Name: Ruchi Shah
Year: Senior
Major: Biology with a Minor in Journalism
Hometown: Ronkonkoma, NY
“Ruchi Shah, a 21-year-old Long Island native and a passionate scientist, invented an all-natural and inexpensive mosquito repellant that is the first of its kind after learning about mosquito-transmitted diseases in India when she visited the country at age 15. She is now the CEO of her own social entrepreneurship company, Mosquitoes Be Gone Inc., and continues to do research around the topic to combat mosquito-transmitted diseases around the world.Ruchi also recently received the American Association for Cancer Research’s Thomas J. Bardos Science Education Award. Just 10 college students across the country are selected for this award each year—the 10 best collegiate cancer researchers in the nation who show the most promise in the field, to be more specific.She was also the youngest invited speaker at the inaugural Forbes Women’s Summit: Power Redefined in 2013, was named a Yahoo! Women Who Shine Entrepreneur category winner, and was named one of just 10 National AXA Achievers in the nation.” – Ruchi’s Her Campus 22 Under 22 Profile
When did you first find your passion for science?
Ruchi: “I grew up really liking science so I used to ask my parents tons of questions. When I was in elementary school, I did a bunch of science fairs doing really little things, like trying to find out what happens to your teeth and bones if you drink Coke… just things you would do in elementary school. I think the moment where I realized I could do science, and probably the moment where I was the most scared about being in science, was my biggest failure in science. When most people hear about me, they only see the accomplishments, but what they don’t see is all the failures I’ve gone through to get to this position.
For me, my first real science fair was when I was a freshman in high school. I wanted to do this project to see if I could slow down these microorganisms and I wanted to see if I changed the environment that they were swimming in, could that alter their behavior. It was a really simple project in terms of just altering the solution. The problem was I couldn’t even get these little guys to slow down enough for me to look at them under the microscope. So I spent months trying out all these different things from ice cubes to slow down their movement to putting them in a jelly. Long story short, it was the day of the competition and I had nothing to present. So I went and I had a proposal behind me and I was like ‘well this was what I would have done if it had worked.’ I was mortified. I remember going home and talking to my dad and saying ‘I don’t know if I should do science…I don’t know if I can do this…failing is really hard.’ And I remember my dad telling me that science is all about failure and learning to use failures to motivate you to keep going.
That was the moment where I began to see science in a different way. That was the moment that changed my perspective and, as I’ve stayed in science, I’ve had so many failures. I spent years trying to come up with my mosquito repellent recipe and I work in a lab doing cervical cancer research, and it’s all the same thing. Things go wrong, experiments don’t work as you expect them to happen, but it’s all about perspective. That’s what science is. Sometimes you learn more from the failures than from the successes.”
What inspired you to create your mosquito repellent and your company, Bugs Be Gone Inc.?
Ruchi: “It all started when I went on this trip to India with my family. I guess being born and raised here we get a lot of privileges and this was the first time I’d gone to India and really was old enough to realize what I was seeing and the poverty I was witnessing. I was so impacted. There was this one moment when I think back on the trip. There was this little clinic, this little shack really, small and broken-down. There was this long line of people standing outside of it and you could tell just by their clothing…you could see the pain in their eyes. I was about 15 at the time and I asked my mom ‘Why are these people here?’ and she told me they were waiting for treatment for mosquito transmitted diseases.
It was a picture that stayed in my head that I couldn’t forget, especially being interested in science and public health, thinking, ‘Why is this is case? Why is there suffering for something we can prevent?’ So when I came back to my research class, we had to pick a problem we wanted to solve and I thought, ‘What if we could better understand how mosquitos behave?’ At that time, I hadn’t even thought of the whole repellent thing, that’s where it started. It was those people I saw that inspired by journey.”
Why did you choose to also study Journalism along with Biology?
Ruchi: “I think it’s so important for scientists to be able to communicate their findings to the public because a lot of times, most people not in science are very turned off; it’s full of jargon. When scientists are able to communicate the essence of what they are doing to the public, it not only helps them increase their impact on a community, but it is also great in terms of funding and inspiring the next generation to go into science. A lot of kids in school think, ‘Oh science, I would never be able to go into that,’ but with communication, they can see that it really isn’t as complicated as the big words make it seem.
Science communication is something that I am very passionate about now. When I was interning at the National Institutes of Health this past summer, I was a science writer. I wrote about the research the NIH funds in a way that is accessible for those that don’t have a science background to read about. I also helped plan a lot of their science outreach programs for high school kids to come learn about cells or other science-y things. Here at Stony Brook I write the science column for The Statesman on a weekly basis. And I work with the Alan Alda Center to go to high schools because I think people have this image of what a scientist is: an older male in a white lab coat playing with chemicals. I don’t fit that mold at all and I think a lot of kids, when I come to see them, are not expecting me and think I don’t look like a scientist. That is really fun to break the stereotypes of scientists. We need communication skills in order to do all of those things. That is where that duel degree came from.”
What was it like to give a TED Talk?
Ruchi: “It was a really cool experience. On one end of it, it was a lot of pressure because this is the talk that is going to define me forever. But it was also so cool to get the chance to tell my story to the world. I feel so honored and thankful to Stony Brook for giving me that opportunity. My goal in it was to motivate people in a few different ways. One way was to be mentors because mentorship has been so important in my life. I’ve had incredible mentors in the form of my parents and teachers who believed in me. That is one of the reasons why I am here today. Anther way was to inspire young people, especially young girls, to see that if they have an idea, they can go after it, that’s okay do to that. They should pursue their passions.”
What has been your most surreal moment so far?
Ruchi: “Her Campus’ 22 Under 22 was definitely one of them. I still haven’t really come to terms with that because it’s such a huge honor. The TED Talk was a moment where I couldn’t believe I was up on that stage giving that talk.
Last November I had the opportunity to go out to the Breakthrough Prizes, and that’s where Mark Zuckerberg, founders of Google, and other impressive people were there awarding one million dollars, per prize, to the top minds in science, mathematics, and physics. I got to go from Stony Brook to cover the event. Being in that environment and being able to go and cover that as a journalist, that was a really surreal I-can’t-believe-I’m-in-the-same-room-as-these-people kind of moment.
Another recent big thing was the Bardos Award. I was picked as one of the top ten college cancer researchers in the country. I grew up here on Long Island as like a suburban girl. Reaching these heights…I mean I know I work really hard for them but sometimes it’s just like ‘Is this my life?’”
What do your friends and family think of all your success?
Ruchi: “I’m very, very blessed to have family and friends that have been very supportive of all the things that I do, especially when I was like 15 and telling my parents that I wanted to create a mosquito repellent. Most people that I told were like ‘That’s not gonna happen,’ but my parents were both very supportive of that. I remember my dad and I going to Home Depot and buying all the things for my experiments. The things that have happened have been crazy. I know for a fact that I would not be here were it not for the support of my parents.
Also now here at Stony Brook, my friends have become in a lot of ways my family. I have friends who support me, but also know when it’s time for me to take a break. There are people who sometimes know me better than I know myself, so I’m very lucky to have such a supportive group of people around me.”
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
Ruchi: “So many people have inspired me. I have to say my grandmother and my mom. My grandmother grew up in a village in India where you were expected to get married in your early 20’s, have kids, and be a housewife. That was the expectation. Most girls went to elementary school, middle school, and that was it. My grandma was the first girl in her village to not only finish high school, but go onto college, get a degree, and work as a teacher. That is so inspiring to me. She tells me that she would walk miles and that she was the only girl in all of her classes for all of high school and college. Her level of perseverance and commitment to education excellence speaks a lot to me.
Also, my mom is a civil engineer, which is a field that there are not a lot of women in, especially when she started out. My mom and my dad came here in their mid-20’s with, when you convert Indian currency to American currency, not a lot. My mom worked three jobs in order to take her civil engineering exam. My parents struggled a lot in the beginning to find their footing and build their careers here. Even now, my mom is Super Woman to me. She works her job, she cooks a meal every night for our family, she takes my sister and I to everything that we want to do, and still excels in her career. She is such a role model to me, showing me that I can have a career and a family, I can balance both of those things.”
What would you say to those that see you as an inspiration?
Ruchi: “Well first of all it’s very humbling, very nice of someone to say. The thing is I would have never seen myself like that five or seven years ago. This process has just been me following my dreams, its never been to do this to gain something from it, and I just wanted to make a difference. I think that when you find something that you are passionate about, it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like a lot of fun. You feel like you’re fulfilling your mission in life. That’s the most beautiful thing that can happen to someone, I wish that for everyone to be able to find that in their lives.”
What’s next for you?
Ruchi: “Right now I have a team of nine interns that are working for me this semester. We are trying to bring the repellent to the next level in terms of the patent process, launching a website, logos, slogans, all of that. We are hoping to launch a product in about a year or two. In addition to that, I’m still doing cancer research in my lab. I’m going to be going to the American Cancer Research meeting again. I’m also wrapping up, writing my senior thesis. What else…. oh I’m running for Homecoming Queen! So that’s the most current thing that is happening right now.
Long term I’ll be going to medical school here at Stony Brook. My career goal is to become a medical journalist, combining my passion for medicine and impacting patients one on one, and also using my journalism and communication skills in a public health role to educate people on important issues like vaccinations, obesity, diabetes, cancer…there’s a need for someone to serve in that role.
I’m super thankful for this whole opportunity. This has been fantastic. I could have never imagined all the things that have happened in my life, but also know there is still a lot of hard work to be done. I’m looking forward to see what comes in the future.”