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I went to college at Bard College, a lovely little school of 1000 people nestled among the trees in the Hudson Valley of New York, near the Catskill mountains and overlooking the Hudson River. Class sizes were small - just 10 people on average. Bard students have a reputation for being creative, interesting and unique people. I just loved it there.
I also worried that the details of physics were ultimately irrelevant to everyday life. I didn't want to study something so esoteric that only a small group of people understood what I was talking about. I didn't want to work on problems that might or might not ever have any bearing on anybody's life. It seemed that the details of psychology were more accessible, relevant, and interesting. So, I threw myself into psychology. But I really did love science and math, and so I also managed to complete the calculus course sequence, take a full year of biology and a half year of chemistry, and took two courses in psychobiology. My senior year, I took a full year course in the history and philosophy of science. I took a junior-level course in Electricity and Magnetism, while I completed my senior project in social psychology, "Do Librarians Deny Personal Disadvantage? An Extension of Injustice Theory to Workers within a Female-Dominated Profession". I decided to somehow go into physics -- I didn't know where it would lead me, but I did know that I enjoyed doing it.
I settled in San Francisco for a few years, and I got accepted to UC Santa Cruz in Physics -- I guess they thought a Psychology major would be a good addition to the department. I deferred, though, because I got accepted into Peace Corps. 
I
served in Guinea, West Africa, from 1997-1999. I worked as a Community
Development/Public Health volunteer. Among my projects, I helped to
train village health workers to talk to their neighbors about issues
such as AIDS and diarreah, and to sell condoms and oral rehydration
solution in the smaller villages. I organized activities for AIDS Day
and Women's Day. I was co-president of the Women in Development taskforce
in Peace Corps. Along with my counterparts, I got funding for, and oversaw
the construction of, a small health post in a neighboring village. The
Stephanie Chasteen Health Post is functioning and serving members of
that community! More about my time in
Peace Corps. I loved and hated Peace Corps. The cultural isolation was almost unbearable at times, and it was very difficult to learn to communicate in a different fashion from what we're used to. After the first year, however, I was able to slip in and out of my Guinean "skin" with ease. I still feel like I left a piece of myself behind. After I returned, I set up a listserv and a web page, and helped get a non-profit group, Friends of Guinea rolling. That's taken a lot of time and frustration, but look at the site -- I'm pretty proud of it. Our listserv has almost 300 subscribers. I'm an amateur photographer, and am proud of much of the photography I did while in Guinea. One photo (the woman with the headscarf) was selected for use in the 2001 Peace Corps calendar, and I have a small list of photo credits to my name. After
I returned, I
enrolled asa graduate student at While in graduate schoool, I hustled and took some classes, and in the past few years I have amassed a nice little list of publications, viewable here. More about science writing.
I have a great interest in scientific literacy: helping the public to achieve a greater view of the role science plays in their lives. It would be great if we could all decipher research and statistics and apply the knowledge gained, through our tax dollars, to our own lives. And even more importantly... what is it that we ultimately want in our lives? And how can we get it? I believe that the scientific method can help people to make sense of their lives and make good decisions. What works? What doesn't? I also want to help people understand the science that they hear (like global warming) so they can make sense of it for themselves.
Who was I a long time ago? If you 've read this far, you get a special bonus. Read this priceless "thank-you" note I wrote to my grandparents when I was about 8. Note the beautiful Miss Piggy stationary.
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I
grew up in a small town in southeastern New Hampshire -- conservative
capital of the US. So I went off to a hippie college in the middle of
the woods, ended up with a couple of a piercings and a cute tattoo.
I lived abroad with my family for 2 years -- in Bristol, England, when
I was 8 and in Perth, Australia, when I was 16. Warm Australian humor
helped me be comfy with the quietly quirky girl that I was becoming.
I
graduated with a degree in psychology. But I was also in love with physics.
When I was in 8th grade, I was told that a physicist figures out how
the world works. "That's what I want to do!" I thought. In college,
though, I struggled with the decision between physics and psychology.
Both were fascinating to me -- How do people work? How does the world
work? With time, though, I became a bit disillusioned with physics.
I felt intimidated in the physics classes, despite the fact that I had
done well. I was the only woman, and wasn't discriminated against.
But, boys study differently from girls. It seemed like they didn't have
to work at anything, and I distinctly remember one time when I was looking
to discuss a homework problem, and they
were casually dismissive of its difficulty. I figured that, in order
to be good at physics, it had to be dismissively easy for you. 
It
took me a while, though. I traveled, alone and with a friend,
for about 4 months through the southeast and southwest of the
country, camping and driving, camping and driving. I still get
itchy feet if I don't see the inside of a tent for a while.
That experience taught me a lot about the USA. My trust in people
usually paid off.
the
UC Santa Cruz physics department.
I got my PhD in Condensed Matter Physics in Decdember 2005. I worked
with 
I
worked so hard to get publications so that I would have
some good clips for my application for the 
>Since
I was young, I have loved to write. My skills served me
well in psychology, and I figured that they would serve
me well in physics. Sciece writing and education lets me
blend the best of my interests. I have a very general interest
in science; from biology to physics to ecology. I love researching
a topic, and organizing the information into a coherent
form.
I'm
also an avid dancer -- waltz, swing,
zydeco, and contra. I can hit the dance floor and figure
out a lot of dances because I've been doing it for a while.
At last count, I knew . Contra dancing is a sort of American
country dancing, lots of swings, lots of flirting. It attracts
science & engineering types like me, I think, because
we like the patterns. I used to be crazy for contra, but
it has gotten a little boring lately so I've been focusing
on Lindy hop. Dancing gets me out of my head a few times
a week, and engaging in good social connection. What could
be better? 