|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Connect. Empower. Transform.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Hub, Issue No. 14, 21 March 2024
|
|
|
|
From Breaking Radios to Building Networks
|
|
|
|
Dear Partners and Friends,
|
In this issue, we invite you to read our interview with Dr. Edna Patricia Matta-Camacho, eminent scientist and prolific networker, and learn more about her successful career in both areas. Her story is not only fascinating—it also holds useful and inspiring insights for young scientists and their mentors.
|
We would also like to update you on a few program developments:
|
- a partnership with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
- our recent meeting with the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE),
- a new review article about talent development, and
- new program features.
|
And, as always, we have one call to action for you that is near and dear our hearts: We have amazing young STEMM talent in our program. For some of our youths, we are still looking for mentors with the right specialty areas. Please help us find additional mentor volunteers for these amazing mentees by connecting us with potential mentors or mentor-nominating organizations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger
|
Chair Professor of School Research, Development, and Evaluation,
University of Regensburg
|
|
|
|
Prof. Drs. Albert Ziegler
|
|
Chair Professor of Educational Psychology and Research on Excellence,
|
|
Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Networking to Nurture and Support Outstanding Youths in Latin America
|
Meet Dr. Edna Patricia Matta-Camacho—Chemist, Networker, and Global Talent Mentoring Partner, Setting an Inspiring Example for Young People in Colombia and Everywhere
|
|
|
“Curiosity is the driving force of science.”
|
|
—Dr. Edna Patricia Matta-Camacho
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Edna Patricia Matta-Camacho has come a long way. The little girl who passionately dismantled the family radio in the old days in Colombia is now a leader at Health Canada, overseeing Canadian drug authorization procedures. In addition to her everyday work, Dr. Matta-Camacho is the founder and executive director of Global Talent Mentoring partner Fundación STEM sin Fronteras; and since 2022, she has been a member of the jury for the UNESCO Al Fozan International Prize for the Promotion of Young Scientists in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Throughout her remarkable scientific career, Dr. Matta-Camacho has relied on the good advice and valuable experiences that were shared with her by peers, mentors, and supervisors.
|
|
|
|
|
Now she is using her resources to organize networks that can offer assistance to others on their own journeys. Recently, I had the privilege of having an extended conversation with Dr. Matta-Camacho. She revealed what motivated her to follow this amazingly colorful and exciting career path.
|
|
|
You are a scientist. What inspired you to choose this career path in the first place?
|
For one, I was always very, very curious from an early age. My mom was very frustrated with me, because I was always dismantling our electronic devices. I wanted to see how they worked! For example, I completely took apart the radio we used to listen to the news. In some cases, I actually destroyed them by accident! I was also very good at mathematics, and I received a lot of praise for that. So, naturally, that motivated me to keep learning until this became a passion. Later, in high school, when chemistry was introduced, I was enthralled by the idea of how chemistry explains the behavior of the molecules and their interactions and, by extension, life itself. So, in hindsight, I think it was the frisson of discovering why things work that really motivated me to study chemistry in college. My curiosity and passion for chemistry have remained ever since. As I always say, if I had to choose again, I would choose chemistry again! If I had to put everything that got me into science into one word, it would be curiosity, which I think is a, perhaps even the driving force of science.
|
|
Fundación STEM sin Fronteras (FSsF) and Global Talent Mentoring are now partnering. How can a collaboration between FSsF and Global Talent Mentoring help young STEMM talents in Colombia?
|
|
FSsF is focusing on increasing opportunities and enabling more young people in Colombia to access them. The various activities we launched are designed to help youths to increase their interest, acquire skills, and develop their confidence by showing them examples, role models, and paths to follow. Global Talent Mentoring and its worldwide network offers the youths we support an additional chance to immerse themselves in the world of international scientific collaboration. Seeing the youths in our programs, I can confirm that many of them have great potential. I believe that by combining our strengths and resources with Global Talent Mentoring and allowing the youths to connect with international STEMM experts, we can make a lasting effect on the lives of these kids in Latin America.
|
|
|
Please click here to read our complete interview with Dr. Matta-Camacho.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IEEE and Global Talent Mentoring Working Together
|
|
|
Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman with Global Talent Mentoring program directors Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger and Prof. Drs. Albert Ziegler at the 2023 International Expert Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
|
|
|
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Global Talent Mentoring and IEEE have recently started their partnership to further talent mentoring in STEMM and conduct shared educational activities for the benefit of humanity. Special thanks to Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman, 2024 IEEE Past President, for making this collaboration possible. Learn more about IEEE at www.ieee.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reunion of Collaborative Forces
|
|
|
|
|
|
From left to right: Mr. Chung Po Wong, Dr. Jimmy Wong, Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger, and Prof. Dr. Tai-Kai Ng
|
|
The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE), one of our longstanding and valuable partner institutions, warmly welcomed Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger, codirector of Global Talent Mentoring, to consultations in Hong Kong in December. Prof. Dr. Stoeger met with HKAGE Executive Director Dr. Jimmy
Wong, former HKAGE Executive Director Prof. Dr. Tai Kai Ng, and Associate Director (Programme) Mr. Chung Po. The meeting participants shared their experiences of partnership during the past few years and discussed benefits and achievements that the collaboration has brought to both parties.
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to discussing institutional perspectives, Dr. Wong and Prof. Dr. Ng also provided valuable insights based on their personal experiences as mentors in Global Talent Mentoring. The consultation was also used to identify additional strategies for nominating mentees and mentors. We greatly appreciate HKAGE’s unwavering support since Global Talent Mentoring began operations in 2020 and look forward to welcoming new mentees and mentors from Hong Kong in April.
|
|
|
|
|
|
From Interest to Innovation
|
|
In their recently published review article titled “Attracting and Developing STEMM Talent Toward Excellence and Innovation,” Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger, Dr. Linlin Luo, and Prof. Drs. Albert Ziegler provide an overview of talent development in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical sciences (STEMM) based on Benjamin Bloom’s three-phase model of talent development.
|
|
|
|
|
The mentoring researchers provide a more nuanced understanding of Bloom’s model, introduce a resource-oriented model of STEMM talent development as a framework, and explore how essential talent-development resources such as educational agents and other support measures contribute to the process of transforming an early interest into eminence and innovation later on. Check out their article here to learn more about how STEMM interests can be systematically nurtured towards excellence and innovation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transition from Secondary to University Education
|
|
|
|
The program platform offers various tools to our participants to facilitate effective mentoring, including training units on various topics related to the mentoring experience and talent development. Among recent updates, we rolled out a new training unit about the transition from secondary education to university studies. Many mentees in Global Talent Mentoring are going through, or will soon go through, the transition from secondary to university education.
|
|
|
|
|
This transition is exciting and typically opens up new perspectives and resources for STEMM talent development. It may also be somewhat daunting for teens who are deeply passionate about their STEMM talent development and, while in high school, have already established a routine for their extracurricular talent development. The shift to university brings a number of changes, uncertainties, and questions about how to balance the workloads of university classes with an ongoing pursuit of extracurricular talent development. To navigate this transition period and make the most of it, Global Talent Mentoring provided mentees with special guidance on the platform. This guidance was designed specifically for the younger mentees in the program and offers tips and instructions on how to make the most of the transition from secondary to university education.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meet some of our Mentees and Mentors
|
|
|
Global Talent Mentoring’s community of international mentors and mentees is growing larger and more diverse with every year. In celebration of our mentoring community bringing together poeple from more than 50 countries, we have recently established a new page on our website where we invite you to meet some of our remarkable mentors and amazing mentees. This page offers a captivating glimpse into the inspiring achievements and exemplary activities of the leading expert-mentors and exceptional advanced mentees in our global network. We are truly amazed at the depth and breadth of our participants’ accomplishments and activities, and think you, too, will find them inspiring.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Volunteer as a Mentor!
|
|
|
|
Global Talent Mentoring accepts new mentor volunteers year-round from all over the world. If you are a STEMM expert (PhD or equivalent R&D experience) and would like to mentor an exceptionally talented, highly motivated youth in STEMM, please fill out our Mentor Volunteer Form to register.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please share The Hub with your friends and colleagues so that they can also become a part of our growing network. Comments and questions about The Hub and Global Talent Mentoring can be addressed to the Editorial Team.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
