Student hobnobs with Nobel laureates
Avila De Sousa is coming face to face with some of her biggest inspirations and role models in science in the student opportunity of a lifetime. She is one of five Canadian students chosen to attend the 2009 Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Chemistry in Germany from June 28 to July 3.
More than 25,000 young scientists from 80 countries have attended the Nobel Laureate Meetings since 1951. They each belong to the budding scientific elite of their respective countries and have passed a rigorous multi-stage international selection process. De Sousa, a first-year master's student in environmental chemistry, has a scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada and was nominated by this organization.
As a young researcher she will get the chance to ask some of the biggest minds in science questions relating to basic research internationally.
"It's very intimidating to finally meet all these people you read about in textbooks who are the heroes of chemistry. It feels like the Acacadmy Awards for chemistry and I feel very fortunate."
More than 20,000 young researchers apply to attend the meeting. They submit their applications to the appropriate national co-operation partner of the Council and Foundation of the Nobel Laureate Meetings. The academic partner does a preliminary evaluation and then puts forward a short list of potential participants to the review panel. The council workgroup then makes its final selection, examining 1,500 profiles before finally choosing the 500 top applicants to receive an invitation.
According to the meeting's website the goal is to create "a platform to facilitate encounters between Nobel Laureates and the world's best young scientists of tomorrow...."
At the meetings in Lindau, De Sousa will be able to listen to lectures by the Nobel laureates and participate in panel discussions. One of the main topics for 2009 explores what chemistry can contribute in the fight against climate change.
"I am most looking forward to meeting and talking with Dr. F. Sherwood Rowland, Dr. Paul J. Crutzen and Dr. Mario J. Molina, whose research led to our current understanding of stratospheric ozone layer depletion," De Sousa said. "I expect to be like a sponge taking everything in."