March Ard:  

I left Oak Ridge without much of a career plan beyond my acceptance to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I lamely hoped that a pleasure in reading fiction and an unexamined interest in psychology could lead me to employability. The path was indirect, but I did get a B.A. in psychology, taught at a great day care center for a total of 3 years, got a Ph.D. in Anatomy & Cell Biology, and became a neuroscientist for 25 years. I studied development of the auditory system, then axon growth and glial cells, then glial cells and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease. I wasn't very good at science overall; I had certain talents but also some big deficits, such as not communicating well with colleagues. Still, I did some useful work, and the research questions were totally engrossing. I married twice,...Expand for more