Women in science
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Why are there fewer women than men in science? Women are under-represented in scientific research, being only a third of researchers globally. Despite the progress in gender equality during the last decades, advances have been slow and there are still disparities around the world. SMARTelectron is initiating a series of interviews with female researchers to find out more about their experiences.
Luisa Fiandra
Milano Bicocca University
What is your specific area of research?
My specific research area is now the development of advanced 3D cells models of tumors to study their biological complexity and exploit this complexity to validate innovative nanoformulated therapies
How would you explain your research field to young children?
Like the worst of enemies, tumors protect themselves with physical barriers and developing defense strategies to survive. My research activity is aimed to study these defense systems, in order to find the way to overcome them. In particular, I will test the efficacy of new discovered drugs combined with nano-objects, to fight tumors more efficiently.
What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your research field?
Curiosity about the things of nature, wondering what everything they see is made of and how they work, and a great passion for discovery
What did you know about your field when you were a child?
Actually, I did not know so much about biomedical research, but I was very curious about everything living in nature, of all sizes and complexities.
Why did you choose your research field? Were you inspired by someone?
I initially chose to study life sciences for a real passion for animal biology with a focus on insect physiology. Then, after the PhD, almost 12 years ago, I got a great offer from two great scientists and men: the first is an expert of nanobiotechnology, the other an important breast cancer surgeon. They decided to face a big challenge together: to prevent and fight cancer using nanoparticles. This project was the beginning of a long and charming story in the field of nano-oncology.
What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on?
In my opinion, a really cool thing in my area of expertise is now represented by the use of nanoparticle-based vaccines for the modulation of pathways involved in pathologies, included cancer. Different nanoformulations have been recently developed for the delivery of mRNA for cancer immunotherapy.
Do you have an analogy to help our readers to understand your work?
As I told before, the best analogy of my work is a fight against the great enemy, the cancer, able of developing strategies to be more aggressive and defending itself from the attack of anti-tumor drugs, the weapons used to defeat him.
Is there a story/anecdote about your work that you would like to share with us?
How does your life as a top scientist compare with your expectations when you entered college?
When I started studying Life Sciences, I had no idea of what could be the life of a scientist and the impact that this work could have on issues related to human health. If, on the one hand, I found exciting the possibility of discovering new and more effective therapies, on the other hand, I was faced with the difficulty to translate these discoveries in clinically effective drugs. In this sense, I am now aware of the enormous power of cooperation between academia and biopharma companies.
What are you currently working on and what is your long-term research goal?
I am studying the complexity of interactions between tumor cells and the microenvironment, with a focus on the crass-talk between cancer cells and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) in highly aggressive desmoplastic tumors (i.e. pancreatic adenocarcinoma, small cells lung tumors, some breast cancer types etc.). The different pathways activated by the soluble factors released by tumor cells and CAFs, and responsible for the high aggressiveness, metastasizing power and drug resistance of these tumors, can be exploited as targets of new therapies, included nanoformulated vaccines.
Are there still gender differences in your research environment and what are current opportunities and challenges for women in science?
I no longer appreciate gender differences in my institution. In my department (dep. of Biotechnology and Biosciences of University of Milano Bicocca) there are many women, and many of them hold high-profile academic roles.
Why is your research important?
The importance of my research is related to the high difficulty that still today we have in defeating some tumors that have a disastrous prognosis, like the pancreatic adenocarcinoma or some aggressive breast cancer subtypes. These tumors, which are very aggressive and defend themselves from chemotherapy by accurate resistance strategies must be the object of innovative anti-tumor therapies aimed to target the complex biological interactions between the tumor cells and the microenvironment components.
Is there enough support/funding for science in Europe today? What could be improved in this respect, at a national and European level?
Today, the possibility of funding from Europe exists and concerns various scientific fields, including the biomedical one. Of course the European calls (H2020) are designed for very huge projects, often including the initiation of clinical trials, and therefore directed towards large networks. Beyond a few exceptions, such as for example SMART-electron project, where young brilliant scientists were able to implement innovative ideas thanks to the institution of large international groups, most of projects funded by EU include big research groups headed by eminent full professors that already receive support at the national level. In my opinion, today more opportunities of funding for small research groups with innovative scientific ideas are possible in Italy, even if they could be further improved: more value should be attributed to ideas, so that any scientist with a sufficient expertise to carry out his/her idea, can have space and opportunities.
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue a career in science?
I can say to all young girls to pursue this goal with commitment and passion. The women of science have characteristics that are real strengths. We never should doubt about this high potentiality, in particular in a male working context. The integration of male and female approaches to scientific problems are certainly a wealth, such as those given by each unique and personal characteristic.
Luisa Fiandra is Researcher and Assistant Professor in Clinical Biochemistry at the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences of University of Milano Bicocca (Unimib). Since 2010, LF has coordinated pre-clinical studies mainly devoted to the use of nanotechnology for cancer therapy and diagnosis, and for biological barriers overcoming. These in vitro and in vivo studies were aimed to assess nanoparticles interaction, internalization and trafficking in cells and animal tissues, the biological activity on target and non-target cells, and the ability in crossing biological barriers, such as the biodistribution, pharmacokinetic properties, therapeutic effect, and acute and sub-acute toxicity of nanoformulations in murine models. From 2018, LF has participated to EU projects aimed to determine the toxicity of different types of nanoproducts by in vitro assays and on alternative vertebrate models (Zebrafish), in line with the Safe-by-Design concept for the development of new nanoformulated nanotools. Currently, LF is mainly devoted to the use of advanced cellular models for the validation of conventional or latest generation therapies directed towards tumor pathologies. In particular, the research activity is now mainly focused on the study of innovative strategies involving tumor microenvironment cells to eradicate desmoplastic tumors. LF is also member of Centro 3R (Inter-University Center for the Promotion of the 3Rs Principles in Teaching & Research), and of the BioNanoMedicine Center “NANOMIB” and POLARIS research Centre (study of the impact of nanomaterials and pollution on environment and health) of Unimib.
Elisa Molinari
National Research Council (Italy)
What is your specific area of research?
My area of research has to do with the theory and computational simulation of the properties of materials and systems. So the idea is knowing about some general properties of matter and being able to use them to predict what a specific material will do, and how to screen many materials for a property that might be interesting for us, how to design a material that exhibits some property which we would like to obtain – for example we would like to have a material of a given color that interacts with light or electrons in a given way. The search can be done on a computer, then verified experimentally and confirmed, or otherwise proven not to be correct.
How would you explain your research field to young children?
There are different possible views. One is something like an alchemy, where you start from the property of elements and you design and construct a possible material with the properties you want. But instead of doing that in a pot, you put the information in a computer and predict whether the combination of those materials will give you the property you want.
What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your research field?
I guess mostly it’s curiosity and very much also being determined to face difficulties, to search for help or information in order to solve a problem. That’s not so rare. Sometimes, especially with very young children, it gets inhibited rather than encouraged at school, but very often children have all those qualities and what is difficult is stimulating them, valorise them, and showing children that there is value in this mindset.
What did you know about your field when you were a child?
Almost nothing. I didn’t think I was going to become a scientist or a physicist until very late. Actually, I decided the day I was going to enroll in university. I actually did Classical Studies in high school. I liked very much things like philosophy and literature, and actually I came to Physics because it seemed to me that it was close to a number of deep questions that people were addressing in the early 20th century and the quantum physics discovered last century was one of the components of a big cultural change in a broader sense. So when I finally decided to start with physics I had in mind much more cultural curiosities than applications with technological impact. Then, along the years, I got to appreciate the practical importance of the things we do. Very often it’s the experiments or technological questions that raise very interesting fundamental questions for us, but this was not at all my starting point. So it’s not important to know much about science or a specific field in order to get involved.
Why did you choose your research field? Were you inspired by someone?
Not specifically. When I was in high school I read one book by Schroedinger. The title was What is Life? And I still think it was a very interesting book, one of the first that was putting such intimate contact questions about physics, biology and other sciences, and that I found very interesting. But I wouldn’t say it was because I was in love with Schroedinger that I became interested in physics
What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on?
Among the properties that one can design, there are some that would really be exciting if we could obtain them. For example, we now know a lot about some photosynthetic processes, the process by which light is converted in plants to take advantage of the energy from the sun, and so much is now known, but much of the details of what microscopically governs this phenomenon is unknown, and we are still unable to reproduce artificial objects that can make use of solar energy in such an efficient way as is done in biological systems. So, I would say understanding the fundamentals of light harvesting and conversion – this is a very exciting technological objective, which also has some very deep questions about how nature works. And by the way, one interesting question is, what role is quantum physics playing in all this, which relates back to SMART-electron.
How does your life as a top scientist compare with your expectations when you entered college?
I didn’t think so much time would have to be devoted to planning and design, and also to search for funding, and so on. This is something which in some sense I didn’t expect, and also that I don’t like that much. In some other respects I should say it requires some abilities, such as a facility at social interactions, that I still like. I like talking to people, managing the group, thinking -not just doing everyday research-, but also spending time thinking about the future. So in a way it’s not what you would consider your own research, strictly speaking, but it also involves curiosities and abilities, which I find I like to use, so it’s not necessarily that bad. This is certainly something I didn’t expect. Actually one thing that scared me was the question whether I would have to spend all my life alone in a room or not. [Instead] I discovered after some time that doing science is much more of a social effort and a collective effort and it has a lot to do with understanding each other, and being able to talk across different fields.
Is there enough support/funding for science in Europe today? What could be improved in this respect, at a national and European level?
Our work is very largely funded by European sources, especially now as we are coordinating a center of excellence in material design through high performance extreme computing, called MaX (www.max-centre.eu). We work a lot with this type of support, often from other European Projects and Q-SORT is one of those. So in some specific sub-fields and moments in time, European support is there, and it’s what allows us to do our own research.
National funds in Italy are in much worse shape, so it’s more on the national side that we have problems than on the European side. One thing that is missing is funding for a broader set of topics. At the moment, much of the funding that comes is earmarked to selected lists of topics, which are not necessarily ‘in phase’ with the most innovative ideas. So I often feel that if we had more flexibility in funding it would be better. There is some specific provision for new research ideas in some individual funding schemes in Europe. But that’s not something that works for funding a group, so for that I wish there was more flexibility in terms of type and constraints in the funding.
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue a career in science?
I think the main suggestion is to be confident in what you can do, which means that you may not be able to do something, but you can still be confident in looking for support from a network of other women. This is often a good way of solving problems, and also of having more fun in your work.
So being confident, not hesitating to look for help and support from other people around, especially other women or girls. Even if they are not very near, there may be some other group that can help you get a view on how you could get out of difficult moments.
That is a good way of getting fresh ideas on how you could get out of difficult moments, as well as fresh ideas on what other people perceive of you that is good and strong and can help you all the way. So this is what I could suggest.
The other thing that has helped me a lot is working with people who are not too close by in terms of fields, and also being open to things that are not necessarily too close to your homework for tomorrow.
So, even if you have homework for tomorrow, try to keep some mental space for broader views and things that may be relevant in the future. Sometimes it turns out that these are helpful in getting ideas for the problems of tomorrow, and also they make your life more interesting. So don’t get stuck if you see a problem, just look more broadly around.
The other thing is, try to be very solid in what you do. This is something that in the early days of a career or studies people should not be afraid of declaring what they don’t know, or wasting time on basics. If one is very solid on a few good things, over which one feels having complete mastery, then this gives one strength and also helps with self-confidence. This is a very good starting point for looking more broadly afterwards.
I would say that many of the young women and girls I’ve been working with were much better than other colleagues, so don’t be too afraid of trying difficult things, because most probably you’ll be able to do things that you don’t even expect from yourself, and try to do something that you like a lot. What we do is spending much thought on our research, and so many of us don’t even realise how much time we spend because it’s also a lot of fun. Sometimes I think I would pay to go to a conference or to do the job I’m doing, rather than being paid. So it’s very important to choose something you like to do. If you think you like it, go ahead, and I think you’ll find that you’re able to do it.
Elisa Molinari is a physicist with over thirty years experience in the simulation of materials and nanosystems and their spectroscopies. She is Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and associate scientist at the Nanoscience Institute of the National Research Council (CNR-Nano) in Modena, Italy, since 2001. She was previously with CNR in Rome and Max-Planck Institute Fkf in Stuttgart and Grenoble. She is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Molinari is presently the Director of MaX – Materials design at the exascale, the European Centre of Excellence for high-performance simulation of matter, with headquarters at CNR-Nano in Modena, Italy. She has published over 300 papers and coordinated European and national projects involving fundamental properties and correlation in low-dimensional materials, and joint computational and experimental approaches to nano(bio)systems. She has long been active with women in science, co-founding the “Associazione donne e scienza” in Italy, as well as the IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics in (1999) and the related International Conference series.
Nahid Talebi Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Christian Albrechts University
What is your specific area of research?
I am a physicist and focused on ultrafast electrodynamics. This is a specific area of science which deals with the interaction of ultrashort light pulses with free-electrons in vacuum and conduction/valence electrons at nanoscale dimensions in matter. In our studies, we are interested in understanding the dynamics of electron-light-matter interactions by probing the excitations in time-energy and space-momentum spaces. In other words, we use time-resolved spectroscopy and space-resolved diffraction techniques and additionally use electron microscopes for these purposes. Our mission is to understand and control charge- and energy-transfer dynamics in nanoscale materials. We are as well interested to understand the quantum mechanical behavior such as generating entangled electronic and photonic states and to understand the quantum phase evolution in interaction of free-electrons with light.
How would you explain your research field to young children?
Atoms are building blocks of all materials. Within these atoms we have though subatomic individual particles as well: electrons, protons, and neutrons. What determines the unique behavior of each material is how these electrons speak with each other and with other subatomic particles in materials. We are interested to understand and control the behavior of electrons in materials at dimensions a thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair: that is about 5 to 100 nanometers (1 nanometer = 1/100.000.000 of a meter). Other interesting aspects of electrons are that they are lighter than other subatomic particles, and therefore they move particularly faster than other particles – at time scales a 10 quadrillion (10.000.000.000.000) times faster than an eye blink!
What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your research field?
Curiosity about how natural laws work and how one can understand the behavior of nature in general, at dimensions as small as atoms and as large as the entire universe is what we consider as the science of nature; i.e., physics. However, we do not question why these laws exist: this is philosophy. A keen young investigator in electrodynamics is interested for example in the behavior of waves and fields: Wave is about the propagation of information and energy from a part of “something” to the other parts. This something can be a small rod, a pool full of water, or the universe! Fields describe the interactions between individual things positioned at certain distances from each other. Fields can be gravitational; they describe how planets orbit around massive stars. They can be also electrical: then they tell us how electrons orbit around protons and neutrons in atoms. You see here the beautiful similarities and patterns in the world surrounding you; a keen young investigator would like to better grasp the laws of physics. My son for example was interested to understand how one can make an image of the Higgs bosons at CERN; and why electron microscopes produce images that are black and white, while we see the world surrounding us in colors!
What did you know about your field when you were a child?
At the age of 10 to 12, I wanted to become an archeologist. I was interested particularly in the ancient history of Middle East. When I was only 13 or 14, my passion was mathematics. I was finding myself hours and hours playing with mathematics and trying to propose new problems for myself to solve them. My interests particularly were algebra and geometry. Physics came later to my life, at the age of about 16 to 18. At those times, we started classical and quantum mechanics and later on also electromagnetics. I loved it so much to see how we can model natural laws with simple mathematical formulas, were the solutions to those equations were harder than the formula itself! I also liked the concept of particles and waves. Later on at university, I wanted to choose a field which I was suited to both my talents in mathematics and physics. I chose electrical engineering with the mission to study fields and waves at higher education levels (a branch of telecommunications), and finally graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department with a minor in Physics.
Why did you choose your research field? Were you inspired by someone?
Actually, I was not inspired by a person, but by nature itself. I even remember that I was sent two times outside of the physics classroom in my high school because my physics teacher thought that I was not listening. It was partly true, because I was dreaming a lot and my mind was always full of imagination. I had and have the habit to concentrate fully on my own things, sometimes when topics were becoming boring and repetitive; I was then focusing on my own interests in physics.
What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on?
Currently people are interested in shaping the electron wavepackets as waves, and to understand the interaction of shaped electron wavepackets with light and matter. Both amplitude and phase of the electron pulses can be controlled, whereas the latter does not have any classical analog – it is purely a quantum mechanical phenomenon. This is also the particular topic that the Q-SORT meeting is focusing on. The second exciting topic is electronic and optical excitations in two-dimensional materials such as graphene or topological insulators. These materials can have excitations which are confined to the surfaces, as well as those excited in the bulk. Interestingly, DC transport and higher energy electrodynamics behavior such as axion electrodynamics can be studied in these materials. The third topic that I like very much is more an engineering concept that has very interesting applications: metamaterials. These are artificial materials that are engineered to behave in the artificial fashion that we want, but one cannot find natural analogs for them. This topic in general has been initiated by Sir John Pendry at Imperial College London and nowadays, nanofabrication techniques have advanced to the scale to realize 2D and 3D metamaterials of arbitrary accuracy, as is for example done in the group of Harald Giessen in Stuttgart. Metamaterials have applications in tailoring the polarization and propagation of light, but a combination of them with light might be used for particles such as electrons as well as to develop dynamics electron-optics counterparts. My research activities are also situated within these directions.
Do you have an analogy to help our readers to understand your work?
Although science is currently often about breaking symmetry, still the first conception comes from looking at symmetries and symmetric patterns. The way that we understand interferences for example is by looking at the developments of beautiful symmetric patterns in mechanical and electromagnetic waves. Mechanical waves might be better grasped by looking at the propagation of wave patterns in water for example. Solitons, which preserve a long lasting shape path for propagating waves, have been first observed in August 1834 by John Scott Russell when water waves travelled along a Scottish canal. Later, they were discovered in optical fibers which help to transfer electromagnetic information over kilometer-long distances. At the NanoMeta 2019 Conference in Seefeld, Mathias Fink provided another marvelous analogy between matter waves and electromagnetic waves by controlling the temporal response of water in a pool, to break the time-energy symmetry of waves and to control the direction of water and optical waves..
Is there a story/anecdote about your work that you would like to share with us?
During my PhD and the first years of my postdoc phase, when I had the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, I was focused particularly on my life as a scientist and as a mother, and enjoyed doing real science. Particular hardship came after that, when I had to decide with my family whether I should continue science or not – as I did not have a permanent position, and did not have the perspective of where to go. Mobility in science has turned into a must-for-success fact and this is not easy when you have a family. For a particular time in my life I decided to quit science and let my son continue growing up in Stuttgart, where he feels like home and has settled down from the time he was just three years old. I however became completely depressed when I was even thinking about my decision. My habilitation mentor, Prof. Harald Giessen, however, kindly convinced me to continue my path in science and pushed me to consider professorship applications. I am very lucky to have a marvelous family as well. When only after three applications I got a wonderful offer from the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel (Germany), my family was the first to open my letter, and in the evening they surprised me with a bunch of flowers! One should just follow his/her passion in life. Other things will finally work out.How does your life as a top scientist compare with your expectations when you entered college?
What are you currently working on and what is your long-term research goal?
I am working on developing a quantum-mechanical and self-consistent numerical framework for simulating the interaction of electron pulses with light and matter, within time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory. I am interested to develop this analysis for including higher-order perturbation terms in the quantum-field theory and move towards a full quantum-mechanical basis for understanding the relations between behaviors of materials in microscopic and macroscopic scales. I am also carrying out exciting experiments at the border between electron optics, electron microscopy, plasmonics, and ultrafast optics.
Are there still gender differences in your research environment and what are current opportunities and challenges for women in science?
Gender differences still do exist and as a matter of fact, physics particularly has one of the worst reputations considering this issue. According to a report from Physics World on diversity and Inclusion, with the title “Gender Gap in Physics Amongst Highest in Science,” only 13% of last authors in physics from 1991 to 2018 were women. This still does not determine the number of female professors in physics, and does not tell about the number of those who have children. Some people still think that women are less capable of men in science, even within the scientific community itself (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Strumia). Of course, when tracing the progress of male and female physicists in their studies during the school and later on at the universities, this can be obviously not correct. The matter of the fact that the developments in career steps and the ability to move to upper classes in hierarchy is less obvious for women is likely due to the cultural basis of the research environment and society in general. Planning strategies to improve this situation in my opinion should try to correct the cultural basis and to help dual-career families, encouraging men to take care of the family at the same footing as women, and teaching women to be as highly ambitious as their male colleagues in science. Career is not all about talent, but also about ambition, and about the ability to confront frustrations. In addition, society should become more tolerant towards working female scientists with children, who as scientists have the mind full of imaginations and creativity. It is not only about working hours, since a scientist’s mind usually does not even recognize nonworking hours! This in turn will put some pressure on the family with a physicist mother, and in general will cause an imbalance in the society as well, between families with and without scientist mothers.
Why is your research important?
Physics and in particular the science of light, with electrodynamics at its heart, has been one of the most important fields of research that revolutionized the world in recent decades. Beginning with the invention of lasers, and later on ultrafast science, scientists have succeeded in not only improving their fundamental understandings of physical laws, but also bringing important applications like laser-based control of chemical reactions, medical applications such as eye surgery, quantum computing, and biological and gas sensors. However, a scientist’s mind in general should not be triggered by the applications of her/his research, but as to what basis one enjoys fundamental understandings and new discoveries. Such fundamental basis anyway renders itself in wonderful applications consequently.
Is there enough support/funding for science in Europe today? What could be improved in this respect, at a national and European level?
In general the European Research Council has greatly improved the situation of funding, in particular regarding fundamental science and concerning young ambitious scientists. Other national resources do exist on a great basis as well, particularly in Germany, ranging from scholarships to highly competitive support such as BMBF, DFG, Volkswagenstiftung, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, to name only a few. However, the support for young group leaders is particularly restricted to only few options in my opinion, and is very much dependent on the topics.
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue a career in science?
Your talents are there to flourish for the sake of science, to be enjoyed by yourself, and being employed in the favor of society as well. There exists no barrier that you cannot break – just some self-confidence, tolerance, mastering your time schedule, and that is all! Living a full life is to enjoy all your talents, as a scientist, as a mother, and as a compassionate female member of the scientific society. My most wonderful friendships have been developed during my scientific career path with those having the same passionate goals and ambitions as myself.
Nahid Talebi is Director and W2 Professor of Experimental Physics at the Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany. Her research focuses on investigating near-field-enhanced electron-photon interactions using slow and fast electron microscopes. Her main interests include advancing the time-resolved electron microscopy methodologies and in-depth understanding of the dynamical interactions using time-dependent and self-consistent analytical and numerical techniques. Talebi has received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Tehran in 2008 and 2011, and then she moved to the Max Planck Institute for intelligent systems in 2012 as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow. In 2015 she joined the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research as a scientist, and in 2018 she received the ERC starting grant NanoBeam. Outcome of her research until now are several high-level publications, patents, and invited review papers.
Veronica Leccese
EPFL, Switzerland
What is your specific area of research?
I’m working in two different areas: the first one is condensed matter physics, the second one is nano/microtechnology.
How would you explain your research field to young children?
I’m studying the magnetic properties of some materials which in the future could be useful for storing enormous quantities of data in very small dimensions. In addition to that, I’m developing a beam profiler to characterize proton beams, for experiments of fundamental physics but also for medical purposes since protons are used in proton therapy to treat some kinds of tumors.
What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your research field?
In my opinion the traits that a researcher should have are curiosity, the desire to always learn something new, perseverance and stubbornness. Everyday in our job, we need to face and solve problems, so if you’re not persistent and headstrong enough.
What did you know about your field when you were a child?
Almost nothing. I was attracted to scientific subjects, I loved math, but I’ve never considered becoming a physicist before I was 19. When I was in middle school, one of my teachers started to express her admiration towards mathematicians, at that moment I decided to become a mathematician. However, when I started university, I realized that I was much more attracted by the experimental work, so after a few weeks, I decided to enroll in physics. I have to say that it was a good choice!
Why did you choose your research field? Were you inspired by someone?
I was challenged. Everybody around me kept saying that physics was one of the most difficult subjects, so I decided to try and accept the challenge. Why condensed matter/microtechnology? Condensed Matter is a fascinating world for me. I love discovering new things that can be used in the future to improve the quality of life of people. As a physicist, this field keeps my curiosity alive. Microtechnology for my engineering side (yes, I have one!). I love fabricating stuff by myself and use them afterwards.
What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on?
I’m surrounded by people who are working on amazing things such as electron diffraction, spectrometry, optics, but also MEMs and devices with many purposes.
How does your life as a top scientist compare with your expectations of it when you enrolled in Physics?
When I enrolled in Physics I wasn’t really aware of which could have been my path. I was looking at the researchers with a huge admiration. At that time I didn’t know how much work and effort was hidden behind this job. When I started I realize that you have to be very motivated and willing to make a lot of sacrifices. So I have to say that from outside it seems a normal job, but it is not. If you’re not passionate, you cannot do it.
What are you currently working on and what is your long-term research goal?
I’m working on the generation of vortex beams, mainly electrons for now, that can be used to study the magnetic properties of some materials. The other project I’m working on is the realization of a beam profiler for protons with the aim of controlling the proton beam during the proton therapy, which is used to treat some tumors.
Are there still gender differences in your research environment and what are current opportunities and challenges for women in science?
Unfortunately yes. More than one time it happened to me to not be considered by other scientists because I’m a woman. That’s sad, but sometimes it still happens.
Why is your research important?
The project related to the vortex beams I think is important because they might allow us to discover new properties of materials that in future could be used for the storage of a huge amount of data. The project of the detector for protons is important because, as you can imagine, during the therapy with the protons, it is crucial to control the parameters of the beam, since a wrong parameter could kill the patients.
Is there enough support/funding for science in Europe today? What could be improved in this respect, at a national and European level?
In my opinion no, there isn’t enough support. I think that the number of researchers has increased in the last years, but the funding/support has not. I have to say that at EPFL we have a lot of support, but it is not the case in Italy, where I studied. I would try to give the same opportunity to all the European countries.
What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue a career in science?If you’re passionate and you’d like to work in the most stimulating environment, a career in science is your way!
Graduated in Physics at the University of Pisa in 2018. In 2019 I joined the group of Prof. Fabrizio Carbone at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where I started my PhD.