More and more women are working for the federal government in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM, and there’s no better way to highlight their growing influence than by meeting some of the women who put in the work every day.
According to a 2019 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report supplement, women account for only 29.3% of STEM federal workers, with significantly fewer women in technology and engineering fields than expected. As military technology and processes continue to develop, the Defense Department would like to continue growing that number.
At the Army’s 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command’s CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity – known as CARA – there are four young women who are making their mark in the military science community. Jessica Caldwell, 29, and Grace Bultron, 30, are chemists in the unit. Paige Smith, 23, is an air monitoring chemist, and Courtney Aceto, 27, is a microbiologist. Their careers were all built on hard work, good mentoring and a healthy dose of curiosity.
Here we’re sharing the details of their paths to success to help others who want to follow in their footsteps.
Of the four women, Jessica Caldwell has been at CARA the longest. The 29-year-old said she’s always been a curious, analytical person who loved to solve puzzles.
“My mom said I would always ask, “Why? Why?” she said. “And that’s the question we’re always asking as we do our jobs.”
She said the TV shows “Forensic Files” and “CSI” got her interested in forensic science, but someone talked her into focusing on a field that had broader career opportunities.
“[They said] ‘If you go into chemistry, which is a little more general, you’re not locked into forensic science. You can do anything. You may want to go to med school, or do pharmaceuticals,'” Caldwell remembered. She attended the University of Virginia and eventually got a degree in chemistry — a task that wasn’t particularly easy. “There were multiple times where I wanted to quit, honestly. But I was like, ‘You know what? I love this. I have a passion for it, and it makes sense to me.’ So, I was like, ‘I can do this.'”
After traveling for a bit, Caldwell started looking for jobs. Her father had spent 34 years in the Army, so government positions within the service branch seemed like a natural choice to her. She got hired as a contractor at the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Chemical Biological Center to help find decontamination solutions to protect soldiers from chemical warfare agents. Two years later, in 2018, she landed a coveted government civilian position with CARA.
Caldwell said all her previous experiences and hard work helped her get where she is today, but she especially emphasized the mentoring she received. It’s something she’s paying forward now by tutoring girls at her former high school.
“It brings me so much joy because a lot of them — they have the dream and they have the passion, but they don’t know what they should be putting it toward,” Caldwell said. “Being able to see that excitement and being able to provide value … by taking something that is a really complicated process and simplifying it for them, then seeing them follow that. … that is so exciting.”
Caldwell had a few pieces of advice for young women interested in STEM.
“Find your love in it, because getting through school is going to be hard regardless,” she said, while also reiterating the importance of mentorships in your field of choice. “The ladies that I [mentor] … are always like, ‘You’re always taking a class,’ or ‘You’re always reading a book.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m a student of life.’ My biggest thing is to just keep learning. You never stop learning. You never stop trying to grow, no matter how far ahead you get in your career.”
Courtney Aceto earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry at Stevenson University in Maryland, but her love of science started long before that.
“At 4 years old, I had this toy microscope, and I was in the backyard with dirt and bugs,” she said. “I was a total nerd from the getup.”
That love led her to attend a STEM-focused high school. “My teacher of the biotech program in high school was super huge on doing career projects,” Aceto said. “Every quarter we had to research a career that was something we could go into. That’s how I found epidemiology.”
The 27-year-old said that was something that worked out well when COVID-19 hit: “I was totally ready!”
Aceto is working toward finishing her master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, where she got her first job in microbiology doing DNA sequencing. She then switched out of academia to quality control work at a biotech company. But she wanted something with more job security, so she decided the government sector would be her next move. She said she lucked out when the CARA position opened.
“If it weren’t for my family being military and government, I wouldn’t have searched so hard on USA Jobs,” Aceto said, referring to the federal government’s official employment website.
I feel like if you’re not involved in the government in any way, you don’t really know to look on USA Jobs, and it’s surprising how much USA Jobs has — not just in science but in everything.”
Courtney Aceto, CARA Microbiologist
Aceto said working in academia was a “free-for-all with ideas,” while private industry was a bit more restrictive. She said working for the Army is a middle ground where they’re able to stay on the cutting edge by keeping up with industry research.
As for her advice to young women interested in STEM: “Don’t let anybody deter you from what you want to do,” she said.” Even if it seems unrealistic or unattainable, just go for it.”
She said to focus on your schooling, make a name for yourself and attend career fairs to get your foot in the door.
“I completed my undergrad research program at the Division of Malaria Research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and I was able to publish from the work I did there. Networking with those people, having references and being known for doing good work … is important,” Aceto said. “As is letting your work speak for you.”
The youngest of the four women is Paige Smith, who graduated from college a little more than a year ago. The 23-year-old is an air monitoring chemist who found out about her current position from a friend who worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Like the other women on her team, she said she always liked STEM, even though it didn’t always seem like the right fit.
“I was actually really bad at math when I was in middle school — it was definitely something that I had to work on,” she said. “But I had a really good high school chemistry teacher my junior year, and after that I was like, ‘OK, this is what I want to do for sure.'”
Smith went to Converse University in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to study chemistry. Like Caldwell, she said her mentors played a big part in her success.
“I had a lot of really good mentors that helped me get where I needed to go,” she said. “I had one professor that was like my big sister. She was my advisor, and I went to her for everything.”
That mentor encouraged Smith to become a long-term research student — something Smith wasn’t sure she had time for because she was also involved in university athletics.
“She was also actually my team’s faculty mentor, so she knew my athletic and academic schedule,” Smith said. “She sat down with me and was like, ‘Alright, this is how we’re going to make it work.’ And once I started, I was like, ‘OK, this was so worth it.'”
Smith believes that extra hands-on experience was a big part of what landed her a spot at CARA.
“Being able to method develop, which you don’t really get in a traditional classroom lab setting, was really helpful,” she said. “If I didn’t just jump into it, I definitely don’t think I would have gotten this job.”
Grace Bultron brings a different perspective to the team. The 30-year-old native Spanish speaker lived her entire life in Puerto Rico prior to making the jump to the mainland last October when she accepted the position at CARA. She had worked as a chemist for environmental and pharmaceutical companies since graduating from the University of Puerto Rico in 2016, but she thought a government position would be a chance to grow personally and professionally.
“It was very challenging to me. I will not deny that I was a little bit scared,” she said. “But I was looking for more benefits and a permanent position because I didn’t have those opportunities back in Puerto Rico.”
She said the CARA position got her attention because it’s not a typical chemist’s job.
“We travel, we work outside. We do different things,” she said. “I knew that here, I would be learning a whole lot of new things.”
Bultron said chemistry wasn’t really on her radar as an option until she got to high school, where a teacher motivated her and got her into it.
“I chose this career because here, there’s the opportunity to be curious but also analytical at the same time, and creative,” Bultron said. “The lab is always open for us to experiment.”
As for her advice to other women: “I would tell them that at first, STEM can seem a little bit intimidating. I will not deny it’s a challenging career. But I would tell them to acquire knowledge and … recognize which area your skills are in. Be confident that you can succeed. Look for someone who inspires you, and just go for it.”
