Interviews... Auf Deutsch im Luxemburg!

While I lived in Luxembourg, I had the great pleasure of being able to participate in the

'l' Exposcience Occitanie 2019', which was held in Toulouse. Here, my partner and I were able to present our project about how Robots can help disabled people. After this, we were chosen to be interviewed on the Lëzebuerger Journal, which can be found here.

Here is my favorite part of the interview:

Rao's and Liedtke's strong interest in programming languages ​​and robotics also has a slight aftertaste: the girls are rather an exception in their field. "It's usually more of a boys' domain," says Rao. Girls would simply not be enthusiastic enough about these research areas. "We were lucky," emphasizes Rao. The two students were motivated by their teachers. "We got the necessary impetus and were promoted accordingly," she says. That is why they want to set an example with their research: "Robots are also something for girls."

Auf Deutsch:

Raos und Liedtkes starkes Interesse an Programmiersprachen und der Robotik hat aber auch einen leichten Beigeschmack: Die Mädchen sind in ihrem Fachgebiet eher eine Ausnahme. „Für gewöhnlich ist das eher eine Jungs-Domäne“, meint Rao. Mädchen würden schlicht nicht häufig genug für diese Forschungsgebiete begeistert. „Wir hatten Glück“, betont Rao deshalb. Motiviert wurden die beiden Schülerinnen durch ihre Lehrer. „Wir haben den nötigen Anstoß bekommen und wurden entsprechend gefördert“, meint sie. Deshalb wollen sie mit ihrer Forschung auch ein Beispiel setzen: „Roboter sind auch was für Mädels.“

This was very important to me, as we were one of the many girls who had based our project on robots. It was really inspiring to see something different from what is the harsh reality of STEM being a more male-dominated subject of interest. It was really important to us that we emphasized the importance of women in STEM. This ties in to exactly what I do in g4g, which if you read an earlier blog post of mine, is a non-profit international organization dedicated to inspiring girls of all ages and backgrounds to pursue STEM subjects by introducing them to the world of science in fun ways.

Here is a picture of my partner, Alina Liedtke and I, Ishaana Rao holding our project, in front of our project board.