She was inspired by Lord Kelvin, and now she inspires us all 🌍
Welcome to Pursuit of STEM, an interview series for Every Woman in Tech blog.
Author: Amy Gritzinger
Whether you’re just starting out in your engineering career, midway through, or looking for an industry change, this series will shine a light on colleagues with various perspectives. Girls in K-12 are watching and it’s never too soon to get them interested in STEM education! From here, we can provide support and resources at the collegiate level, then eventual career pathways. My mission is to impact young girl and inspire them to take more STEM classes. This article series will focus on issues women engineers face getting into the field and areas where improvements can be made to retain women. The interviewees bring their own personal experiences, opinions, and hopes for what’s to come.
It is my great honor to introduce you all to Tamador Salih Saeed 2017-2021 Ph.D. student in Metrology at University of Khartoum and Physicist at Measurement and Calibration Laboratories. Her credentials are remarkable, and I’m humbled to have the opportunity to connect with an industry colleague unselfishly dedicated to the advancement of women in Metrology. She’s listed as an expert with the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).
Tamador is the Founder of Metrology for All, the platform working to increase awareness of Metrology with a main purpose of supporting women in Metrology in Africa and developing countries.
Under/less-developed countries economies and increasing populations benefit from Metrology by ways of safe infrastructure, manufacturing enterprises, and standardization. Measurement science welcomes women to engineer solutions IN their communities, FROM their viewpoints. I’m reminded of the memorable expression, “A rising tide lifts all boats”. Diversity & Inclusion bring fresh ideas and approaches to problem solving. Tamador graciously took time to answer questions and share her mission. Enjoy!
Q: What motivated you to go into STEM as a career?
Tamador: I like Metrology. Inspired by Lord Kelvin quote “When you can measure what you
are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it”, I
was fortunate enough to come into the Metrology by employing at Sudanese
Standards Metrology Organization 2010. My work in SSMO as a physicist at
Measurement and Calibration laboratories gained me a knowledge of the role of
the importance of accurate measurements in our daily lives.
Q: Did you have a mentor or role model encouraging you along the way? If so, what
is the most memorable advice?
Tamador: I have kind mentors that have helped me throughout my career,
surrounding myself with people who can support me, learn new things
helped my development within my career, and to be able to try out new
things, I never thought they are possible to do.
One of my mentors tells me “The dream should not be to make money, but
to change the future for better”, I enjoy working about things that make
people’s lives good and really push me to my full potential. I am also
fascinated by Einstein’s quote “Only a life lived for others is worth living”.
Dreams without goals are just dreams, my ultimate goals are
commitment, dedication, and sincerity.
Q: What are some of the shortcomings in how STEM is currently being taught and
how can academia improve?
Tamador: We need to change the view of careers within STEM. Working in STEM
Needs passion, patience, hard work, besides, encouraging scientists’ women and
support them to join these fields.
Q: What can women do to inspire and develop the next generation of girls in
STEM/STEAM into education and careers?
Tamador: I think more light needs to be shed on women within the Metrology, for this
purpose I lunched “Metrology for All” is an independent platform, aiming to
raise awareness about Metrology, support and encourage people who are
interested in this field, especially in Africa and developing countries, as well as
inspiring other people in this field to join me in creating tools that help others.
All activities within this platform are totally voluntary. One of our events in our
platform shed a spotlight on Women in Metrology. One of our goals setting up
voluntary programs to assist those who wish to conduct research, publishing
scientific articles and participating in conferences and interactive projects would
be a good way to attract the next generation.
Q: What are you good at (conflict resolution, mentoring, troubleshooting, project
management, public speaking)?
Tamador: I am a good at projects management. I like transfer knowledge and helping
people. I enjoy it, it makes me feel happy.
Q: What skills do you recommend for females at the beginning of their careers in
STEM journey?
Tamador: Besides the typical skill sets required for STEM, I would say one of the most
important skills for a woman in the any field would be confidence. That by learn
more and catch the opportunities and be ready to join any projects without
hesitating.
Q: What can male allies in the workforce do to help retain women in Physics?
Tamador: I think cooperation is essential, and to understand how to help others. Finding
that common ground and being able to relate to coworkers regardless of their
sex, age, or race is a good and I believe we can success together.
Q: Do males in your company take paternity leave, promote women to leadership
rolls, offer unbiased training, provide speaking opportunities, engage in
Mentorship programs?
Tamador: In my country, we have just Maternity leave. Fortunately, the training programs
are distributed equally without gender consideration.
Q: As a Physicist, have you participated in a project that helps society or improves
the lives? Sustainability, safety, environmental, etc.…
Tamador: Yes, I participated in several voluntary projects as I mentioned, my great goal is to
help others and to make life better.
Q: Are there any women at your company in executive level roles? If not, then how
can the culture be improved thus seeing more Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
on the team?
Tamador: The organization where I work does a great job regarding diversity; there are
women in the senior leadership team, and plenty of women leaders in the
organization. I learned a lot from my direct manger Mrs. Mona Mohamed Ali.
Q: Are you involved in any social groups or professional societies supporting your
role as a Physicist?
Tamador: Yes, I am member in some social groups (see intro)
Q: How do you achieve a work/life balance?
Tamador: I have worked from home for the two last years, beside my work at my PhD thesis
and sometime this can be a challenge! There can be days when a project
consumes most of my time, sometimes I have two online meetings or Webinar in
day and I realized it is 3 PM and I still haven’t prepared lunch.
Q: What’s next for your career?
Tamador: Right now, I am working on finishing my PhD thesis, in this year and I am very
excited! to extend my network at “Metrology for All” platform.
If you’re interested in Metrology research, volunteering, contributing scientific content or being dazzled by brilliance, please reach out at contact@metrologyforall@gmail.com
Thanks for reading Tamador’s story. Please stay tuned for a new interviewee each week.