The window of opportunity

Abstract

As a beginning graduate student, well before I even met the man I would eventually marry, I recall considering my future. I was training to become a scientist, but would I find a partner? Would my career path allow me to have a family? Although these basic personal choices had always seemed inevitable to me as a child, in the frenetic schedule of a chemical physics graduate student they were anything but given. At that point, studies showing the impact of advanced education on women's personal lives had yet to appear [1]. Still, it seemed clear; the likelihood of finding a partner while spending almost all my waking hours working on science was probably pretty small. After many musings, I made an active decision: The rich career afforded by my advanced degree would fulfill me whether I married or not, or had a family. This decision played a role in my success as a graduate student. It allowed me to focus my energy on science and leave my personal life to chance. I thrived in graduate school, both academically and personally. About two years later, I met Pete, the man who would become my best friend, my husband, the father of my children, and the person who made it possible for me to succeed in my career as a professor and as a mother.