Naheda Sahtout

“I’m someone who likes to make big change,” Naheda Sahtout says, “but what I’ve noticed is that it’s the little actions that matter.” Sahtout knows more about the little things than most. She began her scientific career in a biochemistry lab, isolating proteins and harvesting microscopic crystals from bacteria. But today, she’s applying her science background to natural-resource policy, with dreams of ensuring that every student has access to science education.“Heaven knows why I decided to go into crystallography,” Sahtout, who is legally blind, says with a laugh. “As you can imagine, crystallizing requires good eyesight.” While she loved the research, she learned quickly that some specialized tasks would be challenging—and others completely inaccessible. She enlisted help from a lab colleague, who supported the more vision-intensive tasks like microscopy and diffraction in exchange for credit on the work. It was this resourcefulness and collaborative spirit, combined with her determination, that made her the “ideal graduate student,” says David Sanders, Sahtout’s PhD adviser at the University of Saskatchewan. “She was self-starting, self-motivated. She’s always been very sure of what she wanted to do.”But grit can bring an individual only so far in an environment that can’t meet their needs. “Science is not very well funded,” Sahtout says, “and accessibility features within the lab are the lowest priority.” Even with her adaptive, team-based solutions, she recalls, “I had days of tears in my eyes.” While working in the lab, Sahtout began to feel the draw of other opportunities, including student leadership, and