March celebrates some in the STEM fields
From baking in the kitchen with their mother, listening to their father talk about chemical reactions, being the first to pursue higher education, or receiving global recognition, TAMUK’s female chemistry professors found inspiration to pursue the field and bring passion to science and are a fundamental part of the department.
The month of March is used to honor and celebrate women in all fields and accomplishments. As Women’s History Month closes, The South Texan highlights the prominent women in chemistry on campus.
TAMUK’s Chemistry Department is home to five different female professors including, Dr. Christine Hahn, Dr. Maribel Gonzalez-Garcia, Dr. Jingbo Louise Liu, Dr. Monatamas Suntravat and Dr. Elda Sanchez.
TAMUK’s variety of diverse professors can be used to inspire students in many places including the lab, where some of TAMUK’s professors got their start and gained a love for chemistry.
“As a child when I would work with my mom in the kitchen, my mom [was] probably my first chemistry lab,” Assistant Professor at the National Natural Toxins Research Center and Biologist Dr. Suntravat said.
Suntravat works with students to train, teach and continue research.
“As a child in that time it is so fascinating and I was super excited to see the chemistry in front of me, but in that time, I don’t know what it is but magic. I can see the color change for the food or the drink that we drink or eat so this is why I love science from then until now,” she said.
Suntravat has strived to be a teacher from a young age and says the opportunity to better someone’s life though teaching is a main component to her love for teaching.
“I have been very fortunate not to encounter any significant challenge as the result of [being] female so I’ve never been discriminated against [because of] my gender even my race by any of my colleagues male or female, so I feel lucky that I don’t have those challenges,” Suntravat said.
Suntravat works with more than 50 undergraduate students and about 10 graduate students.
“I think chemistry is for everyone if you really love science, especially chemistry no matter what gender, no matter what your religion, sexuality, race you can do it if you love and have interest in chemistry, you have to go for it and work hard for it, do your best, so don’t be scared and believe in yourself, believe in your own potential, your success is in your hands,” she said.
Dr. Hahn, department chair and associate professor of cshemistry, attributes her inspiration for going into chemistry to her father and brother who would often talk about chemicals and reactions.
“The biggest moments in my chemistry career are those rare events of unexpected discoveries,” Hahn said. “My research area is located in the field of organometallic chemistry and catalysis. I have a great passion for solving reaction mechanisms for deeper understanding for the activation of substrates and how to obtain the desired product. For example, I worked on a problem, and I see in the analytical results that there was always an ‘impurity’ in a way. Then I had a closer look and see something else than expected had happened. In this way I have discovered a new reaction path to combine two.”
Hahn published her research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and in Organometallics. Her postdoctoral research and results are in a concept paper and published in Chemistry – A European Journal.
“Actually, I have not faced too many challenges,” Hahn said when it comes to being a woman in chemistry. “If there are any challenges, I consider it as a lesson. Overall, I am very insensitive to any gender discussion, since I grew up in the former German Democratic Republic, which was a socialist country and where we had ideological issues to face rather than gender issues. Men and women were treated more or less the same, and there was never a big difference. I know that I am a woman, but when it comes to work, I am not thinking about whether I am male or female. I only think about getting my work done. Being a man or a woman is only relevant within family life, but in science or at work it is not.”
Hahn’s biggest career accomplishment came when she was elected department chair of chemistry department.
“I felt really honored to step up,” Hahn said. “I see it as my duty and service to this great Department. I have never had the intention to become the chair of the department, but when the Chemistry Department had the need, I could not hedge around.”
Hahn has been Department Chair since July 2017.
“Without exactly knowing how challenging it would have become, I made myself available, with the thought in mind, that it cannot become worse with me. I am happy to do this service to the university, this is very fulfilling and offers me a lot of opportunities to learn more and to have a bigger impact to the society,” she said.
Dr. Liu says she works to inspire young students.
“My inspiration I would say was to make some changes and to pass the knowledge onto the next generation, empower our young generation, young students, young females in particularly,” Professor of Chemistry Liu said.
Liu says she had an intuition she would be an educator since a young.
“I was eight years old; I already knew I wanted to become an educator because I love to spread knowledge to different people,” Liu said.
Liu was recently named one of the 12 women recognized globally by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as a Distinguished Women in Chemistry.
“I hope I can show a bigger heart to tolerate the disadvantages from everybody including myself, give ourselves some sensation to be successful, make our students particularly feel they are better than they are,” she https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fjavelinaathletics.com%2Fimages%2F2018%2F4%2F30%2FTunnel_Run_FB_vs_CWU.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fjavelinaathletics.com%2Fnews%2F2018%2F4%2F30%2Fjavelina-football-announces-2019-schedule.aspx%3Fpath%3Dfootball&tbnid=2cqAgRg2S0YLOM&vet=12ahUKEwjazpmLt87vAhUWgHIEHTuBCR8QMygEegUIARCxAQ..i&docid=0xWvXfDoAZGMMM&w=800&h=450&q=JAVELINA%20ATHLETICS%20FOOTBALL&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwjazpmLt87vAhUWgHIEHTuBCR8QMygEegUIARCxAQ said.
One of Liu’s biggest accomplishments has been publishing her book Advanced Material For Energy Application which contained 10 years of research and teamwork from multiple parties, including some TAMUK’s professors.
Dr. Gonzalez-Garcia discussed her biggest scientific accomplishment.
“My biggest scientific accomplishments have been the discoveries and corresponding publications about Bcl-xL, the second human protein identified to be involved in apoptosis, a key step in the Bad phosphorylation signal transduction pathway, this pathway plays a major role in cancer development and BMRP as a novel pro-apoptotic protein,” she said.
Gonzalez-Garcia says as a first-generation Hispanic person, from a disadvantaged background she had to overcome many challenges to go to school and sit in her current position.
“It is impossible to understand life without knowing about the biochemical reactions that make life possible,” she said. “It is not possible to cure human diseases without characterizing and understanding the biochemical processes that are not working properly in a sick person, which we ‘find’ by comparing them to the normal biochemical processes/pathways present in a healthy individual. Once we find these differences, we can target those anomalous processes with therapy (drugs or surgical interventions).”
Gonzalez-Garcia credits biomedical research as essential for the discovery of novel therapies used to treat human diseases and as her main push for becoming a biochemist and biomedical scientist.
“Sometimes my abilities have been underestimated. Other times I have been targeted for my successes. To overcome these challenges, I have always continued to work very hard, remained very focused on my goals and persevered,” she said.
Women all around the world face challenges in their career for being a woman, whether it is a pay difference, harassment, unjust treatment or underestimation, women have been targeted for centuries.
“Chemistry is a wonderful career choice and that, despite its challenges, it is totally rewarding and worth it,” Gonzalez-Garcia said. “Choose the area of chemistry that you love and pursue it with passion. You will truly enjoy it. In difficult moments, stay focused on your goals and believe in yourself. Always maintain a strong work ethic and persevere, seek support from people you trust and value, and keep in your mind that things will soon get better. Before you know it, you will have accomplished that first goal in your career and will be ready for the next step.”