Ainissa Ramirez is the author of two novels, over 50 scientific papers and currently holds six patents. The materials scientist says that she finds pride in her work, but her efforts only came to fruition when she learned to detach herself from her failures.

Ramirez kicked off Binghamton University’s Research Days on Tuesday night with a keynote speech titled “Making Friends with Failure.” Dozens of students and faculty members sat in the Mandela Room to listen to her speak about success and perseverance, even when a future full of achievements seems as though it’s full of letdowns and failures.

BU’s annual Research Days features a weeklong series of events designated to celebrate and draw attention to the work conducted by each of the University’s departments. Throughout the week, those participating tabled in University Union and held open seminars and labs about research conducted at the University.

Provost Donald Nieman addressed the importance of Research Days before introducing Ramirez.

“Research is at the core of our identity,” Nieman said. “There are thousands of things people here are doing every week. This week is a way to underscore that as a research university, our business is creating new knowledge and not just recycling it.”

Ramirez is also a radio personality known for her podcast, “Science Underground,” in which she tries to make science relatable and applicable to everyday events. She is a self-proclaimed “science evangelist,” meaning she works to educate others about science by describing it to the general public in layman’s terms.

Ramirez said that at the all-girls’ school in New Jersey she attended during her formative years, many of the other students had no ambition to go into science, technology, math or engineering (STEM) fields. As a black woman, Ramirez said she faced doubt from the beginning of her academic career, a doubt which only increased as she pursued a profession in the STEM field. Despite these setbacks, Ramirez said that her devotion and ability to push forward brought her to where she is today.

“When we fail, we feel like outcasts,” Ramirez said. “We feel pushed away. We feel like losers. But failing is actually the process of learning. It wasn’t too long ago that you didn’t know how to walk, talk or how to lift your head. You made mistakes, but through those you were able to get to where you are today.”

Ramirez explained that conventional grading is the reason why many students associate failing with feeling unaccepted. Schools, she said, adopted a mentality in the early 20th century which treats all minds in the same way and judges everyone based off the same successes and failures.

“This mentality works for factories and testing individual parts,” Ramirez said. “But schools got it wrong. That’s not failure. We have to separate failing an event from how we feel about ourselves. They’ve been conflated, but they’re two different things.”

Zara Shah, a junior majoring in anthropology, said she was glad she attended the event, drawing inspiration from Ramirez’s speech.

“After I graduate, I plan to go into the biomedical program here at Binghamton University and hopefully go into the medical field afterwards,” she said. “Of course, that path requires lots of ups and downs. This speech was enlightening into that process.”