Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2023
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session LL02: Open SESAME: Waves of Success and Recognition Connecting Women Scientists Beyond Skepticism-Beyond Borders |
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Chair: Gihan Kamel, SESAME Room: Virtual Room 2 |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:00AM - 5:05AM |
LL02.00001: Welcome Gihan Kamel Welcome |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:05AM - 5:15AM |
LL02.00002: Searching for the Invisible Zehra Sayers All my life I have been motivated by the question "what is there beyond what I can easily see on the surface?" be it in research or in human relationships. As an undergraduate I was fascinated by quantum physics to understand matter at the atomic level and later in my career I tried zoom into the 3D structures of biological macromolecules trying to understand how "cogs" contributed to the "turning of big wheels". In this presentation I will briefly touch on our recent results on hard-to-detect conformational variants in solution of the ferric-binding protein FbpA, which plays a critical role in the survival of H. influenzae in its host and in this context, I will mention some of the mile stones in my career which may be useful for young women in science. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:15AM - 5:25AM |
LL02.00003: Co-tutelle PhD Projects - Doing Your Doctoral Research in an International Context Petra Rudolf In this talk I shall introduce the concept of PhD projects done in co-tutelle. In such a project the PhD student has two supervisors at two different universities, one in the home country and one at a European university and does also part of the work at the European supervisor's institution, either in one longer or in several shorter visits. The two institutions sign an agreement which stipulates that the student will defend the thesis at both universities but that the two doctoral degrees are only valid together because they refer to the same PhD project. The big advantage of such a co-tutelle PhD project is not only the international experience of the PhD student during the PhD but also that they automatically qualify for the Joint APS-ICTP-EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme (https://www.ictp.it/opportunity/aps-eps-ictp-travel-award-fellowship-programme-atap) which provides funding for visits to not only European universities but also to US universities after the PhD, while the young researcher sets up her own research group in her home country. I shall explain how to set up such a co-tutelle PhD project and report on my own experience with supervising PhD students in co-tutelle. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:25AM - 5:35AM |
LL02.00004: The Contribution of Women to the Development of Structural Biology Silvia Onesti At a time when science was overwhelmingly governed by men, it is interesting to note that a significant number of the early players in the field of structural biology were women. Women were among crystallography's earliest pioneers, starting from Kathleen Lonsdale, Rosalind Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkins, continuing then with Louise Johnson, Jenny Glusker, Eleonor Dodson, to recent Nobel prize winners like Ada Yonath and Jennifer Doudna. This is especially remarkable given that the early days were far more dominated by physics, traditionally more male-led, rather the more women-friendly fields of biology and medicine. I will briefly survey the history of the field, highlighting the contribution of women, with some thoughts and considerations coming from my personal journey. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:35AM - 5:45AM |
LL02.00005: Women in Science and Engineering: A Source of Inspiration and Solidarity Kyriaki Polychronopoulou Women have the potential to play a critical role in the progress and sustainability of the society given they receive analogous empowerment; the latter can be materialized through education and employment opportunities in the fields of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Undoubtedly, the social stereotypes that put restrictions to women should also be worked out. Among the promising gender traits are self-confidence, dedication and hard work; those characteristics are often becoming the coping mechanisms to biased treatment in the workplace. The journey to a successful career can be longer and more tedious for a female rather a male scientist with the same level of education; Intrinsic and extrinsic factors are vital for enhancing female scientists' wellbeing and productivity. These factors may directly or indirectly impede a successful career but in some cases they have become a great source of inspiration and solidarity and this should pave the road ahead. In this round table I would like to share my thoughts on how women can be equipped for leadership positions by turning their promising traits to a great evolving potential. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:45AM - 5:55AM |
LL02.00006: A Global Effort to Enhance International Collaborations Christine Darve How to address the global challenges of the 21st Century? Research Infrastructures (RI) and international collaborations, supported by the emergence of new technologies and innovative communication tools are potential vehicles. Their driver must combine QI and QE to navigate thru challenges in order to reach an acceptable paradigm. Equally, culture and gender influence our perceptions of ideas across borders and boundaries. Hence, building a harmonious scientific ecosystem, strengthen by transfer of knowledge shall prevail, so do curiosity-driven activities. In this presentation, I will illustrate those leitmotifs based on humble and human stories. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 5:55AM - 6:05AM |
LL02.00007: Regional Facilities for Women in Science: the Experience of X-TechLab in Benin Marielle Agbahoungbata West Africa counts 16 countries, including Benin, and nearly 400 000 000 people which includes almost 50% of females. However, West Africa is a region which suffers from a poor quality of education, a severe deficit of skilled labor, engineers, and scientists. More than half of the world's out-of-school children are living in Sub-Saharan Africa (African Development Bank Group, 2020) and especially girls and women are excluded from science education. According to the UNESCO 2021 Science report, the share of women researchers in selected West African countries in 2017 or closest year, are respectively 11,2% in Togo, 15,1% in Mali, 17% in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, and 29,3% in Senegal. These statistics show that less than 1/3 of researchers in west African countries in scientific fields are females. To attract girls and promote women in science, African countries must make massive investments in research and innovation, accelerate infrastructure development that will reduce their dependence on foreign technologies and increase the capacity-building in research and innovation. This is where some regional scientific facilities such as X-TechLab are a valuable contribution to the overall solution. X-TechLab is a regional training platform established within "Agence de Développement de Sèmè City", one of Benin Government's flagship projects which aims to create a world-class knowledge and innovation center in Africa. The main mission of X-TechLab is to endow the local and regional scientific communities with technical skills that will allow them to use X-ray techniques as tools for solving various problems in their specific fields. During this talk, we will present the main achievements of X-TechLab since its creation in 2019 and how this platform works as a driving force to contribute to breaking gender barriers in science in West Africa. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 6:05AM - 6:15AM |
LL02.00008: My Career Path as an Independent Researcher in Jordan Lina Dahabiyeh In my presentation I will share my career path as an early career researcher starting from my PhD study until becoming an Associate Professor of bioanalysis and pharmaceutical analysis at The University of Jordan, Jordan. I will highlight the main challenges that I faced, and still facing, and what are the key factors together with opportunities that helped me to overcome them and shape my professional career. Moreover, I will introduce my research interest in applying cutting edge analytical techniques and approaches for biomarker discovery with a focus on my recent research projects including the research I performed at SESAME, Jordan. |
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 6:15AM - 6:25AM |
LL02.00009: Young African in Nuclear Physics Mounia Laassiri Became a physicist. I started my PhD in Physics and Nuclear Instrumentation at Mohammed V University in Morocco in 2014, it also felt like a dream that came true. Since I was a high school student I had been fascinated by physics and more particularly by the idea that physics would lead me to a fundamental understanding of "nature". April 1, 2019, I received my PhD degree. I did my research with the Science Team of Matter and Radiation (ESMaR) in Rabat in collaboration with the National Center of Nuclear Energy, Sciences and Techniques (CNESTEN) in Maâmoura. There, my PhD thesis focused on the application of Nonnegative Tensor Factorization algorithms to extract independent components from signals recorded at the fission chamber preamplifier's output in order to achieve a software neutron-gamma discrimination. During my PhD I experienced some of the challenges like we don't get full access to equipment and also we don't have access to experimental data. Meaning what we do is purely simulation. We really need to validate our results experimentally to have a "safe" work, I mean, work with results that we can trust! and after my PhD; I realized another challenge facing young African physicists is postdoctoral opportunities in Africa! Only very few African research institutions offer postdoctoral opportunities and if they are able to get a postdoctoral fellowship at African research institutions they will meet some challenges like lack of support, mentorship and guidance and also lack of funding. Currently, I am one of the co-convenor of the Young Physicists Forum (YPF) of the African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics (ASFAP). ASFAP— YPF is an opportunity for the Young African Members of the ASFAP to gather, study and debate the major issues in their research careers. I am always willing to help develop the potential of young African physicists and organize and participate in the YPF, which celebrates the numerous fascinating sides of physics. |
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