Women in Nanotechnology: Breaking All Barriers Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields are catalysts for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, for social, cultural, and psychological reasons, women’s engagement and participation are still considered lower than men’s. As women take on more leadership roles advancing social and political change, women’s contributions to the industrial transformation occurring specifically within the energy sector should be highly considered. While women engineers may still be the minority, many women have become very successful and were able to prove themselves in the industry. These women are breaking stereotypes by being role models to others showing that engineers and scientists can succeed in the field, regardless of gender. Nanotechnology – one of the most promising technologies – touches nearly every aspect of our lives and has the potential to significantly impact our society in different areas such as medicine, agriculture, water, energy, construction, transportation, and consumer electronics. Working at the nanoscale has the potential to address some of the toughest challenges facing the world, specifically climate change. In 1959, Caltech physicist, Richard Feynman gave a lecture called There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, in which he envisioned a world where scientists could manipulate atoms and molecules, reflecting that we can arrange atoms the way we want! Growing numbers of exciting nanoscience and nanotechnology projects are led nowadays by women scientists who are making strides in crucial areas such as sustainable energy production, clean water treatment, and cancer treatment. One of the most important challenges of the 21st century is harnessing the sunlight incident on earth with inexpensive and efficient solar cells. Solar cells made using nanostructured materials (nanoparticles and nanowires) are being investigated around the world to address this challenge. This new field of nanotechnology has opened up new and promising possibilities to improve environmental quality and economic prosperity and was investigated by many scientists – who happen to be women – who were able to contribute to the scientific community and serve to energize and inspire the barrier breakers of the future. They employed nanostructures in solar cells to improve the performance of conventional solar cells and to obtain conversion efficiency higher than the theoretical limit from inexpensive materials with low production cost and low energy consumption. These women demonstrated that nanoparticles and nanowires have unique advantages that make them useful in Photovoltaic designs – having very large surface areas per unit volume or per unit mass – in addition to Quantum confinement effects encountered in nanometer-size materials that convey the unique optical and physical properties. Some examples of Women in Nanotechnology: Mildred Dresselhaus, USA, – Known as the ‘queen of carbon science” – is a professor of physics and electrical engineering (emerita) at MIT. Her work led to a fundamental understanding of the electronic structure of semi-metals, especially graphite. Michelle Simmons, Australia, brought quantum computing—computers built on the principles of quantum physics instead of “classical physics”—to the people. The result could revolutionize the future, from space exploration to medicine. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, USA, is the pioneer of a particular technology that uses laser-activated nanoparticles to treat cancer. She is also a recent winner of a $1.1 million grant to continue developing and refining the technology. She has over ten years of research experience in the application of nanotechnology. Qilin Li, China, works to develop new methods of water treatment and to understand the environmental fate and transport of nanomaterials. Mia Siochi, the Philippines, has developed some amazing materials, including lightweight nanotech coatings, bug-repellent coatings, and self-repairing materials. Mary Ann Meador, USA, is a senior scientist in the Materials and Structures Division at NASA Glenn Research Center. She synthesizes new types of low-density solids with nano-sized pores, called aerogels, which can be used for aerospace applications. Michelle Bradbury, USA, is the Director of Intraoperative Imaging and Professor of Radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In her lab, she develops, characterizes, and evaluates silica nanoparticles that can target tumors and act as probes for diagnostics, drug delivery, and sensing. Many other women scientists from all over the world have made a huge contribution to solving real-world problems and made a big difference in the science field. Nanotechnology-enabled products that lead to even greater advances in the future are highly needed today. This widespread use of nanotechnology continues to drive the development of new eco-green products and devices that have a great impact on the environment and countries’ economic development. Engineering is not just a man’s world, and it is crucial for everyone to take part in the movement to empower women engineers and scientists and create opportunities in terms of nanotechnology education and profession – without any restrictions and limitations – and recognize role models to inspire and encourage girls to pursue their careers and make a big difference by contributing effectively to their community. Women scientists bring new perspectives to science as well as to the workplace itself. Being 50% of the population, women in science can only mean more benefits to the world. By, Basma El Zein, Research Scientist, Nanotechnology for Energy Conversion and Energy Storage To know more about the author, visit this link. Click here for an in-depth read of Basma’s latest paper on “Nanometer-sized Structures Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition“.
Find Your Voice With “De Bouche à Oreille”
When was « De Bouche à Oreille » founded? What inspired you to start the business? De Bouche à Oreille was founded in 2018 by fellow Speech Therapist Stéphanie Younes. As a Speech and Language Therapist, opening our first practice would be considered a remarkable accomplishment as the experience gained from a clinical setting is keenly rich and strongly valuable. A clinical practice challenges you to combine your sense of analysis with the given research to be able to independently exercise your profession to your utmost standards, principles, and foundation. What does « De Bouche à Oreille » stand for? The famous French expression “De Bouche à Oreille”, translated to English as “From Mouth to Ear”, symbolizes an essential form of communication between human beings. And as therapists whose main mission is to promote communication and ensure social inclusion of all individuals, the name “De Bouche à Oreille” was borrowed to explicitly express our center’s main focus and goal. What is the mission & vision of « De Bouche à Oreille »? In therapy, we aim to: Provide children, adolescents, and adults with effective evidence-based practices that can help them reach their potential and improve their skills; Spread awareness about the different speech, motor, psychological, cognitive-related disabilities to promote inclusion in our society and get rid of discrimination and stigmatization; Mobilize the family unit, the community, and society on the importance of instilling appropriate accommodations that ensure a fully supportive and proactive environment. In Vocal Coaching, we aim to: Create a soothing environment for professional and amateur singers to discover their vocal potential and develop their talents; Offer voice lessons with healthy and effective techniques that are based on evidence and research to allow singers to enhance their vocal range and resonance without experiencing any vocal fatigue. What are the shared core values and objectives that brought you two together? In what ways do you complement one another on a professional level? Sandy: Stephanie is a true blessing, to say the least. I am uncertain if my memory will serve me right so as for me to recall all the things that I should say about our friendship-then-partnership, yet there are a few considerable traits that are impossible to miss. Dedication, earnestness, knowledge, motivation, and perseverance are what define Stephanie’s professionalism. Through the ups and downs of work development, it is a blessing to have a partner that stands firm with you in the face of any unpredictability and that pushes you to grow stronger. Get you a partner like that. Stephanie: When I founded De Bouche à Oreille, I was hoping to find a partner who would be passionate, knowledgeable, and trustworthy. And then Sandy came into my life most unpredictably! And today I can confidently say that I was blessed with the most devoted, wise, caring, and supportive partner I could ever ask for. I admire her love for Speech Therapy, always seeking the best and investing in her knowledge to offer the best to her patients. Get you a partner like that. What is your work methodology at « De Bouche à Oreille »? What is the added value that distinguishes your business module and services within the industry? “Assess. Plan. Treat” is the motto of our workmanship. As healthcare professionals, we realize that any client that turns to us for consultation/intervention should be rightfully heard and assessed so that his/her needs may be fully understood and cared for. We rely on both a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of our clients’ complaints and we are determined to create an individualized intervention plan that will be conveyed through a successful and effective therapy program. We consider that our priority as professionals is to go in our evaluations and interventions with a critical thinking mindset and a systematic self-evaluation approach in which we are constantly asking ourselves the right questions that will help shape our assessments and qualify them as comprehensive and exhaustive. Another crucial aspect of our methodology is holding a holistic view of the individual in front of us. We do not limit ourselves to scores indicated on paper but we seek to understand the client’s full skills, potential, struggles, challenges, and character in and outside the clinical setting. Can you share with us one of the success stories that you had contributed to? To us, a success story is defined by the possibility of growth, by the client’s satisfaction with the therapy services, and the change in their quality of life. Whether it is a patient that comes into therapy because of surgical removal of the larynx and comes out of therapy having learned how to talk again without their vocal box, whether it is a person with stuttering that has finished therapy with better control of their speech fluency and higher self-esteem or even a child with dyslexia who could discover and love the world of books that he/she has always fled from. Words are not enough to describe the numerous smiles that we had the chance to draw on each person’s face. In what ways are your practices crucial for individuals looking to grow, especially in this ever-evolving digital era? After proceeding with a simple observation of the current generation, we consider that social interactions have exponentially increased and have even become more accessible, especially because of social and digital media. Communication is an essence of the human race, and humans have an innate capacity to put themselves out there and establish relationships and interact with their peers. And they will always find a way to do so whether it’s face to face or via online platforms. The biggest proof is the impact that social networking apps have had on the whole World. They have united people that are hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from each other. And so, our answer to this question would be that people will always seek opportunities to grow in their interactions and engagements with others, and they will always seek the right practices to properly employ their verbal
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