Elizabeth Waters manages the outreach teaching laboratories at the Rockefeller University in New York City, where high-school students and their teachers can use state-of-the-art equipment. She explains how boosting others' enthusiasm for and understanding of science builds on what she liked most about scientific research.

What skills from the lab help you to do your job?

As a researcher, I was fortunate enough to receive my own grant and manage the grant budget myself. I learned how to keep tasks and costs in line with the goals of the project. And learning how to establish collaborations with other researchers was very relevant to what I do now. Making sure that I understand other people's expectations of my role and their expectations of their role — that is really critical. All of the details around running a class smoothly depend on those skills.

When did you first work with students?

The lab that I worked in as a researcher at Rockefeller often hosted a high-school or college student. I asked for students to mentor and realized that I was starting to think more big-picture about the students' research experience, working out what kinds of projects would be good for them. I did that because I loved to see other people have the opportunity to talk about science and get excited. Now, we're bringing students into labs that are just like those in which Nobel prizes have been won. The iterations of moving from training one student to the next gave me skills that I use all the time.

How did you make it into a career?

I started talking to lots of people when I was a postdoc, asking, 'What is your favourite part of your job?' I tried to identify the theme that really resonated most with me. Science education was at the top of my list. Then I tailored my CV. I volunteered to organize a yearly outreach event for fifth-graders, and taught a medical laboratory class at Hunter College in New York City, where I was an adjunct professor. Making time for those activities and for networking was not neglecting my research duties. It was serving my scientific career.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity; see go.nature.com/gpmhxr for more.