Today is the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Role models for women in Science, Tech, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) are important: 2010 statistics in Canada show women made up 44 per cent of first-year STEM students aged 19 and under in undergraduate degree programs, with representation lower in physical and chemical sciences at 32 per cent, engineering and engineering technology at 19 per cent, and mathematics and computer and information sciences at 28 per cent.
Quantum inspiration
At the UBC Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, four women scholars inspired each other throughout their careers to succeed, despite moments of uncertainty.
It was slowly made clear to UBC professor Mona Berciu that women studying physics was out of the ordinary in Canada when she immigrated from Romania in 1994. In 2001, uncertain about her desire to remain in the field, she gave a faculty candidate talk describing her work in condensed matter theory. In the audience was Dr. Sarah Burke, now associate professor of chemistry and physics at UBC, who was blown away. "It was really nice to see a woman interviewing and crushing it as a potential faculty member."
In 2013, feeling alone and overwhelmed with her husband in hospital and unsure of whether she should continue in quantum matter research, Dr. Burke gave a talk about her work viewing materials at atomic levels to understand electronic and optoelectronic processes. Dr. Alannah Hallas, an assistant professor in physics at UBC, was in the audience. "She was an early career researcher, doing amazing science, and a woman; it was the first time I had encountered someone in this field that I could relate to."
Dr. Hallas works in quantum materials discovery, aiming to create materials that don't exist in nature and could have unique properties. In other words, she grows crystals in her lab. When Samikshya Sahu, a doctoral student working with Dr. Hallas, was considering graduate schools in 2019, Dr. Hallas was part of the reason she chose UBC. "You're more inspired when you see women who are good at what they do. I feel like I can do it too."
