Welcome back to Square Pegs, a series of discussions about navigating life and learning within the neurodiverse community, hosted by Dr. Arash Zaghi, Professor at the UConn School of Engineering. In each episode we talk to current and former neurodiverse graduate students from across the Academy. Today we are chatting with Dr. Angela Lanning, a recent UConn Structural Engineering graduate who studied with Dr. Zaghi. Angela shows how she not only came to accept her ADHD, but turn it into a strategic advantage in her graduate studies.
Angela reflects on her educational journey, touching on how traits related to her ADHD, like risk-taking and creative problem solving, helped her to become a better researcher and engineer. Revisiting discrete moments across Angela’s path from primary school to her doctorate unfolds into a discussion of systemic issues in the mindset around seeing ADHD as a problem rather than a strength and how this mindset contributes to pressure felt by neurodiverse students to silence their authentic selves, especially in the classroom. In this discussion of finding herself in the research environment, Angela leaves us with a model of how building self-awareness, embracing one’s strengths, and being bold enough to change paths can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Timestamps:
0:01:09 – Guest intro: Dr. Angela Lanning, a structural engineer and recent graduate of UConn who studied under Dr. Zaghi during her PhD
0:04:39 – Gaining confidence to hop into new topics without experience
0:10:42 – Grad school and the accuracy of the narrative that you have to stay in the field of our PhD forever
0:14:50 – Childhood and ADHD in primary school as the “disruptor”
0:18:51 – ADHD, self-silencing, and not being able to be yourself
0:23:43 – Middle school and starting to find excitement in STEM
0:26:21 – High school and getting into engineering over biology
0:30:20 – ADHD and difficulties with focusing while reading and writing
0:34:10 – Strengths in math and pivoting to engineering
0:36:00 – Entering college, getting an official ADHD diagnosis, and making sense of personal changes
0:47:00 – Arash discussing his ADHD diagnosis later in life and coming to terms with himself
0:55:31 – The impacts of the deficit-based mindset around ADHD and it’s impact on the individual
0:59:48 – The final years of undergrad and getting into the lab for the first time
1:05:55 – Research as a meaningful alternative for ADHD learning over traditional methods
1:09:47 – Angela’s research during her PhD, and looking back
1:14:27 – Pivoting from Civil grad school to her current job
1:17:39 – Final thoughts and advice to past Angela
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