By Bria King

If you are a person interested in pursuing a career in STEM, it’s important to not “feel boxed into pursuing a medical or engineering degree”.
Just ask Vincentian scholar, Abigail Scott, who recently graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a perfect 5.0 GPA (grade point average).

“STEM is so much more diverse than we make it out to be here,” Scott told SEARCHLIGHT in a recent interview, during which she reflected on her time at MIT and her accomplishments in the field so far.

Scott, a recipient of the 2017 Prime Minister’s Award for her stellar performance at CAPE, pursued a BSc in Chemistry at MIT.

Graduating with a perfect 5.0 GPA is an accomplishment she describes as “surreal”.

“Initially, it wasn’t exactly a goal as it seemed unattainable. It was only after the Fall semester of my junior year, when I completed the notoriously challenging classes in my major that I realised this was possible and worked to maintain my GPA,” she said.

This young scholar has excelled academically throughout her entire life.

She was also this country’s top CSEC performer in 2015 where she gained 15 grade one passes. She also placed first in St Vincent and the Grenadines at the 2010 Common Entrance examination.

During her time at MIT, she was the recipient of several awards including the Merck Prize for outstanding research and academic performance in biophysical or bioinformatics sciences by the MIT Department of Biology; and the Peter and Sharon Fiekowsky Award for distinguished teaching at MIT as a teaching assistant of a peer-learning community called Experimental Study Group.

Just last month, the daughter of Bernard and Dawn Scott was the recipient of the prestigious Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) Senior Academic Award.
This award is usually presented to an outstanding senior woman who has demonstrated the highest level of academic excellence through her coursework and related professional activities at MIT.

Scott also received the Alpha Chi Sigma award for outstanding achievement in scholarship, research and service to the Department of Chemistry at MIT.

Abigail Scott in April 2016 receiving a trophy from Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves for being the top female performer in the 2015 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations.

She also gained admission to the most prestigious honour society in America, the Phi Beta Kappa Honour Society.

“I enjoyed being around and befriending brilliant people from various backgrounds who are driven to change the world. Furthermore, it was incredible to have numerous opportunities to speak to professors and other professionals who conduct cutting-edge research and are pioneers in their field,” she told SEARCHLIGHT.

“Another highlight has been conducting research in the laboratory of Professor Catherine Drennan since the summer of my first year. Despite having no prior research experience, I made scientific contributions, learned how to troubleshoot failed experiments (which happens extremely often in science), communicated my findings to others through presentations or in writing, and actually got paid for doing so!”

Scott conducted research in Professor Drennan’s lab since her first year at MIT, which focused on elucidating the structure of proteins involved in assembling and delivering iron-sulphur clusters, a vital cofactor for many enzymes.

She was also extremely active in a number of activities and groups throughout her time on campus, including the MIT Cru, a Christian community; MIT Laureates and Leaders community; the Financial Assistance and Support Community of the First Generation and/or Low-income undergraduate community; and the Society for Under-represented Biologists and Biological Engineers.

Managing her time and remaining focused proved difficult when there were “several assignments due, exams to study for and experiments to run in the lab”.

“I think we often try to treat time-management tactics like a broad-spectrum drug, but one tactic may not work for everyone. Thus, my advice would be to try several tactics and see what works best for you,” she said, when asked how she juggled between her academic work and extra-curricular activities.

Scott ultimately is encouraging persons to “learn to be flexible and prioritise more important or pressing tasks, while also remembering to take breaks as running yourself dry will only harm you in the long run”.

Her time at MIT was marred only by the COVID-19 pandemic and the initial lack of knowledge about the wealth of opportunities offered at MIT and beyond.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Scott, like many other students returned home, where she attended online classes for an extended time.

“It was frustrating trying to attend online classes with slow or no Internet connection. On some of those days, I went to the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College to get an Internet connection. On days when that was not possible, I had to catch up on missed work a bit later. Additionally, during this time, I could not conduct research physically in the lab, so I adapted by learning how to do computational aspects of the research conducted by the Drennan lab,” she explained.

“Generally speaking, apart from the pandemic, one challenge I encountered was being less knowledgeable about opportunities at MIT and beyond than my American peers. I tackled this challenge by seeking mentorship from persons in my lab, older students and professors.”

Despite these challenges, Scott was able to soar to the finish line in this chapter of her academic journey and her plan for the near future involves pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at ivy league school, Harvard University this fall.

The Vincentian Scholar told SEARCHLIGHT she is currently open to multiple career paths within the field of Chemistry and, “you will have to wait and see where the world of possibilities takes me”.

She expressed gratitude to MIT for the generous scholarship awarded to her, for without it, her attendance would not have been possible.