Meet the WISE 鈥� Humeyra Caglayan
We want to put our members in the spotlight! For the Meet the WISE series, we interview WISE members in different stages of their careers across the university. We hope that their stories, experiences and career paths can be an inspiration to other women at 黑料福利网.
Hello! Could you start by introducing yourself? I am Humeyra. I got my PhD in physics in Turkey. Then I was in the United States as a postdoctoral researcher for a couple of years. And then I moved back to Turkey shortly as a research professor. But shortly after I moved back to Europe, we decided to move to Finland. I was an assistant and then an associate professor in Finland for seven years. And then I ended up in the Netherlands as a visiting professor. Now I am officially appointed as an associate professor at the electrical engineering department. That鈥檚 my story in a nutshell!
And what type of research do you do?
My research is called Metaphotonics. I'm trying to create optical devices, so optical and photonic components both for free space and integrated platform, that make imaging and sensing better. One of the projects that I'm proud of is working with pathology experts on making the best imaging of pathology samples. So, whenever the surgeons cut out some tissue during a surgery on a cancer patient, they always need to ask for a pathologist to make an image to see if they removed enough. That takes a couple of days. We are making it so that the imaging is done in 15 minutes, so that it can be done in the surgery room. I take inspiration from nature because insects can see a range of depth that humans cannot. Humans can either focus close by or very far, but insects actually can see very broad depth, and that鈥檚 what we're trying to mimic.
Why did you decide to pursue science and do a PhD?
First of all, I wanted to be in physics since I was in high school. When I was getting my education in physics, I decided that I wanted to work more on the applied part of physics. I somehow fell in love with the research. I very much like the collaborative environment that's happening in research; everyone is giving different inputs and ideas. I think what I exactly fell in love with is seeing something in the lab for the first time before anyone else, and that's what made me want to continue with a PhD.
You mentioned that you like the collaborative environment of academia, but we also often hear that the academic world is very competitive. Why do you experience it differently?
That experience is from my master's and PhD time, but I guess I still feel the same. I understand that there is a kind of competition in terms of what you want to do. My take on it is that there were excellent researchers around me, and I was always asking, 鈥淲hat is this?鈥�, 鈥淗ow do you do that?鈥� and everyone was willing to give suggestions. So then I considered them all as collaborators, as a team. There's no reason to compete with each other. I mean, if you're going to do the research, if you're going to make the science, and if you're really doing it for a bigger purpose, competition makes our lives more difficult than collaboration. So, I prefer to collaborate rather than compete.
We like that mindset! How have you experienced the demanding side of academia?
Indeed, that's the downside of academia. I guess that now we are more aware than in the past. There is this demand that you need to be at the frontier, to do something that nobody has done. That is a blessing, but also a curse, because it creates extra stress and, especially if you're young, you might not know how to handle it.
I already had my son during my PhD. It was difficult in the beginning, trying to figure out how to balance my expectations of work and expectations of life 鈥� some may call it work-life balance. I had to make my expectations clear towards myself. When I was in my lab, I was thinking that I'm a really bad mother, and when I was with my family, I was always thinking: 鈥淭his could be an interesting experiment鈥�. I felt like I had to stop this because this is not good for anyone. That's why I changed, or at least tried to change, my mindset. It doesn't happen overnight. In the lab, I dedicate myself 100% to my work, and when I'm with my family, I'm just with my family a 100%. That helped me to stress less, but it's still a work in progress, to be honest.
I figured out that my expectations are the most important. For example, there's research that I might really enjoy and that maybe wouldn't go to the highest level of journals. But if I'm satisfied with this research, if I make my students happy, that is more important to me than any kind of confirmation from the outside world. As a young person, you're always looking at the outside world to confirm your success - but are you satisfied with your success? I think that inner satisfaction is quite important. I learned this from the Finnish people. They're known as the happiest country, but rather than happiness, I would define it as satisfaction and being content with themselves.
You came to 黑料福利网 from Finland as a visiting professor. Why did you decide to stay?
It was initially a professional reason that I wanted to come here, especially the related research infrastructure. But I also really enjoyed the industry collaboration. I could do impactful societal research through collaboration with industry. Also, being able to teach in the bachelor's level here was quite interesting, because in Finland, the bachelor's is in Finnish, and I wasn't able to teach as much as I would like. Here, I can teach second-year electrical engineering students. That's a really nice addition.
How did you come in contact with the WISE network, and how has it supported you?
One of my colleagues forwarded me an event, saying it might be interesting for me to join. So that's how I joined it! I like the kind of events where I meet different people. Here, I could discuss different aspects of being a woman in science in general. I like that aspect of WISE, bringing together both the younger and more senior generations.
Many women that I talked to are having similar problems, and they are ready to help whenever you approach them. Try to ask for it! We often hesitate to ask, but so far, whenever I ask for advice or mentorship, men or women, they always help.
Do you have a role model who inspired you?
I have always been inspired by nature. When I was growing up, I was fascinated by all the things in nature: the sun, the bugs and the insects in our backyard. Still, I'm fascinated by bugs and insects, which I try to mimic in my research.
There are not many women in science, so that makes it a bit difficult to take them as role models. But I learned throughout my career that you can look for a role model in a much broader perspective. A collaborator could be your role model or mentor.
I learned who to take as a mentor and who to ask for advice. If you're starting as a PhD or a Postdoc, don't expect your supervisor to also be your mentor, because a mentor-mentee relationship can be different from supervising. I tried to create many mentors and role models for myself.
A role model can come in many shapes and sizes indeed! Thank you for sharing your story!