Celebrating Black Excellence in STEM & Promoting Chemistry to Today's Youth
- Feb 20
- 15 min read
In recognition of Black History Month, C2MCI is sharing our EDII Catalyst episode with Dr. André K. Isaacs: educator, researcher, and viral TikTok creator inspiring the next generation of scientists through his authenticity and love of chemistry.
In this episode of The EDII Catalyst, Dr. André K. Isaacs (Associate Professor, College of the Holy Cross) joins us to share his journey as a Black queer chemist from Jamaica and his work celebrating Black and Queer excellence in STEM while connecting with Gen Z’s future scientists.
Hosted by Dr. Emily Albright, this episode explores Dr. Isaacs’s path to academia in the USA, challenges in navigating identity, the transformative role of representation in meaningful mentorship, and how innovative teaching strategies are reshaping perceptions of who belongs in science.
Transcript begins below video.
Available on all streaming platforms:
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. This episode was originally filmed in February 2024. Please note that references to current events, roles, and/or project statuses may no longer be accurate.
Welcome back to The EDII Catalyst, where we explore topics of equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenization in STEM. In honour of Black History Month, our theme today is celebrating black excellence in STEM and promoting chemistry to today's youth.
I'm honoured and excited to introduce our guest today, Dr. André K. Isaacs. Dr. Isaacs is an Associate Professor at the College of the Holy Cross in the Department of Chemistry and is also a popular TikTok influencer with over 500,000 followers.
To start us off, can you tell us a little about who you are, your journey in STEM so far, and where you are now in your career?
When people ask who I am, it's a tough question to answer directly because I think of myself as someone who wears so many hats and has so many identities. I am from Kingston, Jamaica where I was born and raised, and I moved to the United States to study and became a chemist. I like to think of myself as a Black queer chemist from Jamaica who does organic chemistry research and educates undergraduates in that area.
What do you consider one of your biggest achievements/key highlights from your journey in STEM that you're most proud of?
It's hard to pick one! Looking back on my life, I really am extremely proud of my academic accomplishments; getting a PhD as someone who came from where I grew up is a significant accomplishment in and of itself, looking at my family and what they've done in their journeys. For me, getting a PhD in Chemistry is an amazing accomplishment, and I'm always surprised and in awe of that accomplishment.
I would also say that my ability to excite young folks to study chemistry or science in general is something that I'm really proud of—as you can see from my foray into social media.
A PhD in Chemistry really is a big deal and a hard thing to do! What made you interested in pursuing chemistry and drove you on that path?
I was always interested in chemistry and the sciences in general. I grew up in Jamaica within a British education system, meaning I had to decide fairly early what career track I wanted to be on. I remember being in Grade 9, having to decide if I wanted to study the sciences or business.
I ended up in the sciences for multiple reasons: one, I enjoyed doing it, but two, there was some family pressure! My grandfather always wanted a doctor in the family. All of his kids had failed him and hadn’t pursued that, so he moved on to the grandkids, and I was next in line. Going into the sciences was an interest of mine, but also kind of an expectation from family.
I went into the sciences in Grade 10 and kept studying it, but I just really fell in love with chemistry and math in particular. I struggled a bit in chemistry initially, but with the help of my uncle I really started excelling in chemistry. It was just nonstop from there; I really fell in love with chemistry and kept doing it in college, then went on to graduate studies and so forth.
And now you share that passion with your students! What were some of the challenges you faced during your PhD journey as an immigrant in the USA, and what helped you overcome those challenges?
There have been a number of challenges, and I would say they started in college. Number one: the weather! Being an immigrant from Jamaica living in frigid Massachusetts was difficult. We always joked that the food needed some more seasoning; it wasn't spicy enough for my taste. But there were also a lot of cultural differences in how people exist in a space and the expectations people often had for people of colour in scientific spaces.
You could tell nobody really wanted to necessarily study with you… They didn't expect you to be capable. It was obvious that some faculty members had seen a lot of students of colour come through their classes, some unsuccessfully. Many internalized that as a kind of pattern and expected most of the students to follow that path. It was a little tricky to navigate that and to really challenge people's expectations of what I would produce. For me, that became a kind of goal: to really prove the doubters wrong, prove that I could actually do science and do it well. Navigating the expectations people had for immigrant students and students of colour was a big challenge.
Graduate school was actually a little bit different because I had already proven I did pretty well in college; everyone already had high expectations of me. My challenges in graduate school instead became dealing with my identity as a queer person in STEM. I came out as queer in my graduate program and that was really tough, primarily due to how it changed navigating relationships with my family members. I grew up in Jamaica, which is a fairly religious country. I had some real challenges there in maintaining long-standing relationships with family members and navigating the different dynamics that followed my coming out.
That really put a strain on my graduate studies and impacted me. However, I was able to figure it out thanks to a great mentor, my PhD advisor, who gave me some space to focus more on building healthy relationships with those around me who supported me, and allowed me to jump back into my research once I was comfortable.
Those are some challenges I faced, and I think of myself as very lucky. I had really good mentors and people to support me. One thing I've recognized after talking to a number of people in our community is that's not the same for everyone, right? The support isn't always there. I try to do my best to model support for my students in my courses and model success for those online who might not think that they will be successful. If they see someone like me navigate those challenges, then they might also be able to do that.
It doesn't always take much, right? Sometimes support is just being visible and giving someone a smile.
Thank you for sharing that with us. A lot of our audience are early career PhD students who might become professors. It's important to know the impact that your mentorship and support can have on other people. It's always worth looking into different ways you can be supportive of your students and colleagues and so forth.
I'm sure a lot of those challenges are still challenges faced by students today, but do you think there's any more specific challenges that you're seeing today’s students face?
I think it's really tough for this generation. I've had a lot of experience working with Gen Z and becoming aware of their challenges, fears, and concerns. One real challenge for many young people nowadays is there isn’t really much of a promise for a bright future for them. They don't see the end of the tunnel for all the work they need to put in. They don't see the white picket fence, the house, the job, the kids and the happy life that was promised—the American dream.
It's becoming more and more unattainable when you think about the economy and housing prices and compensation that's not increasing with inflation. Students are feeling very depressed about the future, and I think that impacts their learning. A lot of students are asking, ‘what's the point of learning? I'm never going to get a job that's going to allow me to live a decent life.’ It's very hard for them. I think finding joy in learning is what I’m trying to give to my students; finding joy in the learning process and less so in the promise of a future stemming from the work they're doing in the class.
These are real fears that students have, and there's a big lack of resilience as a result. Resilience is needed for students to overcome challenges and really thrive in the classroom. As they're working on problems that they can't get right where they need to go at it, many of them are like, ‘well, we're never going to get a job. So why do I need to learn? Diels-Alder reaction, who cares?’ I've been trying to help them navigate the current situation they find themselves in by finding ways to excite students about learning that are decoupled from the promise of a house at the end of this degree.
The thought of putting in all in that work and then wondering where it’s going to go can be very daunting for students. Can you share a little more about some of the strategies or initiatives that you've implemented in your teaching or in your lab to try to help the students through?
Many of the students concerned about their future just don't see themselves in science. They're not represented. When they look at scientists, they don't see themselves in science. There are also a lot of negative opinions about scientists in the media, much of which is kind of perpetuated by politicians with their own agendas. For me, what I've been trying to do is really help students to see themselves in science and to find connections to their own lived experiences with what they're learning.
For example, representation of chemists of colour is something that I do in my class constantly. I try to tie in lectures with scientists of colour who've made contributions in those specific fields. I love to talk about Alice Ball and Alma Hayden; they’ve done really awesome work in chemistry and beyond. For queer students, there's not a lot of data on Queer people of science or in science because we don't collect that information. Sexual identity information is not easily accessible. I’ve been working to find ways to make queer students feel as if they see themselves as well in science and can connect science to their daily lives.
I talk about cis-trans isomers, and that's when I talk about gender identities. When we discuss the wave-particle duality of light, we talk about non-binary identities. I’ve been finding ways to highlight queer scientists that students can see themselves in, but also make the lessons fun and exciting. I’ve encourage my students to see science in their homes, finding household products at home for which they can then look up the structures, do chemistry with them, and relate that to synthesis in organic chemistry or functional groups.
But also: it’s important to just have fun. We do a lot of dancing; we learn reaction mechanisms by doing dances, and we do the related dance when we do the reaction. I have a Diels-Alder dance planned! We do the Wittig dance when we do the Wittig Reaction. It’s important to find ways to incorporate their own culture with learning. I think that's what we need to start doing: making chemistry more fun and more exciting for students.
For anyone who might not know, can you tell us a little bit about TikTok as a platform and how your journey on TikTok began?
Many of us have social media platforms, right? There's Twitter, there's Instagram, you name it. For me, TikTok was a brand new social media platform back in 2020. During the pandemic, I was stuck at home—we couldn't go outside, we couldn't go back to work, and we had to teach online—and as an extrovert, I just needed a way to interact with people. I joined the social media platform and started using it to watch videos and take a break. My friends started to tell me, ‘you should make some videos! I think this would be perfect for your personality!’ And I thought, ‘Eh, I can't make these videos! They're too complex.’ But of course, I like a challenge, so I started watching YouTube tutorials on how to make TikToks and do transitions and started making some videos.
I didn’t realize the impact until I went back to campus in the fall of 2020 and made a TikTok with a student of mine who said, ‘I saw your video, we should collaborate and do something together!’ We made a dance video and it blew up, it took off. I didn't anticipate that because I was just doing it for fun! But what I learned from the comments was that for a lot of people, they were excited to see diversity in ways they never anticipated in STEM. They were excited to see a Black person in STEM, a queer person in STEM, an immigrant in STEM. Someone who is authentically themselves in STEM. Joy in STEM and positive faculty-student interactions in STEM.
I recognized that a lot of the things my videos showcased were things that people were yearning for, or that people thought wasn't possible or didn't exist in STEM. From then on, I really started leaning into that and revealing more of myself and how I interact with my students: my own journey and what I do as a scientist. I wanted to paint a new picture of what a scientist could be. And so that's what happened, how it started, and how it's continuing.
For any of our listeners today: if you haven't checked out any of Dr. Isaac's TikToks, you really should. They're fun. They're educational. They're everything he’s mentioned. In light of your students getting involved in making videos with you, what has been the impact of your TikToks on your lab and your teaching?
I would say the first thing it's done is really or strengthened the bonds I've made with my students. I think they see me differently; they see me as someone who's supportive, but also as someone who's going to meet them where they are. I’m using the lingo that they use and implementing aspects of their culture that's are being clearly showcased on different social media platforms.
Interacting with students this way has really strengthened and deepened the bonds that I have with my students, but it's also brought some joy to science for them. A lot of people are now more excited to do chemistry—I’ve got a lot of students who want to apply to do chemistry research. My classes are a little too full. We actually hit a record high in our department this semester of students who want to take organic chemistry!
It’s really, really awesome to see the interest and the enthusiasm from students to do science—to say, ‘hey, this looks fun and I think I can do it!’ There’s been that impact, but also on a the national scale, a lot of faculty from other institutions have reached out to me and said, ‘hey, I really like your vulnerability and your authenticity. It’s making me rethink the ways in which I engage with my students and making me think I should be myself more to better connect with students’. Faculty have been interested in adopting some of the pedagogy that I showcase on my social media platform. It’s been very rewarding to see the positive responses to the work that I do, although it's not all positive.
It definitely takes a high level of confidence to put yourself out there on a day-to-day basis, and that’s even harder in public on social media. In spite of negativity, where do you find that confidence for yourself and what helped build your confidence to where you are today? Do you have any advice you would give to our students to help encourage them?
I think you hit the nail on the head. To do this kind of work—to be this visible—I think you have to be confident and committed. You're going to get pushback from people. I've gotten a lot of pushback. I've gotten pushback, I've gotten death threats, I've gotten bomb threats. I mean, it's crazy. There are a lot of people who do not want to see representation of people of colour and Queer folks in STEM on a national stage. Some people are very vocal about that.
What keeps me going are the emails I get from high school students, college students, professors, grad students, and postdocs who thank me for being visible. A high school student emailed me and said, ‘I've always wanted to do science, but as a queer person of colour, I never thought there was a place for me in science. Seeing you has made me committed to completing a chemistry degree in college.’ Random people email me updates saying, ‘professor, I just want to let you know that I got a 95% on my exam, and watching your video two nights ago was what kept me motivated to study.’
I get hundreds of these communications unsolicited. Whenever I get pushback, I just read the comment sections of my videos and look at the emails that people have sent me and realize that impact overwhelms the negative energy.
Two questions: could you tell us what is your favourite TikTok you've done and why, and could you leave our viewers with a final message?
Favourite video? Oh my God, I've made so many. I think my favourite video ever is really the one that I have with my two female students who are graduating. We made a video of me showcasing their journey with me. The video is literally 10 seconds long, but it shows them in the classroom with me, them being in the lab with me, and them now graduating. I actually just posted a video update of them; they're both in medical school now. The video was really a journey showcasing that you can walk with your students, and walking with them along the way is really important to their success and to the success of underrepresented folks, particularly women in this case.
My final message for viewers is: be who you are. I think it's often really hard for us to be our full selves because we think about the pushback we're going to get and the hate we could get, but you can inspire so many people by just living authentically. I’ve always said, ‘be yourself, be who you are,’ but I didn't really understand what that meant until I started getting feedback on just being myself on social media. It's really powerful how someone else can see you being your authentic self and feel inspired to also find their best.
Audience Member: Thank you so much for being so inspiring. We often see underrepresented groups doing more work; my question is, does your institution support and credit you for the additional work that you’re doing, especially in light of how you’ve brought new students in?
That's a great question. My institution does support me fully and I know they have my back. But no, I don't get additional credit for doing this work. I think oftentimes the labour of supporting students and being on committees and all that type of additional labour often goes unrewarded, and it generally falls on the backs of people of colour and women. There's a lot of burnout in these groups as a result.
I think one of the things we have to start doing is either compensate people for this labour, or value it when we think about promotion and merit-based outcomes.
Audience Member: What is your best advice for recruiting strategies? I want to do better in recruiting people of colour.
It's a challenging question, right? Students have to feel as if they'll be entering a supportive environment, and that has to be demonstrated. What are the support systems? Who's been successful from that institution as a student of colour? That needs to be highlighted. I think this requires a multi-pronged approach.
You also have to find students from the institutions that are producing students of colour as well. You can't just put a big call out saying, ‘apply to our school!’ You need to target institutions and say, ‘tell your students to apply here. We have a great program. These are the ways we're going to support them.’ We can’t just send our hiring advertisements to C&EN News and say that's it. We need to instead be going to the places where students of colour are to let them know that we are going to value them, or telling them specifically, ‘we value you, so come to us.’
My biggest piece of advice would be to go to institutions to do recruiting directly—such as historically black colleges and universities in the United States—where they have students of colour who want to go on to PhD programs.
Audience Member: What kind of challenges do you still face in terms of microaggressions? I know you’re doing very well now, but are you still encountering some of these aggressions? If so, what are they and how do you cope with them?
That's a great question. They are there and there are plenty. I think some of the microaggressions include, ‘well, you spend your time with students, you could publish more, right?’ That's one of the microaggressions that I definitely get from people in the community. Oftentimes I think, well, that's exactly what's wrong with our field: we prioritize publications over our students’ mental health, right?
The other microaggression I encounter is related to how I dress. I've had people say, ‘you don't dress professionally.’ I mean, I'm wearing my shirt and tie today, but I don't always dress like this. And there are other microaggressions—the list goes on. But I think how I deal with them is much like how anyone else deals with them: if you really value or believe in this work, you kind of have to brush it off and keep moving, and surround yourself with people who understand the value of your work.
Thank you. We'll wrap up our episode today with a fun question: what is your favourite chemical element?
My favourite element is nitrogen because I make nitrogen heterocycles, and also because we all know they'll add about a year to your PhD work. So I like to make myself miserable, you know! [laughs] But yeah, I just love nitrogen.
That’s awesome. Thank you very much to Dr. Isaacs for joining us today, and thank you to our live audience for joining us. We hope to see you all back again soon. In the meantime, check out Dr. André K. Isaacs (@drdre4000) on TikTok.
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The EDII Catalyst is a podcast series hosted by the Carbon to Metal Coating Institute (C2MCI) at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
In this series, we explore topics of equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity in STEM featuring guest speakers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives discussing their lived experiences. We provide helpful resources and tips on how to create more inclusive and equitable environments and hope to inspire you to become a “catalyst” for change in your own communities and workplaces!
The EDII Catalyst is made possible by the support of the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (#NFRFT-2020-00573).
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