5 Questions with Sam Long

To celebrate Pride Month, Gladstone is featuring panelists from Out in Science by asking them to answer five questions.

Sam Long (he/him) is a Chinese-American transgender man and high school science teacher in Denver, Colorado. He cofounded GenderInclusiveBiology.com, a website for gender-inclusive biology curriculum resources, as well as the Colorado chapter of the Transgender Educators Network.

What is the current focus of your work or research?

Teaching high school life science topics in a way that is accurate and inclusive of diverse gender, sex, and sexuality.

Why is it important to you to be out in science?

It’s important for me to be an out transgender science teacher so I can model to all students that identity matters in science, and we learn best when we bring our whole selves into the community.

How can organizations create a more inclusive and supportive environment to LGBTQ+ scientists?

Show your allyship in a continual, visible, and vocal way. Interrogate the practices that you use to hire, evaluate, and retain staff.

Have you had a mentor or role model who has been particularly impactful on your career?

Ben Barres, a neurobiologist at Stanford, was the first trans scientist I knew of. When I was a college student, I reached out to him via email for advice on navigating a career. He encouraged me to be open about my identity, to choose the work that I loved, and not to limit myself based on assumptions of whether or not I would “fit in.”

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading the book “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by physicist Richard P. Feynman.