Meet Simaya Rosenbloom
My best friend (Leah Frackleton, left) and I (right) visited the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm and received our first Nobels—such an honour, and so early on as physicists too!
Meet Simaya, a Master’s student in soft matter physics at McMaster University with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Physics (French Immersion) and a Minor in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa. With a strong passion for Science and Mathematics, Simaya blends academic curiosity with a love for adventure. Outside of her professional life, Simaya is also an avid long-distance runner and is currently training for her second half marathon . Oftentimes, you can find her running to her local cafe! After her undergrad, she lived and worked in Lyon, France, exploring 20 European cities in just 8 months. She also cherishes time with her family, especially mall outings with her Lolo and Lola (grandma and grandpa in Tagolog).
When did your love of STEM begin?
I can't even remember; I've always grown up with STEM surrounding me! My family always went to museums, science centres, observatories, and aquariums wherever we were so I've always loved playing with STEM. I distinctly remember at 12yrs old meeting Dr Roy Glauber, a Nobel Physicist for the Manhattan project, and understanding the gravity that science has. From then on I understood that you could change the world with physics/science, and it’s important to do so responsibly.
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
I love being able to meet a diverse pool of experts (physicists & scientists in general) and chatting about the funky physics phenomena that happen on different length scales, from the size of an electron to the light year. Physics is truly everywhere; it’s in the way avalanches fall when they're seemingly undisturbed, it’s in the way that you smell fresh bread when you walk into a bakery, it’s even in the way that Sabrina Carpenter's harmonies make her songs so ear catching! I'm super passionate about science communication and have immeasurable fun making science engaging and accessible for everyone, doing work in scientific translation, museum hosting, outreach, and attending conferences!
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
When you do something, something happens; opportunities you didn't know existed pop up, you figure out that you actually don't like a certain subject as much as you thought, you discover that you LOVE expanding a certain skill you have, you meet diverse people. So try everything! There is so much more to science that a single person could ever know, so don't limit your options just keep trying different classes, internships, projects, clubs, conferences, outreach programs, and whatnot to see what you like, and most importantly, what you DON'T like.
Tell us a fun fact about you and your current role!
As an experimental soft matter physicist, I make microscopic model avalanches for better prediction of natural disaster; its wild that some of the same principles apply on the um [micrometer] and the km [kilometre] scale!