不可思议的创新：几分钟Rebecca Lyons.
通过：Dani Clark
This year at Untold Content, we’re focusing on stories of Untold Innovation. As a firm committed to innovation storytelling from thought leaders across organizations and sectors, we have embarked on a journey to uncover stories of innovative thinking that are galvanizing change and growth in four main industries: tech, medical, science and human impact. We’ve asked you to nominate thought leaders in your field who are driving innovation, and you continue to deliver!
我们的下一篇创新故事来自于副教授的化学副教授的丽贝卡利昂雷德兰大学。我们的采访涵盖了复杂的研究如何从对户外玩耍的简单爱情开始。阅读她的工作如何为环境挑战制定解决方案，并倡导更好的监管政策。Rebecca告诉未来创新者拥抱他们的怪癖，并将其视为他们需要成为伟大的研究人员的差异化。因此，考虑休息外，并阅读我们对月份创新者的访谈，丽贝卡里昂。
P.S. Keep sending in those nominations of others for us to highlight in our Untold Innovation series. You can complete our提名形式要么电子邮件给我们with their information.
丽贝卡·里昂的创新故事
Rebecca Lyons是南加利福尼亚州南部大学的训练有素的环境化学家和化学副教授。她的研究中心塞拉涅瓦达冰川是她生命致力于研究她喜欢的地方并保持生态健康的一部分。
UC：你的专业领域是什么？
RL:这很有趣，今天早上我正在与我的研究生有关这个问题，他们回应了，“好吧，你做了很多事情。你做医疗，人类的影响，科学和技术 - 所有这些东西都在您的研究中。“而且我想，“嘿，哇。听起来对。“我是化学部门的副教授雷德兰大学in southern California. We have a really lively research program here. My field of specialty is in chemistry. I trained as an environmental chemist at theState University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
我现在的工作实际上是我的第一份职位。我发现它在杂志的后面，我申请了。多么随机，对吧？这是一个保单轨道！而且我想，“这不会发生，”但它确实如此，我真的很感激。我喜欢这所大学。我喜欢我和学生一起工作。这是一个总的双赢。无论如何，环境化学是一个很漂亮的宽场，缩小到下降，我看痕量有机化合物。
UC: Where does your personal innovation story begin?
RL:这可能是大多数环境化学家开始的地方，但我在外面花了很多时间。这是我的另一个生命。当我不是教授时，我遍布山脉。我是登山者和一个徒步旅行者。我只是坐在很多外面，这是我想做的，你不禁注意人类的影响，对吗？你不能再坐在自然环境中了。它几乎不存在。我知道我听起来像这样一个愤世嫉俗者。我觉得自己像这个“厄运的先兆”[laughs]。每次我教育环境化学课时，我都喜欢，“抱歉，我们真的弄乱了东西。”但我也希望能激励人们承担责任并加紧改变事情，这是我对环境退化的回应。我想加强和帮助。所以我做到了。
我开始在纽约学习一个湖，这是靠近我的研究生院。我对我们所做的湖都做了恐惧，这也恰好是美国原住民神圣的网站。这是心烦的。这是你不想在其中游泳的地步;你不会想要你的动物在其中游泳。它的形状非常糟糕。要认为我们已经抓住了这个地方并摧毁了它，超越措施 - 它只是打破了我的心。所以，这实际上我开始做我的毕业生工作：在纽约市中心的这个小湖边。然后我来到加利福尼亚，我认为这应该是低悬挂的水果。这里有很多污染物。 And there was, but I had a hard time finding a “control, ” the thing that hasn’t been changed or touched, and that’s what you’re going to do your comparison with. I could not find a clean lake anywhere in southern California. Someone suggested that I go north to the Sierra Nevada Mountains—that may be there I could find a lake that was relatively untouched, at least by comparison. And, indeed, that’s where I went, and that’s why I ended up doing the majority of my research. I was floored by the beauty of the place that John Muir wandered all over the place and did his famous writings about, and I could suddenly see what all the hype is about. That’s kind of what I ended up doing, in my own way. I started to look at one very specific compound, including where it was located, why it was there, and what it was doing.
UC：您的研究在大型领域的影响是什么？
RL:我正在寻找的化合物是内分泌干扰者，特别是它是雌激素模仿。在非常低的浓度下，它可以将自身附加到生物生物体中并表现出雌激素。我们在这些非常脆弱的生态系统中找到了塞拉涅瓦斯的高山地区。高山湖泊是一个微妙的平衡，一旦这种东西在发展阶段进入生物，它就真的可以将东西送入尾翼。我不是一个生物学家，所以我没有特别在塞尔拉斯在塞尔拉斯进行过研究，但我可以与其他化合物引起极为有害影响的其他场合。我在野生动物种类中看到了更高的死亡率，但随后在人类种群中，我们看到不同类型的内分泌破坏剂如激素相关的癌症。所以，我有点在野生动物和人口之间来回跳跃，但我想给出这些化合物能够的广泛的画面。对于记录，化合物的名称是4-壬基酚。
Anyway, this stuff doesn’t just enter the environment on its own. There’s this sneaky little loophole when it comes to pesticides and detergents. Despite how harmful it can be, this compound doesn’t make the ingredients list. So now, it’s present in huge quantities in the environment. We’re using something on the order of 600,000 tons per year, which is just an obscene number. It’s not being regulated. If you go to Europe, it’s outright banned and that’s on the “Top Ten Pollutants of Concern” list for the European Union.
It’s one of my goals to see regulation increase in this country. And a lot of times with chemistry, there are alternate substances that can be used in place of something that’s so toxic. I would love to see the industry willingly phase that out and start using something new. Of course, there’s always a cost in the industry, but I think it’s very doable. That’s one of the things that I’m doing right now. I’m talking to people in Sacramento and trying to get awareness space there. I want to keep doing this work because this stuff is everywhere and it’s not good for us.
在更大的范围内，我希望在那里提高意识。我准备发布的论文正在寻找适用于这种化合物的储层的环境中的地方。其中一个水库是冰川。随着冰川正在融化，它正在释放这种东西。在下游饮用水方面也是有关的。如果它是上游冰川和上游的积雪，那么例如，像洛杉矶这样的下游饮用水将受到这些东西的影响。现在，我正在努力提高对科学界存在的那种化合物的认识。我有一些伟大的同事，与GSI计划合作，做一些真正详细的建模，这实际上被困在积雪和冰川中。这是关于环境科学的令人兴奋的事情 - 它确实是跨学科。生态学家，莫德勒，水化学和水质分析的人都将受到影响。 People haven’t really seen glaciers as a reservoir. That’s fairly new. Within the past three or four years, people started looking at glaciers in Switzerland and looking at legacy pollutants there and they were shocked at how much was there and how much it’s impacting downstream lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. That’s something that a lot of people need to be aware of.Revealing information or innovation in one area can shift so many other areas of study.
UC：您认为讲故事在创新中发挥了什么作用？你能描述讲故事对自己工作的重要性吗？
RL:这是一个很大的问题。每当我与一名研究学生一起工作并编写他们的第一份文件时，这就是我告诉他们他们正在做的事情。他们需要讲述它的故事。我们需要询问：“通过您的研究表明您的故事是什么？”这不仅仅是一堆数据。这不像一些深奥的运动。在开始分享您找到的内容之前，这是一个你必须先在世界上攻在世界里。我喜欢讲述故事。我就是做这个的。每当你在会议上写一篇论文或发言时，这是一个故事。 Beginning, middle, and end and then a “to be continued” because of course it’s meant to have a sequel. In fact, there is this little hook at the end of my paper that says, “This model that I’ve developed with GIS and all the new technology works really well for the Sierra Nevadas, but does it work everywhere? Stay tuned.” That’s actually what we’re doing next year: we’re going to expand our scope and look ahead to the next chapter, which includes Alaska and Wyoming. Sure, writing about research can be about getting more funding, but it’s also about getting myself excited about what’s next and where the research is going.I’m not just telling a story based on what I have found in the past, but orienting it toward the story that could be told in the future.
而且它很有趣，因为在研究生院，这一切都是为了缩小你的焦点，在那里你应该非常详细地看待这个小小的问题。然后你离开研究生院并意识到“哦，上帝。有这么多的事情要做。“这就像在透过显微镜这么久后抬起头来，看到这里有一个整个房间。
UC：你会给未来的创新者给什么建议？
RL:It’s great because I get to work with future innovators all the time. I just love what I do because I work with such amazingly talented students. I feel like everyone comes to the table with a unique set of skills. They might not recognize that those are skills. So, there’s a student that I have right now who I just adore, and he says things like, “I’m so much of a big picture person. I don’t think I’m going to be as good at science. I get all wrapped up in these causes, and I don’t think I’m going to be a good scientist because I’m too emotional and I’m too this and too that.” And I have to tell him, the reason that he’s going to be an amazing scientist is because he brings that big picture view to the table. He’s not going to get so hung up in some little detail and spend his life worrying about it. He’s going to be looking back at the world and getting a sense of why something is just or unjust. I had another student that saw things in three dimensions. He saw things graphically. He could do images in a way that no other student ever had before or since. And so when I work with a student, when I work any innovator to be, I say: “不打折funny things that you do. All the little quirks that you have are the things that are going to make you great at what you do. Don’t put them aside because they don’t fit that image in your head of what it means to be an innovator.”
感谢您阅读Rebecca的创新故事。您可以在我们的情况下阅读更多关于我们无法解决创新故事系列的信息Untold Innovation Stories Taploff Post。
而且，不要忘记在您的部门提名创新者。完成我们的online nomination form要么电子邮件给我们。
*Interviews are not endorsements of individuals or businesses.