Faculty Profile: Danae Schulz

Associate Professor of Biology Danae Schulz has been at Harvey Mudd College for nine years. She teaches courses in molecular biology and researches gene regulation in African trypanosome parasites, which cause sleeping sickness in Sub-Saharan Africa. Find out more about her, including what she does over her summer break, what she’s learning right now and more in this Q-and-A.

What is your favorite part about your job and why?

It’s such a cliche to say the best thing about Harvey Mudd is the people, but the thing is, the people really are the best! My colleagues on the faculty, our staff members and our students are all pulling toward this beautiful goal of putting knowledge into the world and lifting each other up as we do so. I also love that moment when I’m chatting with a student about something super complicated, and I can see in their face when they start to understand it. It’s heartwarming.

What is something people don’t understand about your job that you wish they did?

People outside Harvey Mudd are always asking me what I do with my “summers off.” I do research for nearly the entire summer, so the summers off are kind of a myth.

If you could swap jobs with any other HMC employee for a day, who would it be and why?

I’d enjoy being in dining services and handing people these absolutely beautiful salads that you can tailor exactly the way you want. I always have a huge smile on my face when I get this amazing salad, and I’d love to be the one making that happen for people.

If you could add anything to campus to improve the employee experience, what would it be?

A swimming pool!

What’s your favorite food/dish in the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Hall?

Fernando’s spicy dressing! Fernando is my hero. On top of the fancy salad, it is just the best.

What HMC events have made you feel really connected to other HMC colleagues?

When I started in 2016, it was common for faculty members to grab lunch at the dining hall and sit on the upper deck. You could wander up there and there would always be fellow faculty members to sit with. I got to know a lot of faculty members that I would never have otherwise interacted with that way. It was also amazing to have these really experienced colleagues offering advice and encouragement. They were all so wise and really helped me as I launched my courses and my research program.

What is your favorite hobby, activity or creative outlet?

I’ve played the violin since I was 5, and I took a break from playing for a while when I started my job here because I was just so overwhelmed. I’m just getting back into playing chamber music, and it feels like a balm. I also got jealous of my daughter’s ballet lessons, so I, too, signed up for ballet lessons. It turns out that ballet is hard.

What is the best piece of advice someone has given you, either in life or at work?

Showing up is so important. If you show up to the thing, you are 90% on your way to success.

What is your most effective strategy for dealing with stress?

Swimming laps. Something about flip turns just really calms me down.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and how would you use it at work?

I would create all the time I need to help all the people I want to help!

Are you studying or learning something new?

I am trying to learn to dance. It’s a nice activity because there are no screens involved.

What book or podcast are you enjoying right now?

I recently read Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead (the modern retelling) at the same time. I alternated chapters (they have the same number). Both books were amazing, and it was so interesting to see Kingsolver update the Dickens to the modern opioid crisis. I learned a lot from both books about perseverance and survival in the most difficult circumstances.

What is the last concert you attended?

Does the Nutcracker count as a concert? I took my 5-year-old and she was a fan. Can’t beat Tchaikovsky and pirouettes!