Maryam Zaringhalam is a molecular biologist by training. But about eight years ago, she traded in her lab coat for a career in science policy. She says she wanted "to hold a sign and make my case for why science is really important, for why science with open borders is really important, and why women are a critical part of the scientific endeavor." Zaringhalam became a science and technology policy fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC. Most recently, she also helped lead science and policy research at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

She has pursued another mission—to get scientists to demystify their work by talking more openly about it. She has urged them to discuss publicly the messy process of research, not just the successes but the missteps and failures, too. She started Science Confessionals, an online offering with scientists sharing their failures. It lasted for about five years—until it failed to attract enough scientists wanting to share their stories. Go figure.

Fun fact: Zaringhalam's scientific career began with a favorite toy.

When you were growing up, what got you thinking about a career in science?

I really liked Legos. I just loved seeing the way the blocks came together to make a plane or a building. Then in ninth-grade biology our class dissected a pig. As I was looking into this pig, looking at all the parts that were like parts that were inside me, I thought, this is kind of like a Lego—all these little organs and systems coming together. That experience sent me into genetics and molecular biology, because that’s a basic level at which parts come together to create a whole.

How did your experience as a researcher lead you to think about the place of failure in science?