Most big ideas stem from a little-known place. This was most certainly the case for Laboratory Casual, the brainchild of ASU graduate student and teacher Charles Rolsky, who decided to take his love for science and turn it into something much bigger than himself.
Rolsky, a biology graduate student, teaches an undergraduate lab course at ASU every summer, all while encouraging his students to pursue research work.
“I try to represent what I lacked as a student and there wasn’t a lot of leadership in my life for getting into a lab,” he said. “Research is the currency for getting into grad school or a good medical program. I always stress to my students that it’s a good idea for them to do research as undergrads.”
Biology junior Anna Guerrero took her teacher's encouragement to heart and heavily pursued getting into a research lab.
“She stood out pretty clearly and she was just very dedicated and active and wanted to pursue getting into a lab,” he said. “I kinda learned that she was a really talented artist but was interested in science.”
Rolsky helped Guerrero get paired up with Rebecca Fisher, a university researcher who studies the anatomy and evolution of vertebrates.
As a thank you, Guerrero drew Rolsky a picture, one that would soon be seen across the country. Charles Darwin — yes, that Charles — sitting upon a throne, draped in a red cloak, donning a staff and rocking some awesome shades above the caption, "Darwinning,” is the picture that started it all, Rolsky said.
“I came into my office one day and she had left me this awesome picture as a thank you and it’s probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten,” he said.
It's casual: Charles Rolsky and Laboratory Casual are hoping to save the world, one t-shirt at a time @statepress pic.twitter.com/m1Qd2cXKkX
— Jessica Suerth (@suerthjessica) August 21, 2015
Soon after, Rolsky took the drawing to a friend of his in San Diego, California and immediately began brainstorming ways to use Guerrero’s design to raise money for charity. The pair ultimately decided to create t-shirts — and lots of them.
Not only would the super cool shirts be, well, super cool, but they would also raise money for various conservation charities, Rolsky said. All the proceeds from the "Darwinning" shirt, as it is known, benefit Wallace J. Nicholls’ ocean conservation charity, LiVBLUE Angels.
Guerrero said her love for puns and science was the ultimate brainchild that led to the final design.
“I like puns a lot, I like science a lot and it worked,” she said. “Charlie really likes evolutionary science, so Darwin was the obvious choice.”
In the new, fast-paced world of technology and pop culture, Guerrero recognizes that conservation is not usually a hot topic on the minds of young people. She said she hopes ideas such as the "Darwinning" shirt opens up young minds and initiates conversation about these important topics.
“I think when you think ‘conservation’ you don’t really think pop culture because pop culture is very not ‘conservation’ as a whole and it gets young people excited,” she said. “Any cause is a good cause, but I think this cause is kind of overlooked. Conservation is pretty important for us.”
The "Darwinning" shirt, which is available on their website for $20, will be available until the end of the month before getting replaced with a new shirt, a new cause and, most importantly, a new pun.
But for now, it’s safe to say that Nicholls approves of the shirt, sending the following email before appropriately signing off with, “I wish you water.”
“I think the t-shirt project is fantastic, creative and the design is absolutely unique!” he said. “Every bit helps in terms of support for our research, conservation and educational efforts. But most importantly I love the innovative thinking.”
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Reach the reporter at Jlsuerth@asu.edu or follow @SuerthJessica on Twitter.
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