{"id":1522,"date":"2016-04-28T12:41:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T16:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2017-02-09T12:12:19","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T17:12:19","slug":"seeing-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/2016\/seeing-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rekha

Rekha Srinivasan, a senior instructor in the Department of Chemistry, received two honors this year: the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award from the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER) and the J. Bruce Jackson, MD, Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring. Photo by Mike Sands.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ever since she was an elementary school student in Euclid, Ohio, Rebekah Russell <\/strong>could count on an almost uninterrupted parade of A\u2019s scrawled atop her assignments. When she entered college, she didn\u2019t expect anything different. Then she saw the C on her first test in organic chemistry at Case Western Reserve.<\/p>\n

She was hardly the only student in the class to get off to a shaky start. Introductory Organic Chemistry has a reputation as a weed-out course for many aspiring physicians. But Russell took no consolation from that. What made the grade easier to bear was a note that accompanied it. \u201cYou could have done better,\u201d Senior Instructor Rekha Srinivasan<\/strong> had written. \u201cCome see me. We\u2019ll work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell was astonished. \u201cIt was like she took a personal interest in me. I felt motivated. She said I could do better. I was like, She really believes in me! Wow!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, Srinivasan holds all her students to a high standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, they think I am intimidating,\u201d she concedes. \u201cI will never lie. I will never say, \u2018If you get a C, it\u2019s all right.\u2019 I don\u2019t care if they like me or dislike me. My job is to show them the beauty of organic chemistry. I start with the fact that I have a passion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Srinivasan\u2019s approach has won her a long string of honors, including a 2010 Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the 2015\u201316 Faculty Advisor of the Year Award from the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER) and a 2016 J. Bruce Jackson, MD, Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring. Many of the students who have come through her classes during her 12 years as an instructor at CWRU speak of her lasting impact on their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe definitely makes you work for your grade,\u201d says Rupika Kapur<\/strong>, a junior pre-med student from Phoenix. \u201cBut if you ever need her, she will be there for you. Even if you\u2019re no longer in her class, she\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story of Srinivasan\u2019s interactions with Russell is fairly typical. Russell, now a rising junior, was one of 40-plus students who heeded Srinivasan\u2019s constant invitations to visit her and ask questions. \u201cThose 40 students, I will remember every question they ask me,\u201d Srinivasan says. \u201cI know from day 1 that they try, and they want to do better. They stop by and talk to me and explain their fears to me. Rebekah had come to my office hours; I\u2019d seen her struggle through those problems. I could see her potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Russell ended up loving organic chemistry and walked away with an A in the first semester of the two-course sequence. Looking back on her work with Srinivasan, Russell says, \u201cShe\u2019s stern, but it\u2019s for all the right reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Perspective<\/h3>\n

Srinivasan began teaching in her early 20s, in her native India. She had earned two master\u2019s degrees by then, one in analytical chemistry, the other in synthetic organic chemistry, but, acceding to her family\u2019s wishes, she put off pursuing the doctoral degree she craved. \u201cIf you have a PhD,\u201d her father told her, \u201cwe will have trouble getting you married.\u201d Instead, she taught organic chemistry to undergraduates and analytical chemistry to graduate students just a year or two her junior at a college for women in Bangalore. It was there that she met a student whose fate continues to haunt her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of my best students,\u201d Srinivasan recalls. \u201cShe loved to study. She was really good. One day, she stopped coming to college.\u201d Srinivasan was desperate to find out what had happened. Eventually, she learned that the student had been married off to a man 20 years her senior who did not want his new bride to continue her education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were from an upper-middle-class family like mine, you could say no to a proposal. If you were from a poorer family\u2014this was 20 years ago\u2014you couldn\u2019t,\u201d Srinivasan says. \u201cHad I known earlier, my parents would have helped me; I would have stepped in so she could have an education, and even shelter. I remember coming home and crying for days. I was 23. I still think of her every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the student who disappeared, Srinivasan could choose among the suitors her parents presented to her, waiting for one who respected her ambition. In 1998, her parents invited Ravi Srinivasan, a young biomedical engineer working in Cleveland, and his parents for a visit. He was her third suitor. While she and Ravi sat outside on her home\u2019s tiny patio, their parents sat inside, listening to everything they said.<\/p>\n

She asked every suitor three questions: Was he a vegetarian? Did he smoke? And did he drink alcohol? Ravi answered these questions the way she hoped. But there was more to it. \u201cThere was just something about him, the way he spoke to me, that I felt, This is somebody I could do this with<\/em>.\u201d Then she dropped her bombshell: She wanted to pursue a doctoral degree. \u201cHe asked me what I was interested in. This was so surprising to me! I said nuclear quadrupole resonance. I think I said that N14 was the quadrupole nuclear, and he said it was N15. And I said, \u2018No, N14.\u2019 That was our first argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her first year of marriage, while working on her doctorate in chemistry at Case Western Reserve, Srinivasan had a daughter, Swathi, who is now 16. After completing her postdoctoral studies, she began teaching at CWRU.<\/p>\n

\"Srinivasan

Srinivasan constantly invites students in her organic chemistry classes to visit her and ask questions. Rebekah Russell (right) took her up on her offer. Photo by Mike Sands.<\/p><\/div>\n

Her experiences have helped shape her relationships with students\u2014especially female students. Usually, they come to her at first for help with organic chemistry, but things frequently evolve from there. \u201cA lot of interesting conversations can happen,\u201d she says. \u201cSome can be about chemistry.\u201c<\/p>\n

Peace Aminu <\/strong>(CWR \u201914), who is in her second year of medical school at Wright State University in Dayton, recalls how anxious she was about organic chemistry. She and a friend attended Srinivasan\u2019s office hours. \u201cWe\u2019d talk about O-Chem, and then we would get in deep conversations about life. We would chat about school, her daughter, being a mother\u2014things of that nature. I\u2019d go in for one thing and come out with a whole new perspective. She really opened my eyes to what it is to be a woman in science. I just felt better about the choices I was making. My career path was doable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as undergraduates, students like Aminu wonder how they will eventually balance career and family. \u201cThe most common question I get is, \u2018How do you do it all?\u2019\u201d Srinivasan says. \u201cI tell them, \u2018It all boils down to time management. Keep a disciplined eight-hour schedule Monday through Friday. Just because your classes are two hours apart does not mean that in the two hours in between you are on your cell phone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For Srinivasan, the birth of her daughter taught her what she needed to do if she was to thrive. \u201cI was sending my daughter to day care. That was a shock for the entire family, the whole extended family in India. How could you put a 5-month-old child in day care? But it made me extremely disciplined, because the minute I was back home, I knew that time was for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Srinivasan also counsels students to find a quiet place each day and take some time to meditate or think. \u201cCalm yourself. Think about what\u2019s bothering you. Then focus and make a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Srinivasan knows how important it is for women in the sciences to find mentors and role models. Early in her teaching career at Case Western Reserve, she participated in ACES (Academic Careers in Engineering and Science), a campus program supported by the National Science Foundation to help female scientists and engineers advance as leaders. She learned about the program from Mary Barkley<\/strong>, the M. Roger Clapp University Professor of Arts and Sciences and chair of the chemistry department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really helped me,\u201d Srinivasan says. \u201cCulturally, I was taught you never talk about your achievements. For four or five years I went around without letting people know what I was doing. I had to get out of that. Through ACES, I had a coach, and I had conversations with her. Now if somebody asks me what I\u2019m doing, I won\u2019t hesitate. I will talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the Spice Route<\/h3>\n

One of the students who used to meet with Srinivasan for interesting conversations was Nandini Sharma<\/strong> (CWR \u201912), a political science major taking organic chemistry. The two started talking one day about helping with women\u2019s education internationally, and before Sharma left Srinivasan\u2019s office, they had a plan. With the support of the WISER program, they started SEVA, which means \u201cservice\u201d in Sanskrit. The group raises money to provide essential supplies to a different Indian school each year. So far, it has supported six.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment School in India is often one room, with a wall painted black for the blackboard, with four or five grades in one room and a single teacher,\u201d Srinivasan says. \u201cWe buy school supplies, tables, chairs, books, school bags, uniforms, shoes\u2014everything the children need. For $1,000, you can flip a whole school.\u201d In some instances, SEVA has addressed children\u2019s medical needs as well.<\/p>\n

Srinivasan has also undertaken a second initiative outside her O-Chem classroom. A few years ago, Barkley suggested that she design a class for SAGES, the university\u2019s undergraduate seminar program.<\/p>\n

\u201cRekha, you\u2019re such a good cook,\u201d Barkley told her. \u201cYou\u2019re always talking about spices and how healthy they are. Why don\u2019t you do a course on spices?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"srinivasan_dish\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Inevitably, part of Srinivasan\u2019s curriculum focuses on spices\u2019 chemical structure. But because SAGES courses are interdisciplinary, she also incorporates history, culture and experiential learning. She takes her students to West Side Market, helps them cook Indian meals and has them identify a few dozen herbs and spices by sight and smell.<\/p>\n

In addition, Srinivasan uses the seminar to impart the same life skills she talks to her O-Chem students about. \u201cDo you get enough sleep?\u201d she asks them. \u201cAre you eating right? Your body is your temple. If you don\u2019t treat your body that way, it\u2019s going to affect your mind. Take care of it, and then your brain is able to function. Cook as much as possible. Hydrate yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occasionally, Srinivasan concedes, \u201cSome of them don\u2019t like it when I say \u2018Eat well\u2019 or \u2018Sleep well.\u2019 They think, You\u2019re not our mother. <\/em>No, believe me! I have a teenager at home; I don\u2019t want 300 more kids. But it\u2019s sensible advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenni Laidman is a freelance writer in Louisville, Ky.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since she was an elementary school student in Euclid, Ohio, Rebekah Russell <\/strong>could count on an almost uninterrupted parade of A\u2019s scrawled atop her assignments. When she entered college, she didn\u2019t expect anything different. …Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":1587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/147\/2016\/04\/14215302\/srinivasan_featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1928,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}