Nebraska Women in STEM talked to Dr. Ladan Ghazi Saidi about her journey from Iran to Kearney, Nebraska, where she works as a professor and researcher.

Growing up in Iran, Dr. Ladan Ghazi Saidi was surrounded by science. Her parents were both university professors and most of her aunts and uncles were doctors or held positions in the healthcare field.

Access to college and career options is very different in Iran than in the United States. Every student takes the same college entrance exam, is ranked against all other graduating students in the country, and their choice of college and career is determined by their score. Ghazi Saidi’s score made her ineligible to become a doctor but was high enough to study any science field at the most prestigious universities.

Her father suggested she study biology, since it is the “mother of all sciences” and would allow her to do anything she wanted in grad school. Ghazi Saidi followed his recommendation, but it wasn’t until her last semester of undergrad that she found the specific type of biology she wanted to study for the rest of her career.