One of the things that President Obama said to me when I received the National Medal of
Technology was, "So, you've saved millions of lives, have you?" I hadn't thought about
it in that context but actually, I told him, yes. I actually think I have.
My name is Esther Takeuchi. I invented batteries for implantable medical devices.
So, this laboratory is called the advanced power sources laboratory. This room that we're
starting with here is primarily used for material synthesis and materials preparation. This
room in our laboratory is where we have our inert atmosphere glove boxes. We actually
keep the glove boxes under an argon atmosphere.
I went to work for a company called Greatbatch. My first project when I joined the company
was to work on the battery for the implantable cardiac defibrillator. The implantable cardiac
defibrillator is used to treat a certain type of heart attach. There is approximately 300,000
implants per year and it truly is a life saving device.
My upbringing definitely impacted my interest in science. My father was an electrical engineer
and I remember from a very young age I would follow him around. He never implied that those
were things that girls didn't do.
I had the opportunity to come to the University of Buffalo and become a professor, to train
students and impact students and prepare them for what I think is going to be the future
economy not only of the United States but of the world in terms of new sources of energy,
solving some of the energy problems. And in terms of the United States, unfortunately
we're sadly lagging much of the world so I think it's really critical that we attract
students and bring students into the field.
In scientific fields, professors that are female are still a large, large minority.
None. [laughs] Yeah.
It is.
Well, certainly there are not very many anyway. And, uh. I don't know. I don't know.
I would say that traditionally the culture of science is more exclusive rather than inclusive.
Often what's seen as creativity is really a matter of perspective. And if we had a science
population where people from multiple perspectives were included, I actually believe we could
solve problems better because we wouldn't all be looking at them the same way. We would
be looking at them in different ways. Inclusion isn't just mandated because it's politically
correct. I think it's imperative for us to actually make progress to have
a more inclusive approach.