Female scientists are often required to juggle their research and family responsibilities, researchers told an awards ceremony on Saturday, urging institutions to implement better work conditions for women.
Female researchers have been known to quickly return home to children from overseas events and work on their theses in a postpartum care center, National Taiwan University (NTU) distinguished professor Lin Yi-yi (林依依) said.
Lin, who won Most Outstanding Researcher at the 14th annual Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science awards ceremony, said that improving work conditions for female scientists would allow them to excel at their research, which in turn would benefit the nation.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The awards ceremony — held jointly by L’Oreal and the Wu Chien-shiung Education Foundation — recognizes female scientists for outstanding achievements in their field.
The Young Scientist of Excellence award was won by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University assistant professor Wu Hsin-chieh (吳欣潔) and NTU assistant professor Chen Yun-nung (陳縕儂).
NTU post-doctoral researcher Chuang Tsao-chi (莊造奇) won a scholarship named for Meng Tsui-chu (孟粹珠), a woman who researched and taught at National Yang-Ming University.
Lin’s research, which includes satellite telemetry, the Earth’s atmosphere and the oceans, analyzes data from typhoon-hunter aircraft and advanced satellite telemetry to study the interaction between ocean waters and typhoons, as well as the effects of global warming on El Nino and La Nina weather phenomena.
Her work was recognized for its contributions to forecasting typhoons, the foundation said.
“Doing research makes me feel like I’m Alice in Wonderland. Every day, there are fascinating discoveries,” she said.
However, institutions must create better environments for female researchers with children, such as allowing meetings to be conducted online, she added.
Wu’s research studies green energy development and applications, including thermodynamics and pyroelectric materials. Her work has been subsidized by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Wu said that she has had to overcome many obstacles, including being told that women “should not read too many books.”
However, her love of science pushed her to forget such comments and move ahead, she said.
Chen’s research studies natural languages and dialogue systems, and has been used to help artificial intelligence (AI) systems understand and analyze human languages.
She said that she was drawn to her research by a dream of developing speech-analysis systems that could be used in robots and smart home appliances.
There are disproportionately few women in AI research, Chen said, adding that more women should join the field.
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