Laura Fields
Coordinator of the Beam Interface Working Group and Co-spokesperson for the MINERvA collaboration
Fermilab, United States

I grew up in Arkansas and spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who were awesome people but not at all science oriented. They totally did not support my being a physicist. My grandfather accused me of being a ‘permanent student,’ which in his mind was right up there with being a felon. During my freshman year of college, one of my physics professors called me up and said ‘I really think you should be a physics major.’ I tried it out and obviously really liked it. While this might not be the most awe-inspiring physicist origin story, it is a good example of how a little encouragement of young people can have a big impact on their future. Much of my career has involved using experiments designed and built by others, so being involved in DUNE now means being able to help design an experiment that will eventually be used by my children’s generation and make a lot of exciting measurements.