s very cute to see how she’s reacting to her little brother.
I think right now what I like [about my life] is I’m in a good place with my work-life balance. I’m very happy in my job, and at the same time, I can also have my personal life, have kids, and also be a working mom. That was my goal, and I think I almost got it. *chuckles*
Almost. So still working on it?
Yes, still. But that’s a good feeling to know that I can still do my job, be involved, and do my stuff, because I really like what I’m doing, and I have my kids and do other activities with them. What is good in 2022 is you can have both. It’s not like before where you had to choose, because you are a woman, between having a life and having a job, so I’m really happy about this and really happy about all the things the pandemic also brought. That’s why, for instance, they’re talking about EDI everywhere. It’s because people took the time to really think about the diversity and inclusion which are needed in the workplace and in the world in general. We are still working on this, but I really hope one day it’s gonna be equal for everyone.
I would say phosphorus because I worked on phosphorus for so many years and because it’s a very challenging element. We are still learning so much about it because its reactivity, stability and everything can change so, so much depending on the surroundings, so I would say phosphorus.
