Why a career in tech?
As a child, I always enjoyed understanding the world and the things around us. I see myself as a little girl amazed in front of robots being demonstrated as part of a Science Festival. Growing up, I wanted to combine business with pleasure and did continue in technology as a way to provide solutions to our society.
Your professional experience?
Graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, I completed a Master’s degree in Materials Sciences in the United States (MIT in Boston) followed by a thesis in Metallurgy for the French nuclear industry. I then joined the Constellium Research Center, a company specialized in the design and manufacturing of aluminum products for the automotive, aeronautics and packaging sectors. I have been working there for almost 10 years as a Metallurgy R&D engineer.
Your first experience with technology?
Freshly out of my PhD thesis, being within the Constellium company for 9 months, my manager asked me to join a team of technologists to help one of our factories which was facing quality issues on aluminum plates for aerospace applications. Thrown into the deep end, I must admit that I was a little bit afraid of not being up to the expectations. It was a very educational experience thanks to a highly motivated and caring project team. I then truly experienced that a detailed understanding of the mechanisms at work in the material could solve very concrete industrial problems. I finally loved it!
What do you do today, and why?
I currently work as a Research and Development engineer for the automotive industry. I am in charge of developing/improving alloys and processes for the aluminum that will be used in the vehicles of tomorrow. What I particularly appreciate is the constant search for the best compromise between properties of the final product (formability, in-service durability, etc.), the ease of manufacturing it and its impact on the environment. This is an area in which the subject of materials carbon footprint is increasingly present.
Your strengths in this role?
It is a very diverse role in which you must be able to understand complex technical fields and interact with people who are very different from each other. This includes academic research with university partners, interactions with production staff in our factories and exchanges with strategy departments to guide key choices for the company. And it is in this diversity that I particularly appreciate.
Past challenges, failures and disappointments?
My main disappointment certainly is my Master’s research work in a nuclear materials laboratory in the US. I had to implement crack propagation measurements in high pressure and high temperature autoclaves for future generations of nuclear reactors. I had no ideas on how to handle this and was totally left to my own (absent supervisor, unhelpful doctoral students, etc.). My research experience could have ended there… I returned to France after one year, deciding never to come back to academic research. Never say never…
Best moments, successes you’re proud of?
As a researcher, there is always a little pleasure in discovering a solution to an apparently complex problem, in understanding phenomena whose logic previously escaped us, in obtaining results which can be efficient at the industrial scale. The search for a solution can sometimes be long and laborious. So, when the light appears, sometimes suddenly, it is always a moment of pleasure, even more so when it is shared with others. Recent successes deal with the design and manufacturing of aluminum alloys that can be manufactured from recycled material, while retaining the same level of properties, or the industrialization of sorting machines to recover good-quality aluminum from end-of-life vehicles. It’s these small team successes that keep me motivated at work every day.
People who helped, influenced -or made your life difficult?
I owe a lot to my parents because they always supported me in my craziest projects without expressing the slightest doubt, without ever mentioning the word “impossible”. And then, there were many decisive connections: teachers who stimulated me, managers who trusted me and, above all, inspiring colleagues who shared my daily professional life. Indeed, for every success so far, there has been teamwork, close collaboration with complementary colleagues.
Your hopes and future challenges?
We are living in an exciting time for innovation in Materials Science. The need to reduce the impact of industrial activities on the environment as well as our dependency on mining requires us to rethink our way of producing, with huge challenges in terms of recycling and circular economy. We have the duty not to fail, and it seems to me that researchers have a crucial role to play, without falling into blind techno solutionism.
What do you do when you don’t work?
I like practicing outdoor sports (running, cross-country skiing, cycling) and spending time in nature with my partner and my two children.
Your heroes -from History or fiction?
I do admire women who succeeded in an environment that was initially rather hostile to them. In science, I am thinking in particular of Marie Curie, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, and who remains as of today the only woman to have received two. In the political world, I can cite Gisèle Halimi, a lawyer and Franco-Tunisian feminist activist who fought for the abortion legalization, the recognition of torture acts during the Algerian war, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminalization of rape.
A saying or proverb you like in particular?
“The Earth is not a gift from our parents, it is lent to us by our children” (Indian proverb)
A book to take with you on a desert island?
Certainly a collection of poems (Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire or La Légende des Siècles by Victor Hugo), monuments of French literature that I have only partially read and which should allow my mind to escape in case I am isolated on a desert island.
A message to young female professionals?
Above all, don’t hesitate, dare to do the things you want without limiting yourself. There are no things just for men!