An Interview With Jigyasa Nigam

Jigyasa tries to take the magic of science to everyone around, especially through her writings, as an antidote to the myopic visions of society and work towards a knowledge-based society that values innovative thinking.

Photo by Jigyasa Nigam

“In my second year (2017) there, I was selected for the 12 weeks LIGO-SURF program over the summer, which was extremely exciting for me as an aspiring physicist.”

What inspires you?

Stories explaining how human life has evolved and changed over the years because of human endeavor and persistence. For instance, human civilization, which once celebrated its scientific success by discovering the fire and wheel, now boasts of incredulous spaceflights. Human progress has been possible because of individuals who persisted and fought through their circumstances for the benefit and development of humanity. I also seek inspiration from the subtle complexities of nature and how it has evolved to be so intricate and self-sustaining.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

‘A goal without a plan is just a wish!’ The revolutionary Antoine de Saint Exupéry eruditely sums up the phase of life where one can’t precisely pin down one goal and rather keeps jumping from one to the other. From bringing the letter ‘J’ to the periodic table to discovering a magnetic monopole, there have been many floating ideas! As far as I can remember, I had always wanted to be an astronaut, leaping bravely into the vast unknown! I was about six years old when Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman in space was killed in the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia. Her journey and stories about her also inspired me and sparked my interest in science.

Which subjects did you enjoy at school?

In high school, I always wanted to keep up with the science courses, physics and chemistry were my favorites, even though at one point I wasn’t doing very well in physics. I was drawn to these courses because they had answers to fun questions such as why are rainbows in the shape of an arc, why are there only a few planets in our solar system and why not more atoms on the periodic table? It was almost as if they were dispelling magic! I remember reading an amazing book called, ‘How Do You Go To The Bathroom In Space?’ as a child. As funny as the title might sound, the book addressed many questions one could conjure about a trip to the vast unknown, and ever since I have just been curious as to what’s going on around. A lot of these concepts are very non-intuitive when you see them for the first time, but they are food for thought. Of course, math is the language of the sciences, and I really liked math courses. Unwrapping a convoluted equation to a simple message is a wonderful present, at times it’s even astounding. One could be working on solving a differential equation for months, the joy in finally working it out is indescribable.

What would you like to tell your younger self?

Don’t sweat the small stuff, it really won’t matter in a few months from now. Don’t judge yourself by society’s standards of ideals, they don’t know your skills or you to make a comment or judgment. Stand up for yourself, instead of feeling overwhelmed. Have empathy, be more compassionate, stand for justice even though it may be difficult at times. Most importantly, be curious, through curiosity we find answers — often in unexpected places, learn and become more aware, expand your own world and discover the worlds of others.

Why did you choose STEM?

Even as a young kid, I used to find books very fascinating. Now, of course, they weren’t books of rigor, but more inclined to introduce the world to children. I remember fondly, ‘The Gobsmacking Galaxy’ which said “The great thing about space is that nobody knows, so you can make something up and nobody could definitely say that you’re wrong. You could even say the smallest asteroid is made of jam and speaks French and nobody could prove you were lying.” These words brought my mind to face reality- there was certainly a multitude of things yet to be discovered and millions of questions to be answered! Why had I never thought of it that way? Why did I unquestioningly accept my environment and its mystique? Suddenly I was inspired. It was then, I realized that curiosity doesn’t kill as opposed to the common adage- rather it enhances and empowers and it drove me to perceive beyond what is tangible! STEM courses, throughout school, helped me comprehend the vastness of wonderful mechanisms by which things work! For me, science and math courses have mostly been intriguing as well as challenging, unpredictable yet so obvious! For instance, most elementary electromagnetic theory and optics classes begin with the imperative need of light to ‘see’. Over the years, the notions of observation have come to be associated with ‘seeing’ ranging from stars on the celestial sphere to visualizing atomic electron densities. Yet the universe is more than 80% dark matter, there are particles and forces which elude the seeker with existence yet to be manifested implying the majority of our universe eludes our vision, which is a fascinating idea.

How important is it for you to stand out?

It’s better to stand out at times, especially when you are “required” to blend in- fit in with socio-cultural norms. Stories of how girls have been discriminated against and deprived of opportunities to study or to even be born in some families are known to everyone. Patriarchal communities restrict the mobility and growth of girls and I think it’s very important to break the stereotype and show that girls can do much better when they are given proper opportunities. When a society suppresses your dreams and upholds your existence to their definitions, standing out, and asserting your identity becomes important. For instance, I grew up watching two women, my mother, and my grandmother establishes themselves, work, and manage a household, which is quite contrary to the typical gender roles. This has enabled me to see the world from a different perspective and I, therefore, believe that it is important to challenge the existing social discriminatory norms.

What difficulties did you face in the industry, as a woman?

I have been very fortunate in the sense that my supervisors, most of whom were males, were really supportive and encouraging. I was never made to feel that my contributions or opinions were invalid, instead, I have had the fortune to work with people who actively listened to me, trusted me with the work, helped me out in times of need, and inspired me to persevere. However, many others might not have necessarily had the same experiences. There are certain situations or circumstances where one might feel overwhelmed. For instance, there is a stark gender imbalance in STEM which is hard to overlook. Quite often, you might find yourself to be the only woman in a class or office, hence left feeling vulnerable or incapable of voicing your opinions. Also, many-a-times, one can feel being subjected to cultural prejudices and stereotypes. These can be from anywhere like ‘Oh, a 25-year-old female, we shouldn’t hire her because she is going to get married and have kids soon’ or ‘a woman doesn’t have the minds for this job, they should be more concerned about their household instead of having to worry about these work problems’. What I find inherently repulsive is that many men are taunted as ‘oh look you lost to a woman’ which perpetuates the idea that women are no-good and don’t give women their due diligence.

What advice would you give to the next generation of female scientists?

As you approach a field you might be interested in, try to get a breadth of experience. For instance, if you are interested in physics, try your hand, not only at theoretical, experimental, and computational problems but also at the different specializations- do you like atomic/nuclear physics or do biophysics, astrophysics excite you more? You might not like one area, but maybe you’ll find another that you like more. I was scared of studying physics at a certain point, but you can’t give up just because you got bad grades on one test or you failed a semester. Perseverance and patience are very important. In the sciences, it is very rare, that your simulations give you the correct outcome at your first go or if an experiment works right away, you might need to be at it for weeks or months on end, don’t worry about it. Don’t let anyone/anything discourage you or tell you that you are not capable. Sometimes, it might be your own circumstances at odds with you, like I had to fight the stereotypes of being from a ‘broken family’ and struggle for my own identity. Don’t worry about upholding society’s expectations or even about the consequence of your actions. Find your own identity in a world that goes out of its way in trying to dictate yours.

I began my undergraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, majoring in Engineering Physics. In my second year (2017) there, I was selected for the 12 weeks LIGO-SURF program over the summer, which was extremely exciting for me as an aspiring physicist. Gravitational waves had just been recently discovered and I got to work on a scaled prototype of the actual LIGO interferometers at Caltech and also visit the LIGO site at Livingston. The next summer, my internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, sponsored partially by my home university, took me back to Pasadena, California. Being able to realize my fantasy of working at NASA as an undergrad student is more than I could have ever imagined. I worked with the Earth Science Division and it proved to be an exciting opportunity to gain a holistic insight to the sciences as they related to each other. My project combined remote sensing to physics and numerical math. In 2019, I spent my summer as a Future Research Talent Scholar at the Australian National University where I worked on a very interesting theoretical physics problem. The internship was a great experience, I worked on solving the Schrodinger equation for nucleons, I enjoyed scribbling my thoughts in the search of a solution, immensely! Finally, after this internship, I came to Switzerland for working on my Master thesis. My thesis project at EPFL was supported by the NCCR MARVEL Inspire Potentials Fellowship which is a fellowship for women in material science. Here I have been working on atomistic machine learning. I began by studying one of the classic problems of condensed matter physics which is hydrogen at high pressures. In the process, I got involved in the theory of structural representations in machine learning.

#PlugTheGap#Vanshikalikestowrite#VanshikaDhyani#WomenInSTEM#WomenInPhysics