Mariona Coll, and her research project on the development of new materials for the conversion of solar energy, carried out at ICMAB, has been awarded with one of the five Research Awards L'Oréal-Unesco "For Women in Science". Mariona studied Chemistry at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and did her PhD in Chemistry at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and ICMAB, on the development of superconducting materials. She then was a postdoc in USA (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Maryland) and in Europe (IFWDresden, University of Hamburg, ICMS-CSIC), before coming back to ICMAB.
At ICMAB, Mariona is currently researching new materials capable of converting the solar light into electrical energy in a more efficient way than the current materials used nowadays in solar cells (mainly crystalline silicon), by combining nanotechnology with low cost chemistry-based methods.
The awards ceremony was built upon the question "How can we make that young girls fall in love with STEM?", since the "For Women in Science" program has been for 17 years working on enhancing the visibility of women in science, and this year was specially focused in STEM: its goal is to reach the 50 % women in the STEM university studies (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Research Awards For Women in Science 2017:
The full list of this year's Research Awards is the following:
- Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Mariona Coll.
- Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Eva Mª Fernández.
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Maia Garcia Vergniory.
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Mª del Prado Martín Moruno.
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC, CSIC-Universidad de Valencia), Mariam Tórtola.
Figure: The five awardees L'Oréal-UNESCO "For Women In Science" 2017
In the press:
- El País (Materia): Hay niñas que sí sueñan con ser como Marie Curie
- La Vanguardia: L'Oréal lanza una campaña para impulsar la presencia de mujeres en las carreras de ciencia y tecnología
- Cosmopolitan: Estas científicas pueden cambiar tu vida
- El Mundo: "Las mujeres podemos, queremos y sabemos hacer ciencia"
- Quo: L’ORÉAL ENTREGA LOS PREMIOS FOR WOMEN SCIENCE A CINCO DESTACADAS CIENTÍFICAS ESPAÑOLAS
- El Confidencial: Astrofísica y materiales, especialidades de las premiadas por L'Oréal-UNESCO
- Tribuna Feminista: Cinco investigadoras españolas reciben el premio L’Oréal-Unesco
- Expansión: Así es la campaña para conseguir que las niñas accedan a carreras de Ciencias
Update on 04/12/2017: