Maria Strojnik Scholl

Marija Strojnik Scholl Professor, Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Mexico Country of origin: Slovenia

My work today as a senior professor and scientist includes a number of different activities such as lecturing, writing papers on original research, reviewing manuscripts for journals, and organizing conferences. The amount of solitary (laboratory) research has much decreased and the amount of time interacting with young people has increased. I try to keep the administrative work to minimum, but it is an integral part of having a laboratory and collaborators. Solving a particular problem for industry usually requires my complete involvement, especially during the early stages. I am pleased to say that my family has also benefited from my profession. I convinced my mother to go to college when she was in her 50s. My older two daughters are currently in college; one is finishing her major in nanotechnology and molecular-biological engineering, the other is focusing on women's studies. The death of their father has encouraged my youngest daughter to consider research in neuroscience. I like every aspect of my work: it satisfies my intrinsic needs to solve problems and help people.