My interest in STEM has been present since I was a child. I’ve always been attracted to math and science, maybe because I was good at them or maybe because they fulfilled my innate curiosity. Having a father who was a scientist, I think, also helped.

My first role model was perhaps an aunt of mine who was a biologist. Then I had a mentor, a female professor of chemistry, whom I looked up to as an example of what I wanted to become.

I’d like to mention the fact that I’m author of the editorial published on ACS Omega entitled: “Let Us Together Shine a Light on Women in STEM”

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.0c01236.

With my group we invented and developed the “Single Molecule with a Large Transistor – SiMoT” technology that now has reached a maturity at TRL6. SiMoT is an ultra-portable, point-of-care analytical immunometric test that performs like a molecular assay: it detects a single-antigenic or a single-nucleic-acid marker in 0.1 milliliter of a peripheral biofluid with an error below 4%.

Get a degree in Chemistry, Physics, or a Biotech subject and be curious about studying issues at the interface between biology and electronic devices.

To contribute my share to improving the quality of life for citizens every day.

To bring our SiMoT technology to market!

I will be four years from retirement as a professor, and I will actively be seeking to make a change in my career, perhaps by diversifying my activities. I aim to become more involved in consulting while also considering other ways to serve the community.

Since I was a little girl I loved to know about all sorts of topics. Everything I learned was fascinating and I tried to learn something different every day. I loved to read all the texts on my hands. And through reading, I found a lot of opened doors to other dimensions. Marie Curie was a brilliant role model for a girl like me, but also a very sad one, because of the sadness in her eyes. But “a future as a scientist” (even sad) seemed the most interesting option for me, because curiosity about knowing everything, was the main incentive.

Hedy Lamarr, Irene Joliot Curie, Laura Tremosa, my mother’s grandmother, my mother, my female friends and my students.

I am very proud of the girls mentoring program, “M2m”. I started it 11 years ago and has allowed many girls to reach their professional lives with a huge development of their empowerment skills. They are very good in their profiles, but by using the M2m program, some of them have improved their abilities for leading or for feeling strong in their workplaces, even when they are part of a minority.

I would like my students, years after they left the classroom, to remember me fondly. I love it when my former students greet me at any place with their smiley faces. This is very pleasant for me.

They must have their dreams, no matter how impossible they look, because someday they will realize that dreams have come true.
Their dreams are their own, and nobody can tell them about the right to have them. Those dreams can become a reality (or a part of them), and it will take a lot of work, and a lot of effort, but in the end it will be worth it. No hurries, no worries.

My main challenge is that it is not necessary to highlight relevant profiles like mine, that the work of the women who have had to promote STEAM vocations naturally is part of history, without having to highlight it.

A challenge is that all boys and girls have the information and freedom to be what they want to be, without limits, without prejudice and without having to justify themselves.

Ambitious maybe.

I read, watch theatre, listen concert music, make sports, love scuba diving and travel all around the world.

Since very early age. My father started playing with me logical/mathematical games when I was 6 and for me STEM became a game, pleasure, challenge sometimes.

Microelectronics is the most inspiring science and the role of a scientist in this area is a great inspiration.

There were very few ladies on leading positions at the university but now two vice-rectors are ladies. I am a dean and the deans of the Faculty of Informatics and Computer science and of the Faculty of Economics are also ladies. The number of student girls in electronics is equal the number of boys and in general we have a lot of girls at TUS.

I am most proud of my students.

Same as for the studies.

Family, children then is the science.

It is not easy to manage men, they do not like it.

Ambitious maybe.

I read, watch theatre, listen concert music, make sports, love scuba diving and travel all around the world.

When I was may be 10 years old. Мy father works in a telecommunication company. At home, he was always making electrical schematics, realizing small projects, and he inspired me in technology.

The idea to be an engineer inspired me.

I am most proud of my ability to keep up with the latest technology trends.

It’s amazing to be keep up with the latest technology trends.

I make handmade things.

I cannot remember a specific moment when I began to be interested in STEM. I suppose it’s a matter of character, but I was always curious and dreamy, and that naturally led me in school to prefer those disciplines where abstract thinking is more useful.

When you are a female engineer, you learn to develop your career without relying on female role models, since they are few and little known. In school, the only female scientist talked about is Marie Curie, and in high school and university, your only references are your teachers. Once you start working, especially in the field of scientific research, your references are older colleagues who play the role of mentors and teachers, whom you meet at conferences, courses, or, in my case, in the office across the hall. Thanks Mar, by the way.

Age has taught me that nobody is perfect, which makes it difficult for me to have a role model that I find inspiring. However, it is true that I have been fortunate to meet great professionals and individuals in my environment, both men and women, whom I respect and who help me continue to want to improve myself.

Within the University of Cantabria, there is an area of equality and social responsibility that provides the university community with a series of initiatives and programs. Among these, I would highlight those related to family reconciliation, such as the Concilia Plan, the Nursery School, and the regular organization of Children’s Campuses during holiday periods. These are the longest-running programs and facilitate the exercise of motherhood and fatherhood, contributing to promoting the co-responsibility of women and men.

As I have already mentioned, I am a very perfectionist person, which makes it difficult for me to name any professional achievement that I am particularly proud of. I believe there is still much for me to learn and teach, but if I had to choose, I am left with three achievements. In terms of research, probably the project I am most proud and grateful to have participated in is a collaboration with the Cardiology Department of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, opening the way to the research and development of ultra-low power active implantable devices based on MEMS sensors and wireless power transmission. The other two are much more general: I continue to enjoy learning and facing new challenges, despite the difficulties and the effort it will entail, and having students who remember me and stop to talk with me on the street to tell me that they are doing well and thank me.

My advice for women who want to pursue their work at the university is to be patient and persevering, as it often takes many years to achieve a certain level of job stability. Being a university lecturer encompasses multiple aspects that can be very satisfying both personally and professionally, but also very demanding, as you often must prioritize which aspect you need to pay more attention to at a particular moment in your career, without abandoning the other. You must enjoy research and try to complete your PhD within a good group that provides support. But you also should train yourself as a good teacher. We all know examples of teachers who knew a lot but were not able to convey it to their students.

On the other hand, research from a public institution allows you greater freedom, in terms of time, scope, and priority lines, than research within a company which is subject to the demands of its own circumstances. As a counterpoint, you often compete with these companies, directly or indirectly, and usually with fewer experience, economic, personal, and equipment resources. In this sense, having a good network of contacts from other research groups is extremely useful, so you will have to develop your social skills and dedicate time to attending conferences and meetings, as well as carrying out, at least, a research stay of several months, preferably abroad.

My values are effort, respect, resilience, equality, empathy, ethics, honesty, camaraderie, critical thinking with others and with myself, and hope.

From the perspective of my work as a teacher, I will have to make a significant study effort to adapt the methodology and content of my classes to new technological advances, for example, in terms of AI, and to make them more attractive to my students. As the person responsible for an engineering curriculum, my challenges will be: First, to identify those aspects of it that need to be updated, so as to better respond to the current and even future needs of the labor market, within a global framework, and to improve my negotiation skills to reach a consensus solution with the different actors involved in its implementation. And second, to promote innovative and creative actions to disseminate engineering studies to bring the profession closer to society, trying to eliminate preconceived ideas and misconceptions that hinder the attraction of talent, especially female talent. Finally, from the point of view of research, the challenges here are the usual ones, to obtain innovative solutions in a short period of time, since technological development in electronics technology is characterized by a demanding time-to-market and a high competitiveness.

I hope to continue in the same place, because I like what I do, but I would like to further develop certain aspects of mixed and heterogeneous circuit design that would allow me to collaborate with other groups on larger multidisciplinary projects.