[APPLAUSE]
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA:
Thanks a million.
I have been looking forward
to seeing you all week.
So it's Friday, and I've
been waiting all week.
So, hello.
How nice to meet you.
I'm Mariette, and you're
probably thinking, wow, two
chiefs in your title.
That's pretty cool.
The Chief Judge of Google
Science Fair part of it
is by far the most fun part of
it, most awesome part of it.
So I hope you will think
about the Google Science Fair,
but let me talk to you for
just a minute about the 170
years of "Scientific
American" part,
and "Scientific American"
was started right here in New
York, where you guys all are.
And the guy who started it had
this great name, Rufus Porter,
which I loved, and
he had offices here
where scientists and inventors
would actually come to visit.
So you all know
what your iTunes,
or whatever you're listening
to, your music-- the first time
voice was ever heard outside
of the labs of Thomas Edison--
raise your hand if you've
heard of this guy, Thomas
Edison, the
lightbulb, but he also
invented this thing that in the
time was called the phonograph.
And he brought it to
"Scientific American."
And you could probably imagine
the editors are probably
thinking what's this
giant box this guy has.
He puts this cylinder on it, and
it plays, and it says, hello.
How do you like the talking box?
That was pretty
surprising and awesome,
and he did that using science.
And it took him a
long time to do it,
and he worked away
at it, and then
Thomas Edison-- a lot
of other inventors
made a lot of other things,
a lot of which we're all
using right now-- this
microphone, the phones
that you're not allowed
to tweet, and Snapchat on,
and everything else on
that we've been told about,
the building we're in, all of
this stuff-- all of this stuff
was invented, improved
through the process
that we call science,
because science is not
something you read
about in a history book
like we might read
about Thomas Edison.
No.
It's a way we think.
It's a way we do stuff.
It's a way we ask a question.
How could we hear
stuff from people
when they're not in the room?
Well, phonograph, later
phone, microphone.
How could we cure diseases?
How could we solve
problems for people?
So science is all
about that, and it's
about a way of exploring
and discovering,
and anybody can do it.
So maybe you think
that's something
that people do in
a lab, or you have
to be a genius
like Thomas Edison.
Maybe you-- well, I don't know.
Let me ask you this question.
Raise your hand if you've
ever met a scientist.
You ever met one?
I see a lot of good hands,
but actually everybody
put your hand up.
Everybody was born a scientist.
Everybody here was
born a scientist.
How do I know that?
Because I told you science is
a way of looking at the world
and thinking.
Think of a baby in a high chair.
Do you ever watch a
baby in a high chair?
There's a meatball there.
There's Cheerios.
Baby goes.
Watch what happens.
Throw the Cheerio.
Hm.
Cheerio goes down different.
If they have a feather, feather
falls differently still.
That is a baby scientist
running an experiment,
and you all can do that.
Everybody does that.
Everybody does it every day.
You just don't think
of it like that.
You just don't call it
that, but that is science.
And so I encourage you--
and by the way, this thing
of science-- I told
you, inventions and so
on-- for the grown ups in the
room, between World War II
and now, about a third to
a half of all of the US's
economic growth is from
basic research that
led to inventions like the
ones we're all enjoying today.
And so let me just
tell you tell you
guys who are listening
to me-- ask the question.
Ask a question.
Ask something you want.
Apply the testing.
Find out what happens, and
when you find out what happens,
you should really think about
entering the Google Science
Fair.
So now I'd would
love to introduce you
to one of my favorite
scientists, Shree, who you've
heard a little bit about.
And I first met in 2011 when
I was the first time Chief
Judge of the Google
Science Fair,
and I was inspired
by her questions.
So Shree saw a problem.
She had her-- I feel
very awful about it--
her grandfather dying of cancer.
And she had a question of why do
some therapies not work anymore
with cancer?
And she worked on that question,
and she kept working on it,
and has done so many other
amazing things since.
So I know you're all so lucky
as I am to meet her here
and to hear what she's
going to tell us all,
and I can't wait
to hear it myself.
So welcome, please, to Shree.
[APPLAUSE]
SHREE BOSE: All
right, I am really
excited to be here today, guys.
So excited.
I am really excited about
doing something a little bit
different today.
So instead of just
talking at you guys,
I want to make sure you
talk back at me, all right?
So be sure-- please interact.
Please engage.
If there's something that
doesn't make sense to you,
type in questions and ask
me whatever you want to.
So I'm a scientist, which means
I'm trained to ask questions.
That's how everything
I've done started.
So during this talk,
I want you guys
to channel your inner
scientist, and whenever
you think of a
question, I want you
to go to this link that's gonna
appear on the screen and just
type it in so I can see it.
And throughout my entire
talk, I want you guys
to keep asking those questions.
So by the end, we
can answer them
and see what matters to you
guys, what you guys care about,
and we can get
some answers going.
Is everyone going to do that?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
SHREE BOSE: Yeah?
OK, awesome.
Well, I told you guys
I like questions.
Well, I wasn't
kidding about that.
So I want to answer
the types of questions
that can change the world, but
when I was that little kid,
I wasn't really
always like that.
I mean, at the time, I was
really a self centered science
geek.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, that meant that I
liked thinking of problems
that I had.
I liked playing with science
to make my life better,
and that led to some
pretty crazy projects.
I'm not going to lie to you.
In third grade, I literally
did my first science project
because I didn't like
eating my vegetables.
So a quick show of hands-- how
many of you guys like spinach?
Whoa.
How many of you guys
don't like spinach?
I'm with you guys.
I'm with you haters.
So when I was in
third grade, I decided
that I wanted to make
spinach more exciting to eat,
so I was going to turn it blue.
Sounds great, right?
Blue spinach-- that's
something you'd eat.
So my parents, bless
their souls, went out,
bought me a spinach plant,
some blue food coloring,
and a syringe.
You should not give a syringe to
a third grader for the record,
but I took this
blue food coloring,
and I proceeded to inject
it into the spinach plant,
and then I forgot about
it for two months.
And I remember on the
day of this science
fair I pulled out this dried,
withered, gross spinach
plant with blotches
of blue on it,
and I took that in as my
very first science project.
And I wish I could say
it got better from there,
but my next project
I literally did
because I didn't like
taking out the trash.
In fact, I hated the idea of
rolling that giant garbage can
to the curb every
week so much that I
decided to build a remote
controlled garbage can.
I mean, how lazy is that?
And I remember I built this
little model of a trash can,
and it was a tiny
little replica,
and on the day of the
science fair, I took it in,
and the science fair
was held in our gym.
And I remember I just spent the
day piloting this little trash
can around other
people's projects
instead of actually
presenting it.
And these were fun times.
They were fun projects.
Everyone was laughing.
It was a lot of fun, but
I wasn't really asking
the types of questions that
could change the world.
In fact, I really didn't ask the
important scientific questions
until I turned 15
years old, and then I
became-- I went
from this kid who
was doing silly science
projects to a kid who
wanted to cure cancer.
When I was 15, my
grandfather passed away.
My grandfather was one of
the most organized people
I've ever met.
He was the kind of person who
would save hundreds of horribly
taken pictures from
family road trips that
were blurry and awful, and he
would label them and keep them
in photo albums for years.
And he had these
file cabinets that
were just full of
chronologically ordered
"National Geographic" magazines
that were 30 years old,
but that wasn't the man I saw
towards the end of his life.
My grandfather had
become bedridden.
He was dependent.
He wasn't the same grandfather
I had grown up with,
and that was hard.
That was really hard to
see, and he wasn't alone
in that experience.
I mean, a lot of people
all over the world
are affected by cancer--
maybe some of you
guys, maybe some of
your family members.
I mean, by the numbers,
there are millions,
but usually it just
takes one to really want
to make a difference.
And for me, my
grandfather was my one,
and I knew I had
to do something.
So what do you do when you have
a lot of big questions and very
few answers?
Well, I did what any 15-year-old
would do, and I googled it.
I started reading everything
I could get my hands on.
I read scientific articles.
I read blog posts
from cancer patients
who were going
through chemotherapy.
I even read some
pretty nutty conspiracy
theories about cancer,
and I remember I learned.
I learned a lot.
I was learning every
day, and I would
go to-- I would learn
outside of class,
and then I would go
into the classroom,
and we would see these diagrams
of how cancer supposedly
happened.
And I remember one
day sitting in class,
seeing this diagram
of this piece of DNA,
and there was a tiny
lightning bolt hitting it.
And my teacher said,
that's how cancer happens.
It's just genes getting damaged.
That's it.
And I remember staring
at that, staring
at that tiny little
lightning bolt,
and thinking this
is just not enough.
And so all of the
reading I was doing,
all of the information
that I had gathered,
all of the questions
I was asking
that I was getting
answers to, all of it
was building to
something bigger.
At some point, I realized the
questions that I was asking
were actually listed as
questions on the research goal
pages for professors,
and universities,
and graduate labs.
The same questions I was
asking as a 15-year-old
were questions that the
entire scientific community
was asking, and
that was incredible.
That was the stepping stone,
and I realized at that point
that I couldn't have the sort of
impact I wanted to make alone.
I had to find help.
So in a similar way to how
you would find a restaurant
to eat at tonight by searching
a few keywords on Google,
I found professors.
I started emailing hundreds
of professors at local labs
and universities, and I
started off all of my emails
with the first line saying,
hi, my name is Shree Bose.
I'm 15 years old, and I
want to do cancer research.
Sounds insane, right?
Well, all of the
professors I e-mailed
must have thought so, because
I got rejected by all of them.
I mean, it got to a point
where the rejections almost
didn't faze me anymore.
It was almost like
my knee jerk reaction
to one rejection
would, OK, we're
on to the next professor,
the next opportunity,
the next chance.
I was on a mission,
and I wasn't going
to stop until I found
somebody to take me on.
So, fully expecting
another rejection,
I e-mailed Dr. Alakananda
Basu, a professor
at the University of North
Texas Health Science Center.
Same e-mail, and
for the first time,
I got a response that
wasn't, oh, you're too young,
or, oh, please don't
contact me again.
It was come into my
lab, and we can chat.
We can see why you're
excited about this,
what makes you tick.
And so I remember on
this beautiful spring
day in Fort Worth, Texas
I made my mom drive me
to a graduate lab.
And I remember I was sitting
in this graduate lab.
There were researchers
next to me.
They're pouring buffers and
doing cool looking stuff,
and that was before
I knew the science.
And I remember
sitting there shaking.
I was physically shaking,
because all I wanted to do
was to work in this lab,
and I was so scared.
And I remember at the time
the e-mail I was writing
to all of these
professors actually
had an idea for a project that
I kind of thought might work,
and it was a cool idea.
And Dr. Basu walks
into this lab,
and one of the first things
out of her mouth is, you know,
I read your proposal, and
it didn't make any sense.
It would never work.
And I remember all of
my muscles tensed up.
I was like, oh god, here
comes the rejection.
Here we go.
And then she went
on, and she said,
but I like the way you
thought through it.
I liked where you were going.
I liked the way you questioned
this entire problem,
and so if you want, you can come
work in my lab for the summer,
and that was it.
That was where it all started.
After these months of absolutely
making a fool of myself
and just writing nonsensical
ideas to these professors who
knew so much more
than me, it was really
that that gave me the chance
to do something amazing.
So don't be afraid
to ask for help.
Don't be afraid to reach out
when you realize that you can't
have the sort of
impact you want alone,
because it's one of the most
powerful things you can do.
For me, I started
working in this lab
as a freshman in high school.
I had just finished freshman
year of high school.
I was working in this lab.
I was assigned this project
on drug resistance in breast
cancer, so basically
understanding
why some cells stop
responding to a drug.
And for the first summer, I
remember I just bumbled around.
I broke glassware.
I dropped experimental results
that took days to redo.
I annoyed literally
everybody in this lab
all the time asking
the dumbest questions,
and I remember along
the way I learned.
I learned a lot of really,
really, really cool things,
and I remember as I was
learning I kind of fell
in love with research.
It was incredible.
I felt like it was
just so powerful to be
able to think through a
problem and go from beginning
to end and have an experimental
result that could tell you
something about a cancer
patient who might be suffering
from breast cancer or a
patient who's being told
that the breast
cancer has come back,
and that was incredibly
powerful to me.
Also, I never looked
like that in the lab.
That's a very intense picture.
[LAUGHTER]
But I remember at the time
I was so excited about what
I was working on, and I wanted
to share it with everybody
who would listen to me.
And I remember at the end of
the summer we had this project.
I had finished this
complete project.
It was on drug
resistance, breast cancer,
and I was ready to enter
in to another science fair.
And I mean, this is a science
fair I've been competing in
since I was a little
kid, and this project
is better than blue spinach and
remote controlled garbage cans,
right?
And I remember I went
to the science fair.
I presented my project,
and at the awards ceremony,
I won nothing.
I remember I walked out of this
room, and I was empty handed.
I was sad.
I had a feeling like I never
wanted to do research again.
I mean, I had fallen in love
with biology and medicine,
and I thought it was
the coolest thing ever.
And it turned out I
kind of sucked at it,
and that was dark.
That was a crushing,
crushing sort of feeling,
and I remember at
the time I decided
I would turn my attention
away from research.
I would stop doing that.
I was going to focus
on poetry and moping.
Those were going to
be my two things.
That was it.
[LAUGHTER]
And I kept it up for
quite a few months.
I remember I felt just so
downtrodden by everything that
had happened, but
after three months,
I was still sitting
in biology class
and still what I was learning
still was not enough.
And I remember the reason I had
joined a lab in the first place
was because I wanted
to make a difference.
I wanted to understand.
I wanted to know how
this disease that
had killed my grandfather
worked and how
we could make it
better for everybody
else who was suffering.
And so I went back
the next year.
I remember I was given
the choice-- I was given
the choice to either work on
this project on breast cancer,
or I could come up with a new
project on ovarian cancer,
and I just jumped
at that opportunity.
I was like, that.
I'll do that.
And so over the course
of the next summer,
I actually developed this really
cool project on drug resistance
in ovarian cancer
along with my mentor.
And so basically what that meant
is we wanted to understand why
some cells died when we gave
them a chemotherapy drug
and why some cells didn't.
And so that basically
would correlate--
that would mean that we
could understand better
why some patients
stopped responding
to some medicines--
really big stuff.
And we discovered a really
cool thing-- basically
that this one energy
protein that's
involved in how
cells process energy
is actually really important
in how that switch happens.
And so I remember at the time
I did this really cool project.
I really wanted to
share it with the world,
but it was science fairs,
and I was kind of scared.
And one day, I got a call from
my dad, and my dad said, hey,
have you been on the home
page of Google today?
There's something right
under the search bar
that I think you would
be interested in.
So I said, no, and
then I went online.
And right under
the search bar it
said, introducing the first
ever Google Global Science Fair.
And I thought, you know, I
wouldn't have done any of this
without Google, and I want to
share what I have figured out
with the world.
So all of my work, all of my
passion, all of my excitement--
I put that all into this
really cool website,
and I sent off the link,
and a few months later, I
found out that I was
going to Mountain View.
So I was one of 15
global finalists, which
meant that, when I
went to California,
I was with 14 other kids
who also were doing projects
that could change the world.
And I mean, I
remember at one point
we had to have these public
booths where you brought
stuff and showed it off to
the public who would come in
and want to know
about your project.
And they told us to
bring in something
that was either
representative of us
or representative
of our project.
And I worked with cancer,
so you can't really
bring in cancer cells.
So I decided, since
I'm from Texas,
I would bring in a cowboy boot
and a statue of a cowboy, which
is a great idea if
you think about it.
It's great.
Only problem--
[LAUGHTER]
Only problem was that
at some point in transit
the cowboy's head came off.
So on my table, I had a
headless cowboy statue,
and the kid next to me had a
fully functional robotic LEGO
arm.
And at that point, I was
like, all right, we're done.
We're done here.
We're not winning.
OK, it's fine.
And so I remember just knowing
that made me so much calmer.
So when I went in to talk
to the judges, I was honest.
Mariette was one
of my judges, and I
remember I was brutally honest.
There were points I would
talk about messing up in lab,
and getting rejected,
and why I was
so excited to be able to
work on a project like this.
And when I won the Google
Science Fair in 2011,
it didn't feel like
I was winning just
because of the work.
It felt really like it was
an award for my passion,
for how determined I
was, for how excited I
was to be able to work on this
thing that had affected me
so closely.
It felt like it was really
an award for all of the kids
who have ever been
told that they're
too young to do something or
that-- or kids who have told
themselves that they can't
do something because of age,
or gender, or opportunity.
It was an honor to win
the Google Science Fair,
and after that, I got to
do a lot of really, really
cool things, including getting
to meet President Obama twice,
and there was just
something about seeing
such a powerful person who was
so passionate about getting
kids excited about science, and
technology, and engineering,
and math that just
made me excited to be
able to share my mentorship
with the entire world.
And over the past
few years, I have
gotten to do a lot of
really exciting things.
I mean, I've made some of
my best friends at Harvard.
I started a company to
help kids get started
with building
technology and learning
about engineering hardware.
I was one of "Glamour"
magazine's top 10 college
women, where they put
a lot of makeup on you
and make you look a lot better.
[LAUGHTER]
I've gotten to do research
at Harvard Medical School,
and I'm going on to start
my career in medicine
and research, and it's been
a really, really exciting
journey, but you know, I
never thought of myself
as an inventor, or a
scientist, or an entrepreneur.
Honestly, I just
asked the questions
that mattered the most
to me, whether that
was how to turn spinach
blue or how to cure cancer.
And so today I want you
to do something with me.
I want you to think about the
problems that matter to you.
The world is this
giant beautiful place,
and there's so much left
to explore and discover.
So let's think about
it for a second.
What are those questions
that matter to you?
And now I want you to go
do something with that,
because that's where
everything I have done so far
has begun-- with a question.
And that's where I want your
stories and your journeys
to begin, as well.
So today I want you to
find your questions,
make your opportunities,
and create your own answers,
because together
I know we can do
incredible things in this world
if we only begin to ask, how?
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, guys.
So you guys did a really great
job with asking questions,
so I'm going to go
to these questions.
Oh, we've got a lot.
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA:
Yeah, you do.
SHREE BOSE: Yes.
Let's go with the top
voted one from Leila,
who asks, making the
world better sounds hard.
How do I even start?
And I love this question,
because it's not something
you really think about.
You don't start off
by saying, well,
I want to change the world.
You start off by saying this
is something that bothers me,
and I want to figure
it out, and then
you find out that this thing
that bothered you actually
bothers a lot of people
that's how it all starts.
So you asked, how
do you even start?
Good question.
I want all of us
to take one second
and think about a
problem that you've
run into today-- just today.
Maybe it's not
even your problem.
Maybe it's a problem that
your parents ran into,
or a friend, or somebody
else, but let's think
of that problem.
Got it?
Now I want you to think
about how you would solve it.
Is there an easy way to do that?
We'll start with that.
That's how you start
changing the world.
That's how everything
begins-- is really
finding a problem
that impacts you
and then trying to come up
with solutions that can matter
to everyone, but that's
a really great question,
and thank you, Leila.
So, second question
is, what was it
like to meet President Obama?
Oh, I was so starstruck.
I remember this.
I was so starstruck.
They had us in this little
waiting area outside the Oval
Office at the very beginning,
and the Oval Office
has a lot of hidden doors.
So there's no really
blatant doors anywhere,
and so I remember
I was standing.
I was facing somebody
else talking,
and there was a wall behind
me, and I turned around,
and all of a sudden
the wall was gone.
It was a door, and President
Obama is standing there,
and he goes in
for the handshake.
And I'm so panicked
at that point
that I just bear hugged him.
[APPLAUSE]
So it was amazing to
meet President Obama,
but absolutely honestly it
was incredible to really see
somebody who is in such
a high position who
very evidently cared so much
about getting kids started
in science.
That's a really
powerful thing, and I
think it sets a tone for how we
approach STEM in this country,
and that's incredible, and
that's something all of us
will benefit from.
Thank you, Steven, for
that wonderful question
where I got to share
my bear hug with Obama.
Our next question is from Dre.
How can we bridge
the gap with the lack
of women of color in
science and STEM--
so science, technology,
engineering, and math--
and that is a really,
really good question
because that's something I'm
especially passionate about.
I mean, I grew-- I
was really lucky.
I grew up in a household
where it didn't really
feel like I couldn't
do something.
That really wasn't a big thing.
So when I wanted
to start research,
it didn't feel like there were
any barriers to making that
happen, and so actually when
I was first starting this tech
company with my co-founder,
who happens to be a man,
we ended up going to
this tech conference.
And our boxes actually look
like they're made out of wood,
so they look kind of
just like regular boxes
that you might carry
snacks around in.
And this tech conference was
full-- it mostly-- 80% men.
And I remember we
were walking around,
and I was holding
the box, and I got
asked three times if there
were cookies in the box.
And after the third time,
I was like, this is weird.
This is definitely weird.
So I handed it off
to my co-founder,
and for the next hour,
he carried it around.
The questions he got were,
what cool piece of tech
is in that box?
It's really hard to say that
these gender divides don't
still exist, and they do.
And I think one of the
most powerful things we
can do to bridge that gap
that you're talking about here
is actually better mentoring.
I think that's
the key to letting
amazing thoughts and amazing
people come to the forefront
and giving them the chance to
really do what they want to do.
My entire journey
started with mentoring,
and I think it's a
very powerful thing.
So thank you, Dre.
My next question is
from Steve, who asks,
how did you figure out how to
get started with your cancer
research?
And this is an awesome
question, because honestly I
didn't have a plotted
out way to do things.
I started reading and
reading everything
I possibly could, and then just
proposing nonsensical ideas
to people who knew
a lot more than me,
but I would say the
first step to my journey
on getting started
with cancer research
was by finding a mentor.
And so for a lot of you
students out in the audience,
and even actually for
parents and Googlers,
I think one of the most
powerful things you
can do when you want to change
something or make something
better is to find the
people who can help you
and to not be afraid to
reach out to those people,
make a fool of yourself
if you have to,
but eventually that's
what makes the difference.
That is it.
Going out and doing something
is the very first step,
whether that's reading
and then figuring out
that you need to find mentors
or just reaching out and talking
to people who might
be able to help you.
So really great question.
Thank you, Steve.
So my next question
is from anonymous,
who asks, any tips
for anyone who
wants to apply for the
Google Science Fair?
This is a really good question
because the Google Science
Fair is about to open.
Show of hands.
How many of you guys
are going to apply now?
There we go.
There we go.
Woo!
[APPLAUSE]
So my tips for the
Google Science Fair
would be to get your
projects in early.
So make your
websites before it's
due in a, week which is what I
did, but seriously actually go
online.
Start making your sites
as soon as possible.
If you have yet to do a
project, start finding mentors,
ask questions that
matter to you,
and really follow
the templates that
are given for the
Google Science Fair
on how to think through
those questions,
because they're really a good
starting point if you don't
know how to go about things yet.
So those are probably one of the
best tips I can give, actually.
So my next question--
as you guys are voting,
it actually pops to the top.
So I get to see in real time
what you guys care about,
and that's an incredible thing.
So the next-- I
love this question.
What's the next question you'd
like to answer with science?
So I think I've done a
lot of really cool things
over the past few years,
from starting the company,
to doing research, to
getting to talk to kids
and figure out how to mentor
and how to really create
networks that matter.
And so the next
question I'm really
excited to answer with
science is actually
about my initial
passion for cancer,
for understanding how
cancer cells process energy
in different ways
than normal cells
and whether we can
figure out a better
way to target cancer
cells by understanding
those differences.
So that's sort of the next
big question I'm going for.
And I think I have time
for one last question,
and let me find it.
Let's see.
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA: You can
do a couple more, if you'd like.
SHREE BOSE: A couple more?
Oh, sweet.
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA: Should
we hear a couple more answers?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
SHREE BOSE: Couple more answers?
I love this question.
What was your most
inspiring learning memory
in school and outside of school?
So this is from Jonathan.
Thank you, Jonathan.
I think in school one of my
most inspiring learning moments
was actually with
my biology teacher.
At one point, when I
wasn't understanding
what was happening in class, I
went in, and I talked to her,
and I said, you know,
this doesn't make sense.
And she was one of
the first people
who said, if this
doesn't make sense,
try to find some
higher level things.
And I remember at the time
the things I was reading
didn't really make sense.
The scientific articles
were full of jargon.
So I went from having to
Google every other word,
and as I read more, I would
have to Google every fifth word.
And that was
progress, but that was
one of my most
inspiring moments--
was this teacher
really telling me,
you know, learn outside
of just this classroom.
Learn as much as you possibly
can and use all of the tools
you have to figure out what
information you want to get.
Outside of school, actually,
is one of my earliest memories
with science that
actually solidified why
I was excited about science.
I grew up with an older brother.
He's two years older
than me, super cool.
And when we were
little, I remember
he would come home
every day, and since I
was younger and the only
person he could boss around,
he would make me sit down, and
he would explain everything
he learned in science class.
And I remember he had
this spark in his eye,
and there was just something
magical about being taught
by somebody who is so obviously
excited about what he is saying
that just I remember
looking at him and thinking,
I want to be that excited.
I want to be that excited
about atoms, and molecules,
and cells, and things that
I didn't even understand,
but let us break apart the world
and put it back together again.
And so I think that
was one of my most
inspiring just general
memories in life--
has been the influence
of my older brother
and having him teach
me, and still teach me
throughout my entire life.
A few more questions.
So let me go up.
I really like this question
because it's actually
very relevant to all of the
students in the audience.
So [INAUDIBLE], thank you.
How did you balance school
work with being a scientist?
And that's hard.
You know, I did a lot of these
projects during my summers.
My friends were out
having a good time,
and we would meet up,
and they would tell me
about this cool amusement
park they went to
or the time they
went out to coffee.
And I'd be like, do you want
to hear about breast cancer,
though?
I think you do.
[LAUGHTER]
And then I would proceed to
explain my project, but I mean,
it's a level of balance.
It really is, and when I was
working as a college student
I did research while doing
classes at the same time,
and it ends up being
a juggling act,
but I will say what
made that possible
is the fact that I loved every
single thing that I was doing.
So when I was doing
research and when
I was doing class work
really late at night,
it wasn't because I
had to be doing it.
It was because I
wanted to be, and I
think if you can find the things
that you love that balance
becomes so much easier,
but it is a balancing act,
and it really requires
a level of organization
that I think you will definitely
develop when you find what you
love and you're working on it.
A few more questions.
This is from anonymous.
What was the most enjoyable
part of your research?
Oddly, I've told you
so many experiences
of messing up in lab.
I told you about breaking
things, and messing up results,
and asking questions
that made no sense,
but I think that my most
enjoyable part of research
was actually getting results
that made sense I mean,
I remember there was a moment
in lab where I actually
got this film-- the result
came out as this film,
and it just had blobs on it.
And for anybody else
looking at this result,
it would make no sense.
It just looks like
blobs on this film.
And I remember I
was standing in lab.
I was looking at it, and one
blob was bigger than the other,
and that meant something.
That meant something for
why the cancer cells weren't
responding, and I was
holding these results,
and I was thinking
of patients who
would be impacted by the
results that I was getting.
And just that feeling of
being able to think through
from beginning to end and
get something that mattered
was one of the most powerful
feelings I have ever had.
And that's been my most
enjoyable part of research,
and it continues to
be, even many years
later when I've been doing
research for many more years.
So if you ever start
research, I hope you--
or research or
anything really, I
hope you hold on to
that sort of passion
and that sort of
excitement for what you do.
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA: Last one.
SHREE BOSE: Last question?
OK, let me pick a good one.
So many.
You guys did a good job.
This is an important
question, and thank you
to C Sutton for asking it.
Did your friends
ever make fun of you
and call you a nerd for
being so into science?
So hands up.
How many of you guys is
that a concern for you?
Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
SHREE BOSE: Yeah.
It definitely is, and
I think that's why
things like the
Google Science Fair
are so important,
because they make it
into this platform
that's awesome.
You come back as a rock star,
and that's an incredible thing,
but I mean, yes, you
might get called a nerd.
You might be called a geek.
You might get called a lot
of names along the way,
and what you always have to
remember when that happens,
when that ever
happens, is that you
are doing things that matter.
What you are doing is
something you love,
and the questions you are asking
will be the sorts of things
that you solve,
and the solutions
will matter to the world.
And in 10, 20 years-- I know
the whole it-gets-better thing
is cliched, but I want you
to remember that that love
and that passion that
takes you into science
is stronger than any name
you will ever be called.
And as long as you
always remember that,
and as long as you have
people in your life,
including me, who are willing
to look at you and say,
what you are doing is amazing
and the scientists that you are
is incredible, I
think you're never
going to find yourself wanting
to go away from science,
because it's truly an amazing
thing to be a part of.
And it's truly the way
you can change the world.
So I think that was
my last question.
MARIETTE DICHRISTINA: Awesome.
[APPLAUSE]
FEMALE SPEAKER: Thank
you so much, Shree.
That was so goo.
Everyone, can we
please give a big round
of applause for Shree.
[APPLAUSE]
