Science, education and teaching is what Dr. Julie Yu is passionate about and that is what keeps her engaged in her role as a Senior Scientists at the Exploratorium, San Francisco.  

We bring you a 2-part conversation with Dr. Yu. We sat down with her to find out how she developed an interest in science and how she became interested in teaching science not just to students, but to teachers that teach science. Teaching and learning science is fun is one way to describe Dr. Yu’s mission. And, she really makes you think as you will observe in our conversation where she ignited our curiosity with a simple science experiment.

Dr. Yu vividly recollects how her interest in science and everyday things started with food. When she was around 10 years old she wondered how noddles were made. How and why does noodle dough hold its shape when it was put in a pot of boiling water? 

She pursued her interest in science and got her undergraduate degree at Brown University. She relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to teach math and science at a school, which is when she got involved with the Exploratorium’s teaching institute. She went on to to get a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley and joined the Exploratorium.

Tune back for Part-2 of our conversation with Dr. Yu.

This conversation is part of part of Season 2 of our TV series on #WomeninSTEM and highlights the role of “hidden figures” in Silicon Valley.

This interview aired on TV in the US.

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