"Working with students is a highlight for me. Maybe if they see someone like me doing something they never knew was possible, it might change their lives." (MIT News)

Meet Dr. Ciara Sivels a nuclear engineer, elementary school math mentor, and almost pastry chef who became the FIRST black woman to earn a PhD from University of Michigan in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences. She now works at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where she looks at how radiation interacts with and changes the properties of various types of materials. Her work as a math mentor for children she says is one of her highlights, as she hopes if they see someone like her doing something they never knew was possible, it might change their lives.