We Should Do What We Do Best in our Usual Ways

We, scientists, are not immaculate against frustration and impatience that we frequently experience; but there is also a balmy, irreplaceable feeling that rises from stomach to face, once we hold our inventions in our hands or publish an important finding. Being a scientist entrails believing, most of the time in an irrational and romantic way, you can identify the most important global problems and you are a member of a clan that is going to solve these specific problems. That clan, the chamber of academia, especially in engineering and technology-related fields, remains in the domain of its male members who set the rules for the society of learned men. Asserting your place in this demanding community, with constant evaluation/self-evaluation, is hard. It is even harder if you are a woman ?sometimes because of obvious physiological differences but more often because of less visible society-defined roles. Thankfully, the awareness towards the problem of gender-imbalance has increased in the recent past, and the academic world has made strides for the improvement of the situation of women by paying more attention to childcare, equal pay, and career development. But much remains to be done. Here, though, independent of the gender, I would like to ponder upon the expectations of academia from its prospective members and what academia might do to facilitate a better selection process....