Sydney Floryanzia

Sydney Floryanzia is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering at the University of Washington, in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Nance. Her research focuses on engineering vascular and tissue models of neonatal brain injury to screen new therapies for neurological diseases. 

West Seattle Indivisible met Sydney at a Stand Up for Science Rally.

How have the DOGE cuts impacted you? 

I never thought being a scientist would be something that I would have to defend. I study babies with brain diseases. I never thought I would have to justify why doing that is important. 

I heard a great analogy from my friend, Dr. Jess Kunke. The DOGE approach to making government more efficient is like a person saying they want to lose weight, and they do that by cutting off both their arms. Congratulations, you lost weight. But now you are bleeding profusely, and your functionality for the foreseeable future is going to be severely altered. Is money being saved? Sure. But the long-term effects are not so simple. 

What would you say to Trump supporters who think DOGE has done good things? 

I spoke with a Trump supporter who thought the DOGE cuts were good. He was under the impression only government officials were fired. He didn’t know that people in Seattle were losing their jobs, or people at UW and Fred Hutch had to lay off their teams. 

I don't know if I was able to change his mind, but at least we had a dialogue. Unfortunately, many of us are in our own echo chambers. Scientists talk with other scientists about results from studies and the importance of science, while others have their personal beliefs and mostly talk among those who share those exact beliefs. Everyone gets more solidified in their thinking rather than exploring other perspectives.

How can we reach across the political divide about the importance of scientific research? 

I was able to talk with that man, because at the end of the day we both care about people. We care about America. Our national discourse would be so much better if we could just realize that at the core, many of us care about the same things, like our family, friends, and our health. Money for science helps us to help others, and by helping our fellow Americans, we help the world.  

We're losing so much by not talking with each other to find mutual understanding.  I wish we could have more conversations—I think that's the beginning of a solution. 

You studied musical theater in high school--a unique combination with science. Is that why you're such an effective communicator? 

Oh, 100%. My combining music with science is my superpower. I enjoy taking unlike things and merging them to find something special. That’s why I want to have these cross-aisle conversations, because I think in the middle something very useful -and- beautiful can spring forth. 

For the longest time I didn’t think I could do science because not only am I a Black woman, (which is less than 2% of engineers,) I am also ‘artsy.’ I didn’t exactly fit the mold. I took several personality tests which said I should be a TV host. And I'm like, ‘does that mean I can’t do science?’ Then I realized I can bring my energy and passion into science and express it very loudly! 

Different people's personalities can enable us collectively to do great things. Where there are differences in peoples’ thought and worldview, there's merit. I believe there is some truth in all opinions. 

Any last thoughts? 

There are many scientists who want to be in service to our country. We want to use the intelligence we've been given to build a better society to help you, your family and the people close to you. 

I'm not saying things were wonderfully efficient before these awful funding cuts, but there was a way to do it that would have allowed science to continue to progress and would not have cost huge layoffs and unraveling of the scientific enterprise. 

We have developed treatments so people can now live longer, fuller lives with MS. Diseases that used to be a death sentence, like HIV, and some cancers, are things people can now survive and live with. The same could become reality for many other diseases, but we need research to make it happen. We need research to be funded to create better health outcomes for you, your family, our country, and the world.