I am Smita Joel and I work as an assistant scientist in Dr. Daunert's lab at the University
of Miami.
I developed and designed a device that can be now used.
It's not in its final stage, it's still in the lab.
It can be used to monitor continuously glucose coming from diabetic patients using a fiber
optic system.
I'm not only making drugs, I am making devices that the doctors can use.
I think this was the best combination of chemistry and biology and medicine and pharmaceutical
company and everything.
Whatever research goes on, I can use that.
I was born in Lucknow in India.
My family is all in India.
When I was in high school I think I wanted to become an astronaut.
I wanted to go to space.
That time I did not know that everything is related to science.
As I was growing up my mom said, "Okay if you want to become a astronaut you have to
study science."
This is how I think my science career started.
I was very little.
Did not even know that I'm going to make my livelihood out of this profession.
This is how I've made it.
In the medicine research field what we need to do is to promote women more because there
are very few women in this field.
There is a misconception that for women it is a difficult field because it is difficult
to balance between the work and the family.
For me I have found my husband in this lab.
I had a baby when I was a graduate student, he is four years old now.
I think I managed my life well here and I'm happy.
I am fascinated with every aspect of the research I do because I would be able to make a product
that might one day come out in the market and everyone would be using.
It is amazing.
This is what fascinates me.
That's whatever work I'm putting in might be acknowledged by the world one day.
Use the spectrometer here, and I look at the graph here, so we can image and we can also
quantify it.
For all the students who want to explore this as a profession as something to do in the
future, I would encourage them to do this.
What profession can be better than this profession?
To be a researcher or a scientist.
This is a profession that pays you to explore, to experience and to put into practice craziest
wildest ideas in your imaginations.
To put into practice and that one day can become amazing discoveries and inventions.
I think this is a perfect profession for me and I'm enjoying it.