We continue our interview with Colleen Kelley of Kids Chemical Solutions to learn about her journey into chemistry. Her journey began with a harrowing experience running from “raining radiation” as a young girl, facing this uncertainty with the same confusion as the adults around her. Reflecting back on this experience, Colleen realized that a lack of clear guidance and good communication founded in molecular literacy made it impossible for her, and those around her, to grasp how the community was impacted by the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. This experience stamped itself into her memory as she continued through school and her love of chemistry grew. Towards the end of high school, Colleen started to explore ways to attend college, which was an unfamiliar career path in her family. Fortunately, she was able to find her way to University of Richmond by joining the military, which provided her with the support to follow her dreams. As a college student, she was introduced to the world of research and instantly enjoyed it; from there Colleen was encouraged by her mentor to attend graduate school. And she did; graduating from Penn State University with a Ph.D. in chemistry. Her journey into writing, however, developed from a desire to connect with students and effectively teach chemistry. And, it wasn’t easy; each rejection was followed by disappointment as her ideas changed and developed. Originally Colleen wanted to publish a text book, and after lots of trial and error, she created a fun comic book series, the MC Detective Agency. Looking at the next phase of her journey, Colleen is looking forward to publishing the next set of comic books to complete the bundle that will give readers a foundation of college level chemistry.   

To hear about Colleen’s work with Kids Chemical Solutions, check out the previous episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1720419/episodes/17740197 

Tune into this episode to hear Colleen share: 

• How she used characters to connect with her students and teach the principles of chemistry 
• Her experience as a first generation college and graduate student 
• The journey of creating and publishing a comic book

Reach out to Colleen and discover the MC Detective Agency on her website, Kids Chemical Solutions:

https://kidschemicalsolutions.com 

If you enjoyed this episode, also listen to:

• Episode 67: Memory and the Human Mind - The Journey 
• Episode 40: The Art of Science with Laura Canil - The Journey

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