Crafty chemists get creative

Dissertation, meet drag

Long-time Newscripts readers might remember the scientist who turned fabric posters into shirts. But Charles “Boomer” Russell recently took this concept to the next level by printing a chapter of their dissertation onto fabric and fashioning it into a dress fit for a queen.

Back in May, Russell slipped on the handmade garment and wore it as their drag persona, Fatty Acid, to celebrate the completion of their PhD at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “The dress itself is composed of chapter 2 from my dissertation,” Russell, a biochemist, tells Newscripts. “It was a fun way for me to incorporate a very important part of my life into another part of my life,” they say.

Russell’s dissertation dress isn’t the first time the researcher has combined science and drag. Once, while participating in a drag pageant back in 2022, Fatty Acid donned a mad scientist getup and did the classic red cabbage pH experiment on stage. Their stage name is also a nod to their PhD research. “I chose the name Fatty Acid as my drag name because I studied membranes,” Russell says. Their work focused on a peptide secreted by the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans, which causes yeast infections.

In the months since their defense, Russell has been on the hunt for a job in the realm of science communication, another passion of theirs. Outside of work, drag will continue to be a big part of their life.

Russell also plans to find ways to blend the two interests in the future. “It would be really cool to use my expertise as a way to spread awareness for different things” like HIV testing or the importance of vaccinations, they say.

Hooked on chemistry

Last year, as part of the STEM Ambassador Program, Kristine Legaspi, a chemistry PhD student at San Diego State University, was tasked with brainstorming a way to use one of her hobbies to teach people about science. Having renewed her interest in crochet, she wondered if it was possible to use the fiber art to teach others about chemistry.

Soon after, she came across some crochet patterns on Etsy. “Somebody had made plushies of chemistry glassware,” Legaspi tells Newscripts. Inspired, she decided to collect and make her favorite patterns, pair them with some science-related activities, and set up a booth at the Maker Faire Orange County.

She called her booth Crochet Chemistry, and it was a whopping success. Around 380 people of all ages stopped by that first year. Kids, in particular, were drawn to the three hands-on activities. They used disposable pipettes to mix colored water into vials, played with molecular model sets, and held a mole worth of copper, iron, zinc, and aluminum. The teenagers and younger adults, on the other hand, were more interested in the crocheted glassware, molecules, and moles that Legaspi paired with each activity. “We printed out the patterns and gave them out to whoever was interested in trying to make them at home,” Legaspi says. “Crochet was big on TikTok at the time.”

Crochet Chemistry was such a hit that one of the Maker Faire organizers asked Legaspi to come back this year. “I had so much fun doing it that I absolutely wanted to do it again,” she says.

This time, Legaspi added one more plushie and activity to her booth. She paired a crocheted duck with an activity that allowed visitors to build a battery out of vinegar-soaked foam and zinc and copper washers. The duck, she explains, represents the shape of a standard cyclic voltammetry graph.

Having experienced the Maker Faire for 2 years in a row, Legaspi is now interested in taking Crochet Chemistry beyond the Maker Faire. She’s considered the possibility of holding a crochet workshop. “We’ll crochet one of the patterns that I had at the booth, and then I’ll give a mini talk” about how the plushie relates back to chemistry.

Please send comments and suggestions to newscripts@acs.org.