Now nearing the end of her undergraduate career, Briana Cruga has come to think of UM-Dearborn as “home” and counts the huge range of experiences she’s had here as shaping her into the person she is today. Working in two research labs showed her that failure is an inevitable part of solving a tough problem. Strong, compassionate mentors taught her about the power and challenges of being a woman working in STEM. Other lessons have been less tangible: Like the insight gleaned from being around different types of people, each with unique backgrounds and experiences. It’s something that has shown her to always be conscious of the limits of her own knowledge and perspectives — even as she leverages her experiences to help others. 

Briana, in her own words

On why I’m a STEMinist. “I actually first saw that word, ‘STEMinist’ on a shirt one of my professors was wearing. For me, a STEMinist is anyone who supports women being in STEM and traditionally male-dominated fields. It’s about having that support from other women. It’s about feeling confident in the space you’re working in. Here at UM-Dearborn, the community is so open and encouraging, and I feel support from everyone I’m working around. But I think it’s important to recognize that women face challenges in the field that men don’t. There are all these combining factors that really put a lot of stress on women that other people may not understand. And I also think women have a lot of new perspectives to bring to this field that could be really valuable.” 

On treating patients like people. “My dream is to be a physician and I want to take a unique approach. I know a lot of people have felt they can’t be open with their physician, or felt like they were going to be discriminated against, or just that their physician didn’t understand what was going on with them and what their illness meant to them and their lifestyle. I want to be a physician who incorporates integrative medicine. It’s important to look at a person as a person and not just their illness. When I prescribe medication, I want to make sure my patient also has healthy food. If they are coming in with a chronic illness, and the treatment is to get more exercise, I want to make sure they have a healthy environment to exercise in. I think we don’t always ask these questions in the health field, but we need to understand who our patients are and what their illness means to them in order to treat them.”

On how optimism can grow from trying and failing. “Working in two research labs on campus, I’ve really understood failure. I’ve been in the lab very, very defeated and very frustrated, feeling like I’ll never get to the finish line. But just being able to accept the fact that you’re going to fail — and do it over and over again — and still know that you have an opportunity to get better the more you practice, has been really encouraging to me. I think that manifests in my life and I try to have this optimistic perspective on whatever I’m going through.”