{"id":275,"date":"2021-02-11T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benscoat.eu\/?p=275"},"modified":"2021-02-13T09:03:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T08:03:25","slug":"the-great-women-i-met-in-academia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benscoat.eu\/index.php\/2021\/02\/11\/the-great-women-i-met-in-academia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Women I Met in Academia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science<\/a>. It exists because, despite progresses, we still haven’t met gender equality in science1<\/a><\/sup>. I’d like to contribute moving forward in that direction with a tribute to the many Women in Science<\/em> who have significantly impacted my (academic) life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It started with my Biology teacher<\/strong> in middle school. She has inspired me in so many ways. I was the one entering the class room first to sit in the front row, to be sure to hear everything she would say. She is the one who triggered my passion for life sciences. She has also set the seed of the other passion that would grow later \u2013 research \u2013 with a sentence that I still remember. I understand better today what she meant. My experience in research has proved it nearly each day, and I repeat it exactly when I teach in high school and university. \u263a\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In science, answering one question opens ten new ones.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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A figure explaining the cloning of the sheep Dolly (Source: https:\/\/www.britannica.com). I remember studying this experiment and scientific breakthrough in Biology class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

School was easy for me. I didn’t have to work so<\/em> much to get good marks. But it didn’t last long in Mathematics… My Maths teacher<\/strong> gave me a hard time about that. I mean she didn’t let me down, she stayed right behind my back to be sure I’d pay the necessary effort to succeed. She made me discover the beauty enclosed in numbers and formulas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During lockdown in Spring 2020, I spent two days solving this polynomial. I needed to find n for any given sum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still in school, after a 3-year long traumatizing experience, I met a new English teacher<\/strong>. In a few months I managed to learn what I should have learnt earlier thanks to her vivid lessons, and I finally developed interest for the Shakespeare’s language. Today, I read, write, and think<\/em> in English everyday. Speaking English is an important skill to have for academic research. It made it possible for me to communicate and exchange with my colleagues. It also helped me make friends from everywhere around the globe during my studies abroad. I confronted my points of views to theirs, and it undoubtedly extended my horizons. \ud83d\ude4c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In university, I quickly gave up Geology class to walk my way to Ecology. In this program, Nadine Bernard<\/a><\/strong> taught us the historical and ground principles of Ecology, such as climax, resilience, biogeography. I was fascinated by her lectures. This is when I realized what I wanted to do. I wanted to become her. I wanted to teach Ecology to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biology expressing itself back on the edge (ecotone) of the 2007 eruption nearby the Piton de la Fournaise, La R\u00e9union Island. I still want to lave you, Geology.<\/em> \ud83c\udf0b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I was growing up in academia, Emilie Gauthier<\/strong><\/a> had me make a giant leap forward. She offered me to work on pollen-vegetation relationships in the Jura Mountains. With field and lab work, and statistical analyses of data, this Master Degree’s practical work really settled me into research. I proud myself for having published in a scientific paper<\/a> the results of the research I’ve done as a student, and I thank Emilie for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After stepping one foot in the world of palynology, I completely embraced it to study palaeo-ecology. Investigate, reconstruct, and understand the activities of former civilizations (with pollen, obviously) deeply rooted one of my personal, philosophical keystone: know where you come from to know where you’re going. On that path, I owe a lot to Notburga Oeggl-Wahlm\u00fcller<\/strong><\/a>, Daniela Festi<\/a><\/strong>, and Isabelle Jouffroy-Bapicot<\/a><\/strong>. Not only for being able to identify pollen and other micro-fossils thanks to their (repeated \ud83d\ude13) explanations, but firstly for their constant advice and enlightening input on the ecological meaning of my data, and their (pre-)historical implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had to do it \ud83d\udc7b #ILovePollen<\/a> \u2764\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/a5qeaDMy4w<\/a><\/p>— Daniela Festi (@i_love_pollen) January 20, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>