Meet Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology), professional scientist and epidemiologist, who met her husband Dan Montgomery ‘06 (CCS Computer Science) at CCS Coffee Hour
Morgana serves as scientific director of population health research at MedStar Health Research Institute
“CCS was less about focusing on one area at the expense of all others, and more about digging in deeply to any and all areas for which we [students] had excitement and passion.”
–Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
The College of Creative Studies (CCS) recently connected with Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology) who shared her journey to the College and the focus of her professional life. After CCS, Morgana completed a Masters of Public Health in epidemiology/biostatistics from UC Berkeley School of Public Health in 2006, and after a three year stint of being a data manager and analyst, she completed a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2013. She currently serves as the scientific director of population health research at MedStar Health Research Institute. A highlight of her CCS experience was meeting her husband, Dan Montgomery ‘06 (CCS Computing), at CCS Coffee Hour. Enjoy that story below! Morgana loves reading, the archaic millinery of making ribbon flowers for friends’ weddings, and science. A mother of two boys (Ivan and Rye), Morgana enjoys hiking and baking with Dan and the children.
College of Creative Studies (CCS): How did you find out about the College? What was your major and graduation year?
Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin (MMC): My wonderful college counselor heard about the CCS competition [for recruiting students that existed at that time] and suggested I give it a try. While I did not win anything, it gave me an opportunity to visit CCS and the campus. He suggested I apply as he thought CCS would be a great fit for me academically, but he was concerned that the girl who played the drums and lived in green hiking boots would not find her people at UCSB. But he was wrong! The academic focus of the College drew people who were also an amazing and diverse social circle full of creativity, many of whom are my lifelong friends.
I graduated in 2004 with a major in biology and a minor in French.
CCS: Why did you choose to come to CCS?
“It’s not so much that I didn’t want breadth, as much as I craved depth.”
—Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
MMC: I was thrilled by the idea that I could take upper division and even graduate level biology classes as an undergrad, and start doing research right away as a freshman. I did not want to have to wait until graduate school to be in a lab doing research. I wanted to be IN the field now! And I loved the thought of being able to choose which other areas to focus on so that I could deeply dig into the things I was excited about, having already completed a lot of the basics. It’s not so much that I didn’t want breadth, as much as I craved depth.
CCS: Any favorite aspects, professors, or experiences while at CCS? Does a memorable moment or two stand out from your time at CCS or UCSB?
MMC: Well, I met my husband–Dan Montgomery class of 2006–at CCS so that’s an obvious one!
I have a specific memory that captures what CCS is all about. Danna Staaf ‘04 (CCS Biology) and I had taken [CCS Biology Faculty and Professor of Zoology, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology] Armand Kuris’ “Invertebrate Zoology” class and [2005-2016 CCS Dean, CCS Biology Faculty and Professor of Earth Sciences emeritus] Bruce Tiffney’s “Botanical Illustration” class together. One year, we put those two classes together and co-taught “Invertebrate Illustration.” Danna supported students interested in the squishy marine animals and I focused on the crunchy terrestrial types. The encouragement and celebration to combine different fields, talents, and skills could be seen everywhere at the College. Most of us students had what we now call “multidisciplinary” interests. CCS was less about focusing on one area at the expense of all others, and more about digging in deeply to any and all areas for which we had excitement and passion.
I know I am not the only one who was being asked by professors and peers outside of CCS in other classes: “Wait a minute! What do you mean you’re not also a French or a percussion major?” Or in Dan Montgomery’s case: “A classics or photography major?” In Danna’s case: “A physics or art major? And my guess is that most of us ended up using some of those other skills throughout our careers. In my case, critical review and writing skills—not the drums. From Daniel Doonan ‘03, ‘07 (CoE B.S. & M.S. Electrical Engineering) using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream for CCS Coffee Hour to Rob Wechsler ‘04 (CCS Art) making bespoke pinatas inspired by his friend’s work for their birthday parties, CCS did not suffer from the silo-ing that plagues many programs for high achievers.
CCS: What three words best describe CCS?
MMC: If I really have to stick to three: Focus. Inspiration. Depth.
CCS: Has CCS impacted your life personally or professionally?
MMC: Personally, I met my husband at CCS Coffee Hour. [Read the story below on how they met.]
Professionally, I was one of three students out of approximately 70 who were admitted to a Masters of Public Health straight from undergrad. These sorts of masters programs often require relevant work experience prior to being admitted. My time conducting research and working independently with various UCSB faculty made me a good candidate. Most of my peers in graduate school were a few years ahead of me in their careers with relevant work experience, but had not had exposure to a research academic setting while undergraduates. I would not have gotten admitted without my research experience.
CCS: If you attended graduate school, where and what did you study as a graduate student? Did your CCS education help you as a graduate student?
“Nothing taught me what path not to choose better than doing it everyday for a while.”
—Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
MMC: In 2006, I received a Masters of Public Health in epidemiology/biostatistics from UC Berkeley School of Public Health, then worked as a data manager and analyst for three years. I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, receiving it in 2013.
Nothing taught me what path not to choose better than doing it everyday for a while. That is part of the brilliance of CCS: It lets you do the day to day activities of a field so that you can learn from that experience and make informed choices about what to do next. My CCS education gave me insight into what it means to do research 40 hours a week (in the summer) and which aspects of research I liked doing every day versus which ones I knew I did not want to do everyday for the next 40 years. So instead of choosing infectious disease as a focus (which I knew would require a lot of time behind a microscope), I chose epidemiology as something that would give me the skills I could apply to any topic area within health research.
CCS: What have you been doing professionally post-CCS? Does it relate to what you studied at CCS?
MMC: My career trajectory has been pretty typical for academia. After my Ph.D., I completed a postdoc and got my first faculty position at Wake Forest School of Medicine in epidemiology. After getting my first big grant (NIH R01) and being promoted, I am now the scientific director of population health research at MedStar Health Research Institute. My research focuses on the etiology and prevention of obesity and cardiometabolic disease very broadly. My current projects use continuous glucose monitors as a research measurement tool to overcome barriers in the field (“How does dysglycemia lead to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias?”) and for remote monitoring (“How can we include underserved populations in research when they cannot attend a clinic visit Monday-Friday, 9-5?”).
While my work isn’t technically in “biology” or “ecology” anymore, I am a professional scientist and epidemiologist doing health research. Given that I spent a lot of time during CCS in the parasite lab, I’d say my current work is highly related to that. I am a principal investigator with federal funding who writes grants and scientific papers, builds multi-disciplinary teams, collaborates with other investigators, and teaches and mentors early career scientists.
CCS: What advice would you give to current and future CCS students?
“1. Go Out and Do it! 2. Take risks. 3. Good people do good work.”
—Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
MMC: Three things:
1. Go out and do it! Whatever it is you think you want for a career, go try it for a while. Or at least follow someone around for a while who has the job you think you want. In science, it is easy to fall in love with the excitement of discovery and not realize that many available jobs can require a constant hustle for grant money, a lot of teaching, or being an administrator of grants or a lab. All things that are sometimes dealbreakers for people who love science. If you hate the day to day work, go find something else. Every job has its challenges and parts that you will struggle with or don’t love, but at the end of the day it has to be something that you want to do again tomorrow.
2. Take risks. Go for the things you don’t think you can win and consider the opportunities that weren’t in your original plan. The best things that happened for my career came out of unexpected opportunities and me changing my mind about what I thought was a clear plan forward. Similarly, sometimes a failure or unexpected bad fit are a blessing in disguise, despite being stressful and challenging nonetheless. Another path in an unplanned direction or being forced to consider if it’s time to leave that may take you to better places in the long run. For example, I applied to Johns Hopkins expecting I would not get in and was expecting to continue at Berkeley for my doctorate. Instead, through some gaps in the admission process, I was rejected by Berkeley and got a training grant at Hopkins with a full ride and a stipend. It was absolutely the best thing that could have happened—it changed me and my career.
3. Good people do good work. Don’t go or stay someplace where the leadership is bad or where they support and promote people who behave badly. In my experience, the bullies and creeps are also the ones doing bad science. Choose to work with people you like that support you, and your work will be better for it.
CCS: How do you see the direction of higher education in 3, 5, 10+ years unfolding?
“These days it’s not difficult to get your hands on more information than a single person could possibly know what to do with in a lifetime. What is important is being able to critically evaluate evidence, determine where the gaps are, and how to fill them.”
—Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
MMC: I have always told students that the classes they take are not important compared to the skills they learn and the work they produce. If I’m planning to hire someone to complete a project or form a team to write a grant or paper, the number one question I ask is: “What do they bring to the table that the rest of the team doesn’t?” That may be specialty skills and experience, but it could also be that they are great to work with, thoughtful, super reliable, motivated, and they get things done. Being able to push a project across the finish line matters too.
I think higher ed has been heading in this direction for a while already, but current trends with AI and information availability will speed things along. These days it’s not difficult to get your hands on more information than a single person could possibly know what to do with in a lifetime. What is important is being able to critically evaluate evidence, determine where the gaps are and how to fill them. Education that focuses on teaching students critical thinking, applied skills, and how to work with and lead diverse teams with the ultimate goal of meaningfully contributing to the production of new work and new information will be essential.
Morgana and Dan Met at CCS Coffee Hour
“After more than 20 years together, 3 cross country moves for my training and career, and jointly navigating decisions about two very different professional careers, we both still work in our respective fields and have two little boys—Ivan is 4 and Rye is 22 months—and a cat named Wellington.”
—Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin ‘04 (CCS Biology)
Morgana was working with Armand Kuris—CCS Biology Faculty and Professor of Zoology, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology—at the end of her freshman year, splitting time between the salt marsh and the lab. On one of those days, she was walking home from the marine lab and decided to stop by CCS coffee hour on the way. She recounts the memories.
I was wearing Swiss army pants, a knit cap, and lots of stinky black mud from the marsh. I walked in and said “hi” to my friend Jay Freeman ‘03 (CCS Computer Science). Sitting next to him was his friend, Dan Montgomery, who introduced himself and said: “You look like you could use a cookie!” and offered me a homemade chocolate chip cookie. He thought I looked cute.
Then, we re-met at CCS All College BBQ in the fall and really connected. One Friday we were planning a movie night with friends and he asked me out to lunch (at the Greek and Italian Deli) and to choose movies to watch (somehow we ended up with “Cube” and “Bringing Out the Dead,” probably the least romantic movies ever made). He was impressed I knew what dolmades were and that I liked them. Not long after he cooked me dinner on his tiny 2 burner apartment stove out on Picasso, he made me traditional French buckwheat dinner crêpes with potatoes, mushrooms, and bechamel and then separate sweet dessert crêpes with wine poached pears and chocolate sauce. He was trying to impress me. And he succeeded!
He still loves cooking and international arthouse cinema. One of the gifts for Dan’s birthday every year is that I sit through an unbearably long arty movie with him, and he remains my biggest fan.
So…my other piece of advice, especially for women in science, is to find someone who will wash the mud out of the wetsuits after an invertebrate zoology field trip, who will get your suit hemmed for you on short notice for a job talk, and who understands your work and why it is important.
After more than 20 years together, 3 cross country moves for my training and career, and jointly navigating decisions about two very different professional careers, we both still work in our respective fields and have two little boys—Ivan is 4 and Rye is 22 months—and a cat named Wellington.
CCS enjoys hearing from its alumni, like Morgana and Dan, and how they continue to embrace the community spirit of the College in their personal and professional lives. And, for our current students, you never know how a chance encounter at CCS Coffee Hour will change your life like it did for Morgana and Dan!