ALI STINCHFIELD
Hi and welcome! I am a PhD researcher sitting in the Chemical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University, studying atmospheric physics and chemistry. My goal is to create sustainable progress towards climate change solutions while learning how to mentor the next generation of scientists and community.
The Earth has always been my playground. From a small town in Rhode Island, I grew up drawing maps filled with fields of pine ridges, X’s marking deer nests and snake sightings, with a brown teepee scribbled upon elephant rock are found on top of piles of walking sticks- a walking stick for the trek my elementary school self would endure every afternoon. Journals open and filled with sketches of the same tree, every day, changing color and growing branches, making homes and offering safe refuge. Ants spotted carrying food dyed bread, tracking their patterns and nests through the forest floor. This is where my scientific inkling flourished.
Growing up, I lived with a crazy chemist – my dad. We spent mornings catching flying grasshoppers and afternoons taping together pipes to make spud guns. Ever since I was a young girl, I had an insatiable awe for the patterns embedded in nature. I was lucky enough to share a passion for the beauty of nature with my very first relationship, my dad. As an undergraduate, I studied biology, astrophysics, and humanities, learning about the foundation of life within small cells, organisms, and ecosystems all as one, working together. And down below, from particle physics to the big bang, exploring the cosmos and questioning every theory that has been revolutionary in physics. Blessed to encounter brilliant minds at Villanova University’s world class Humanities department, I questioned the foundation of society, belief in God, human nature, and the connection between body and soul.
I believe the only way to learn is interdisciplinary. No problem is one-sided, and every question leads to a million more. Inherently, complex questions are increasingly asked, confronting the cliffs of knowledge and rooted in interdisciplinary study. These are the problems that will push the limits of our understanding, challenge the structure of our disciplines, and answer the ponderings of who humans really are.
The purpose of this blog is to share the love I’ve gained of and through the world, a glimpse into this crazy science world in a way that is accessible to all. The world is beautiful and we feel the most at home when we feel the most connected, so that is precisely what I aim to do.
Earth in Plain Sight 