Welcome to The Work Day, a series that charts a single day in various women’s working lives — from gallery owners to stay-at-home parents to chief executives. In this installment, we hear from Renée Zurui Wang, a PhD candidate who recorded a workday in June.

Interested in contributing to a future installment of The Work Day? Fill out this form.

Name: Renée Zurui Wang

Job title: PhD candidate in geochemistry at Caltech

Previous jobs: In college, I worked as an undergraduate researcher on campus and interned at the U.S. Geological Survey as a biological field technician studying mercury in the San Francisco Bay area. After graduation, I interned at an environmental consulting firm in the D.C. area and then worked as an English teaching assistant for the French government in French Guiana. I started my PhD in geochemistry at Caltech in July 2017; I received an MS in geochemistry from Caltech in June 2019. I also interned in the fall of 2021 at Los Alamos National Labs, where I contributed to an ongoing project studying how microbes affect carbon sequestration in soils.

What led me to my current role: Geochemistry is broadly about the chemistry of the earth, ranging from the composition of volcanic rocks to the chemistry of rivers and soil. My thesis focuses on how microbes and their metabolisms have shaped this chemistry, from the beginning of Earth’s history to the modern age of anthropogenic climate change. Although microbes are tiny, they are major players in shaping the biosphere because they have evolved to catalyze otherwise difficult chemical reactions.

These sorts of questions require creative and interdisciplinary thinking, which has defined my career path so far. Growing up, I was really interested in fine arts and became a California Arts scholar in middle school. Then, I was incredibly fortunate and privileged to be accepted to Phillips Exeter Academy, an elite boarding high school in New Hampshire. At Exeter, I became really interested in ethics and philosophy — so much so that I was accepted to the University of Southern California as a philosophy major.

In the fall of my senior year of high school, however, I attended the Mountain School, a semester program where about 30 students live, work and attend classes on a farm in rural Vermont. There, I was introduced to Earth science for the first time, and was really struck by the potential to understand the natural world.

How I spend the majority of my day: It really varies and is based on what stage a particular project is in. Some days will be all lab work, while other days will be devoted to data analysis and writing. I also have meetings with my advisers and collaborators. Like most other students, I completed my course requirements in the first two years of my PhD, so I haven’t taken classes for three years now. When I have the time, though, I sit in on some interesting courses. I also work as a teaching assistant during some academic terms.

5:30 a.m.: I wake up. I’ve become that crazy person who works out super early, mostly because lab work can run late into the evenings. On days that I don’t work out, I’ll wake up at 6:30 a.m. instead.

6 a.m.: I got into megaformer Pilates last summer, and now I do it twice a week. It is definitely expensive, so these classes are a nice treat for myself. In addition to Pilates, I have been swimming with a master’s students’ team since I started at Caltech in 2017. The team has been a great source of support, and has even pushed me to do crazy things, like my first marathon swim in the ocean!

7 a.m.: I get back home and have a long breakfast. I read the news, play Wordle with my partner, and start checking emails. I also catch up on chores, like the laundry I never folded from last night.

8:30 a.m.: I start getting ready for work by showering, packing my lunch and getting dressed. I’m dressed for the lab today, which means safety and comfort.

9 a.m.: Leave for work. I live close to campus, so I either walk or bike. Today I’m walking because my legs are very sore from Pilates and I need to stretch them out.

9:30 a.m.: I am co-advised by Caltech professors Dianne Newman and John Eiler. Tuesdays are Newman lab meetings, which last for two hours. Today is May birthday celebrations, so there are bagels and coffee available. I have a snack while listening to two labmates give short chalk talks, which are updates on their research or an interesting scientific paper they recently read.

11:30 a.m.: I meet with Woody Fischer, another Caltech professor, who is not a formal adviser, but has become a great mentor to me and whom I work with on a research project. We review some recent data and discuss possible interpretations, as well as future projects that can add to this body of work.

12:30 p.m.: Lab work! One of my projects measures nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that can be formed by microbes. Nitrous oxide concentrations in the atmosphere have been increasing since the Industrial Revolution, and there are hypotheses that this increase may be due to all the industrial fertilizer we have been spreading on the earth.

Because we are working with gases, I need to work on a vacuum line, which (as the name implies) is a custom-made glass-blown line that is held under a vacuum. This way, any gases we want to work with will not be contaminated by the outside air. Today, I am distilling out nitrous oxide from a mixed gas sample, and then sealing my sample into a small glass tube. This requires me to use an acetylene torch, which has been one of the more empowering tools to master during my PhD.

I have five-minute breaks while waiting for gases to condense down into liquid nitrogen, so I sneak in my lunch (leftovers from last night) in a breakroom nearby.

3:45 p.m.: The vacuum line is in this tiny, windowless basement room that always gets too warm. I’m usually pretty burned out after working in there, so I take a break with tea and blueberries and read the news. Then, I work through emails.

4:30 p.m.: I forgot that I have a package to pick up from my building lobby, so I head home early to catch the doorman before he leaves for the day. On the walk home, I stop by a Walgreens to pick up some toiletries.

5 p.m.: I arrive home and start cooking dinner with my partner, who is also a Caltech PhD student, but in neuroscience. We got married about two months ago (yay!) but it still feels weird to call him my husband. Tonight, we are doing an easy sheet pan dinner. While cooking and eating, we watch PBS NewsHour and then debrief about our days.

7:45 p.m.: I take a quick shower and change into my pajamas: an oversized T-shirt and old athletic shorts.

8 p.m.: I usually do a second burst of work before bed, which tends to be writing or data analysis. Tonight, I’m coding with the TV on; mindless TV helps me work through some of the more tedious aspects of coding.

9 p.m.: I head to bed and start shutting my brain down. Tonight, I catch up with my brother over text.

9:30 p.m.: I finally turn the lights off and go to sleep.