The representativeness and visibility of female referents in science continues to be a fundamental task. The lack of notorious and numerous examples is one of the great barriers that partly explains gender inequality in fields such as research or STEM careers. This lack of representativeness translates into a lack of trust, which results in an unsustainable loss of talent in the scientific area.
For this reason, at VIU we have created this section, aimed at celebrating and making VIU scientists visible throughout the year, thus contributing to the presence in the digital universe of more female role models who can inspire today’s girls to be tomorrow’s scientists
In this installment, our protagonist is the Dr. Marta González Garcia, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, Bachelor of Mathematics and Master in Analysis and Visualization of Massive Data. Dr. González García is a PDI of the Higher School of Science and Technology of VIU, teaching undergraduate courses in Mathematics, Computer Engineering, Industrial Organization Engineering and Master’s degrees in Big Data and Data Science, and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In addition, she belongs to the ASGARD research group, in which she contributes her expertise on star formation regions.
Marta González García is the perfect example that there are as many ways to get to science as there are people. Despite having specialized in the field of Astrophysics and Astronomy, she tells that her story “It is not that of a person passionate about this discipline who has been observing the stars since she was a child”. Instead, he points out that “I am a curious person, I like to learn and understand new things, and also many fields are interesting to me, also the humanities or culture, although memorization is not my thing, above all I am interested in understanding”. In fact, this interest in knowing and understanding about everything, he acknowledges, translates into “me It takes a lot of work to concentrate and not scatter. Both in my professional life and in my hobbies”.
It was precisely this curiosity that led her to become interested, finally, in the scientific field “When I was studying high school, I decided at a point that continuing to study some pure science was what was going to allow me to pursue these interests and I opted for mathematics, since it is the purest and the most versatile.”. A decision in which she received absolute family support “I have been and am very lucky, and my environment has always believed in my ability and has supported me in everything I wanted to do”.
The race, he admits, at first was more complicated than he had thought “it was much more difficult than I expected. Thus, the degree, in addition to providing me with academic learning, also gave me a lesson in humility”. Once adapted to the particularities of her academic choice, Marta began to plan her future career “I went for the orientation of applied mathematics, and when I finished my degree, I decided to look for opportunities in different research centers. I was lucky to be accepted at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, and that’s where it all started.”.
“To build the building of science, not only architects are necessary, but also workers”
In this institute he carried out his doctoral thesis “applying mathematical models to cometary nuclei” and once she became a PhD in Physics and Mathematics, she continued her work at the same institution, as a postdoctoral researcher “in different fields within astrophysics, developing statistical methods to assess the structure of star clusters, and modeling the propagation of lightning in the atmosphere”. Once her stage at the center ended, she had a brief stint in the private sector as a data scientist in a Galician company. However, she soon returned to the field of Astrophysics, this time at the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics in Grenoble, France.”where I continued in the line of stellar clusters, specializing more and more in the statistical characterization of young objects in star-forming regions”.
In 2021 he joined VIU, as a PDI of the Higher School of Engineering, Science and Technology, and since then he has combined teaching in bachelor’s and master’s degrees with research work in the ASGARD group, in which “one of the main lines of research deals precisely with star formation regions”, one of its great specialties.
Although in the end it was science that ended up channeling his curiosity at a professional level, his concern for knowledge and his interest in the most diverse fields of life have not diminished in the slightest. In fact, his hobbies are as varied as his enthusiasm is intense “I have learned to knit and crochet, I have a 3D printer and Arduino and I have tried furniture”, although he humorously confesses that “the truth is that it is difficult for me to finish things and I have to confess that I am a bit of a sloppy person and I am not good at the arts. I am only consistent with quite basic things like watching movies and reading, or just hanging out with friends and family in different ways: having coffee and beers, going out to eat, having dinner, going out dancing, going for a walk, visiting places”.
“It’s tremendously exciting and facing a problem you don’t know the solution to and trying to figure out how to contribute something”
When it comes to remembering scientific references that have inspired her in childhood, her response is as unorthodox as it is consistent with her story “From my childhood I only remember the best-known scientists: Albert Einstein, Newton, Descartes, Darwin… and the only woman I always remember having heard of is Marie Curie. However, reflecting on the subject, I think that for better or worse, possibly one of the images that formed my conception of what a scientist is is a fictional character: Agent Scully from the X-Files, a methodical person who always defended the explanation rational in the face of Agent Mulder’s esoteric and conspiracy theories. Turns out he was usually right, but that’s another matter.”.
However, the years and the daily work in the field of science have resulted in a new perspective on the matter “Currently, my scientific culture has expanded enormously and it is very difficult for me to choose one person among so many who are admirable. Of course, the people who inspire me the most are those I have had the opportunity to see up close. More than those people known for a great discovery, all those who contribute to knowledge, which is made up of many anonymous people working very hard in the least recognized parts. Let’s say that, to build the building of science, not only architects are necessary, but also workers”.
“The important thing is to learn, and learning is always worth it”
When it comes to doing an exercise in imagination and talking to her child self about her decision to choose a career in science, Marta prefers to avoid the most topical resources and be completely open about her own experiences “I would say that it is an extraordinary job in some respects, because it is tremendously exciting and facing a problem whose solution you don’t know and trying to figure out how to contribute something, even if it is small. Mind you, it’s hard work, and not every day is fun, in fact, sadly most are not. It’s about moving forward through good days and bad, without getting discouraged and without losing perspective”.
A vision that also applies when we ask him to address the girls of today, who are passionate about science and need to know stories that serve as references to be inspired and know that they too can “The important thing is to learn, and learning is always worth it. If they’re passionate about a scientific career, let them pursue it, at least for a while. Also that you have to be realistic and assume that everything has a price, and this work too: it is hard, there is instability and it is often difficult to continue. And nothing happens if at a given moment the price stops compensating, since one discovers that outside of science, what one has learned is valued and there are many very interesting jobs outside of academics in which to continue learning”.
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