Alanna Condren: a perfect combination of science, sustainability and human connection

Born in New York City and raised in Florida, Alanna Condren was heavily influenced by her parents' Latin background, their love for home-cooked comfort food and a strong sense of community. She infuses her heritage and passion into everything she does, from her work at BASF to volunteering in STEAM-related activities, her volleyball league and everything in between. Read on to learn all about our newest Change Maker.

What was your childhood like?

I was born in New York City to two incredibly supportive and loving parents. My mom is Puerto Rican, and my dad is half-Dominican.  A few years later, we moved down to Florida, and I lived there through high school. I spent four wonderful years learning and growing in Tallahassee, earning my bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Florida State University. Later I decided to pursue a doctoral degree in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Chicago. 

My Latin background is very special to me and a big part of who I am. Growing up, as an only child, my mom made sure there were always people around. My friends were always welcome over to our house, family was over for birthday parties and graduation, and she was always cooking enough for an army. She showed me how food brings people together, and it's probably my biggest connection to my culture; it's how I keep my culture alive here in Detroit. My parents are my best friends and played such an important role in supporting me. Neither of them were scientists, but they saw my passion for science at a young age and encouraged me in all the ways they knew how so that nothing would stop me.

Were you always interested in science?

The first time I distinctly remember thinking, “woah, that's cool”, I was in eighth grade. We walked into class and my science teacher, Mr. Hernandez, had drawn an atom on the whiteboard. It was the last day of the school year, so he wasn't planning to teach us about atoms and elements, but he wanted to energize us by showing us what we had to look forward to in high school science classes. I remember feeling my eyes double in size because I was amazed by the fact that everything around me was made up of these complex structures called atoms and I wanted to know more!

And then, in my junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to take an Intro to Chemistry class with Mrs. Wickham, and I loved it. It was everything that my little eighth-grade heart was excited about, and it came true three years later. I was hooked after that. I loved the rules and predictability of organic chemistry, and understanding how and why certain bonds connect to carbon or oxygen which turn into building blocks to make everything!

What led you to study biochemistry?

While taking my high school chemistry course, I realized I was also really enjoying my biology courses. I did not realize it at the time, but this was the beginning of my true passion: to understand the cross-section between biology and chemistry. This desire is what guided the paths I took in my academic career and has now led me to work at an equally passionate company like BASF.

Tell me about your position at BASF.

I'm a scientist in the Analytics North America Department. Our team supports product production, research and development (R&D), and any customer issues, concerns, or questions. I am a part of the structure elucidation team where we typically are given a sample that has some unknown chemical or component in it, and we are tasked to identify what this “unknown” is. For example, a customer will send us a sample and say, “we think a contamination was introduced during our manufacturing process, can you tell us what it is”? or “the material isn’t acting like it normally does when we heat it up, can you tell us why?” and our job is to analyze the sample to answer their question. 

The technique we use to answer these types of questions is called mass spectrometry. A mass spectrometer is basically a really fancy scale: it weighs microscopic molecules we can’t see. Using this instrument, we can get the mass of these molecules and then, like a puzzle, put the pieces back together to determine the structure of unknown molecules in a sample.

Here at BASF, I have access to many different types of mass spectrometers that support the research I do. Since my background is biochemistry, my projects at BASF focus on things like improving pesticide development so we can ensure we are supporting farmers and their crops but also taking care of the planet along the way and not harming pollinators or wildlife. The BASF tagline “We create chemistry” could not be more accurate as we truly do help to innovate in all kinds of materials and chemicals to support the production of top-tier products for consumers around the world. 

What role does sustainability have in your work and at home?

Firstly, there's the lab aspect of it: sustainability when it comes to consumables, what types of consumables I'm going to use? Where can I cut down or minimize single-use plastics? For example, pipette tips are little plastic tips that we use to transfer solutions. I choose to purchase refill racks where you can just replace the tips in the box rather than purchase brand new tip boxes, which means I don’t have a bunch of empty plastic tip boxes that need to be recycled, and we can save on the shipping materials needed to mail this product to the lab. Of course, there's also the bigger picture of sustainability in the lab: the environmental impact on the projects that we decide to work on and the partners or collaborators we choose to work with.

And there is also my personal life. I'm very passionate about minimizing single-plastic use in my own home. My parents can attest to my campaign of convincing others to use reusable water bottles since I was a teenager, and I love using reusable silicone sandwich bags instead plastic ones.

You engage in several STEAM-related outreach activities. What motivates this interest?

I think my teachers deserve all the credit for this. They were so inspirational to me, just fantastic educators, excited and willing to help, patient and committed. Their impact was so influential to me and my career that I wanted to do the exact same thing for others: I want to inspire young women to become scientists. 

The lack of role models is a big challenge for women in STEAM. Fortunately, that's already changing, but exposure is still a little bit tough. Scientists like me can sometimes be isolated in our labs and not have the opportunity to interact with kids and adults in our community, so outreach and direct interactions are pivotal for all children to see themselves when they see a scientist in a lab coat. Just one positive interaction can be enough to encourage them to pursue careers in STEAM since they see firsthand that people who look like them or talk in the same language have already done it. 

Another critical factor is networking. This is so important to the retention of women in STEAM because if there are not enough of us in the industry, how do we build a that network supports each other through life and career development? Some of us are moms, aunts, caretakers, or juggling all kinds of things. Having that network or having that person that's going to pull you up is still a very real challenge.

Being a change maker is already such an honor, but I think the cherry on top would be if a young person interested in science reached out to me and said, “Hey, I saw your story. I am passionate about 'X' and wanted to learn more about being a scientist.” I love hearing other people’s stories and their passions so any type of mentor/mentee relationship that came out of this would make me so happy and a great opportunity to expand my network and help support an aspiring scientist.  Making a tangible human connection through this virtual campaign would easily be the most rewarding result of this experience.