International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Three interviews with Xin Liu, Ilze Andersone and Ieva Timrote.
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The goal is to achieve full and equal access to and participation of women and girls in science and to further advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. As part of this day, we would like to feature three of our team members in RAISE:
Xin Liu researcher at the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), Ilze Andersone who works at the Riga Technical University (RTU) as a senior researcher and Ieva Timrote the Assistant Project Coordinator, also working at RTU. We asked them a few questions regarding their scientific work, what experiences they have gained so far, and what they would like to share with young girls and women who are interested in science.
So, let's get started.
Hi Xin, please introduce yourself briefly to the readers.
My name is Xin Liu and I come from China. I completed my Bachelor and Master degree at the Xi’an Jiaotong University in biomedical engineering, and obtained my Ph.D. degree in computer science at the Technical University of Munich. Then, I started working at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in a Simulation and Data Laboratory, where applications of scientific computing are investigated in many aspects of science and engineering, and optimized for efficiency and scalability on heterogeneous supercomputer architectures.
When did you realize that you wanted to make a career in science and what was the incentive?
The science curriculum has always been interesting for me because I love to figure out how things work. Looking closely, there are fascinating mechanisms in everyday phenomena that we take for granted. Along with my education and studies, a career in science just came naturally.
What makes science work so special?
The scientific endavour is full of twists and turns but very rewarding. I gain great satisfaction to see through the process of science work: coming up with ideas, designing and implementing experiments, testing out hypothesis, debugging results, or using an alternative plan. It gives me a world of possibilities to contribute to knowledge and make impacts.
What is your role in the CoE RAISE project and how do you like it so far?
Currently, my work contributes to the Unique AI Framework within CoE RAISE. The objective is to develop a software infrastructure that facilitates deployment of machine learning packages on different supercomputers and code integration among multiple Work Packages in the CoE RAISE project. I’m excited to work with brilliant colleagues in the group with diverse skills and background.
What places have you been to because of your education/work and which one did you particularly like?
I traveled for conferences in multiple locations. It’s great experience because I can share work with international scientists and pick their brains, also enjoy some vacation time by the way.
Figure 1: Visit to Castle Hill in Nice (left) and Milan Cathedral (right)
Have you ever met a world-famous scientist?
I have luckily met a few distinguished scientists in the field. It’s very inspiring to meet someone who laid the groundwork and frequently appears in books.
What advice would you give to young girls interested in science?
It’s a journey full of ambition, solid work and exciting rewards, waiting for you to discover!
Hi Ilze, please introduce yourself briefly to the readers.
My name is Ilze Andersone and I’m from Riga, Latvia. I studied computer science at the Riga Technical University, where I finished Bachelor, Master, and Ph.D. study programs. My initial research was mostly in robotic mapping, but now I mainly work in the machine learning and data analytics fields, which immediately drew my attention as exciting and dynamic research areas.
When did you realize that you wanted to make a career in science and what was the incentive?
I started working at the Riga Technical University during my Master studies. There, I realized that research is a very creative process and offers a lot of freedom on how to solve problems, which appealed to me a lot. Also, research is never static – one is doing something different over the months and years, even when technically working on the same problem.
What makes science work so special?
Science work is kind of magical for me – initially, you can’t do something, but after successful research you can. You have created some knowledge that didn’t exist before.
What is your role in the CoE RAISE project and how do you like it so far?
My main role in the CoE RAISE project is related to machine learning models for wind turbine flow simulation. It is always interesting to learn something about new domains – each has their own specific challenges.
What places have you been to because of your education/work and which one did you particularly like?
Over the years I have been to many conferences, exhibitions, and networking events in various countries. Every place and event had something special, but the most memorable was a 4,000 km road trip from Riga, Latvia, to Lisbon, Portugal for IoT Week 2015. We had a multi-robot system exhibition stand there, and couldn’t transport everything by air, so our team went there by car.
Figure 2: During conference in Malta (left) and Playing bridge (right)
Have you ever met a world-famous scientist?
I have met quite a few well-known and distinguished scientists in their particular fields. No world-wide celebrities though.
What advice would you give to young girls interested in science?
Do what your heart tells you to do! If science excites you, go for it and you will find a place that suits you!
Hi Ieva, please introduce yourself briefly to the readers.
My name is Ieva Timrote and I am from Latvia. I did my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in optometry at the University of Latvia. Even though I have a Ph.D. in physics, the topic for my thesis was related to visual perception. A few years back I decided to change my career and I started to work at the Riga Technical University’s High-Performance Computing (RTU HPC) Centre.
When did you realize that you wanted to make a career in science and what was the incentive?
When I think back, I believe it was my Erasmus in Cardiff University, United Kingdom, when I first got excited about science. Back then I was studying optometry, and I found an opportunity to go to Cardiff University for my Erasmus. The main idea was to go there for three months to work mainly on my Master thesis, and I was assigned to a professor named John Wild. His approach to research, experience, and mode of teaching made me interested in science.
What makes science work so special?
The greatest impact I see is in collaboration – people working in different parts of the world can meet and make their ideas even stronger by discussing a specific subject, adding to each other’s ideas, or even showing some weak points, which can be helpful in making the idea even stronger. I believe that helping each other out makes all the difference.
What is your role in the CoE RAISE project and how do you like it so far?
I am involved in Work Package 6, where I do several things. First of all, I deal with the communications side at RTU, which is my main task. Secondly, I’m helping Ilmars Slaidins from RTU in developing the CoE RAISE Training platform, which is like a course catalogue for different training materials on artificial intelligence (AI) offered all over the World. More specifically, I help to find more and more existing training materials, and add them to our catalogue. The idea is to gather valuable resources in one place so that anyone interested in AI can easily find appropriate trainings according to topic, field, format, level, language, or phrase. Last but not least, I organize CoE RAISE training events given by RTU. I like that there is always something new to work on.
What places have you been to because of your education/work and which one did you particularly like?
During my Ph.D., I had a lot of opportunities to travel for conferences and summer schools. Although I have never been outside Europe, I have been to many different countries in Europe. If I saw an event happening in a country or city I had never been to, it was a green light for me to attend the event and see what scientists are doing in my field there. For some reason, Croatia has been the most memorable one.
Figure 3: Work trip to Manchester, United Kingdom (Left) and CoE RAISE AHM at CERN (Right)
Have you ever met a world-famous scientist?
I don’t think that I have. However, I have attended lectures by great personalities and inspiring people.
What advice would you give to young girls interested in science?
Just go for it! If there is a wish to do research, the right opportunity will definitely come. From my perspective, the first step is to find a great mentor – someone who will make you even more interested in the particular topic