Engagements & Resources

Professor Jen Heemstra, Chair of the Chemistry Department at Washington University, shares her remarkable journey from being told she wasn’t “good enough” for science to leading in academia. This conversation explores navigating failure, building inclusive and psychologically safe academic spaces, and why leadership roles in academia are often misunderstood. Insights from her upcoming book, Lab Work to Leadership, offer actionable strategies for thriving as a leader in science...

In this episode, Jen discusses the iterative process of failure and success in her lab, emphasizing the importance of creating a psychologically safe space for her team to experiment and learn. Jen also highlights the critical role of leadership in academic settings and how her unexpected transition into a leadership role has become one of the most rewarding aspects of her career — an “accidental leader” (the theme of a book she's writing). Jennifer's “favorite mistake” concerns a significant misunderstanding of...

On season 4 episode 4 of the agile academic, I chat with Dr. Jen Heemstra, chair and professor of chemistry at Washington University of St. Louis. Jen and I cover culture, leadership, failure, and what it means to be a mentor.

Dr. Jen Heemstra, the Department Chair of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, sits down with us to chat about the personal and interpersonal challenges common to science. She shares how to identify red flags in a lab setting if you’re interviewing or rotating and gives ideas for questions we should be asking ourselves and posing in interviews if we are searching for a thesis advisor. She outlines some of the most common causes of burnout and provides encouraging advice on how to combat it. We learn from her how to differentiate between burnout, simply being in...

In this episode of Exploration Science, Professor Jennifer Heemstra discusses the biomolecular diversity of peptide nucleic acids, the challenges of our current scientific reward structure, and the opportunity to grow through failure. Bilingual Peptide Nucleic Acids: Encoding the Languages of Nucleic Acids and Proteins in a Single Self-Assembling Biopolymer: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.9b09146

In this episode, we step beyond the life sciences to talk with Jen Heemstra, a professor of chemistry who brings much energy to thinking about mentoring and improving academic culture Jen tells us how early failures drove her to strive for success in science She shares how she overcame early doubts about an academic career She talks about how different students need different mentoring styles and how important it is to adjust each time...

Your supervisor & the culture of their research group will have significant impact on your happiness and success in graduate school. Here, Jen Heemstra talks us through what should be considered when choosing the right supervisor, and how to spot red flags.

Regardless of your career path, or lack thereof, you will enjoy this. Scientists aren’t taught how to be leaders. Dr. Jen Heemstra is a chemist, professor, and uncommon leader. Anyone in academia, as well as in business, could learn a great deal from her and her career path. Unpretentious, candid, and passionate about making the world a better place. A human for our times.

Emory University Professor Jen Heemstra joined us for a conversation about strategies for success as graduate student mentors. We also chatted about ideas for faculty development and ways we can foster strong mentors. A few things we talked about: Fear of failure, why we as mentors should bring the same level of curiosity to our mentoring as we do to our science...

In this episode, I interview Professor of Chemistry at Emory University Jen Heemstra. Join us as we discuss how to handle failure and adversity in your day-to-day life as well as how Jen's lab is building molecules to address the challenges of the 21st century.