Sarah Light, PhD

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

It can be difficult for me to relinquish control and delegate tasks to others. I like to be the boots on the ground getting things done. However, I have learned that if I can sit back and gently guide, people will come up with something just as good or even better than my idea.

What do you consider to be your most important career achievement or milestone?

Being awarded a F32 fellowship from the NIH. Even just submitting the application is a huge feat requiring hours of writing and preparing documents. Supporting your own research with individual funding is very satisfying.

How was AWIS helped you professionally and/or personally?

Being a postdoc can be a bit isolating because you don’t tend to interact much with people outside your primary research group. I loved getting involved with AWIS because it connected me to other women scientists in different labs and departments that I otherwise would have never met.

What is your favorite word? (only one word)

Conscientious.

How do you define it?

A conscientious person is careful, meticulous, and scrupulous.

How has this word influenced or inspired your career?

I strive to be conscientious because attention to detail makes a huge difference. This applies to running experiments and writing about your research but also to interpersonal interactions. I like to be thoughtful about how I show up for the people in my life, from my co-workers to my family.

What are you currently reading or listening to?

I have a few books in progress at the moment, including this month’s selection for my book club, Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson. It’s challenged me to think about my kitchen in a whole new way.

What do you consider the best professional or personal advice you’ve ever received?

I went to a workshop about imposter syndrome at a Society for Neuroscience meeting and it was the most well-attended session I’ve ever been to at any meeting. That workshop really drove home to me that it’s completely normal to compare yourself to others but it’s more helpful to focus on what you have control over.

Sarah Light, PhD, is a neuroscientist interested in how the nervous system is built during development. She completed her BS at the University of Vermont and PhD in Neuroscience at The Ohio State University in 2021. Since then, she has been working in the Smith Lab at Notre Dame investigating a novel glial population in the heart. Away from the bench, she is passionate about education, outreach, and sharing science in a fun way. She love lattes, cheese, dark chocolate, being outdoors, dancing, and reading.