Ayesha Afzal— Profiles in Spotlight Series

Profiles in Spotlight — This is a series spotlighting women who are part of the LMF network or have participated in the LMF mentoring program.

Originally from Pakistan, Ayesha Afzal moved to Germany to pursue her higher education. She currently works as a Scientific Researcher at Erlangen National High-Performance Computing Center. Impressive, right?

Her PhD research lies at the crossroads of analytic performance models, performance tools and parallel simulation frameworks in high-performance computing. Ayesha has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and serves as an active speaker, reviewer, and/or committee member at various international events. She is a passionate advocate for inclusive technology and training new scientists in mentorship. Through her active participation in numerous initiatives geared toward women, she has made a marked impact in encouraging women to pursue STEM disciplines.

Hailing from Pakistan and having excelled in the field of STEM, her advice and tips are especially beneficial for girls all over the world wanting to join the field, currently struggling against the stereotypes that surround it.

As a scientist, critical thinking is crucial for excellence. As a critical thinker, it’s her job to generate novel scientific ideas that assist in finding potential solutions to unsolved and interesting problems. She enjoys solving challenging puzzles and learning about the world through research. She feels fulfilled by hours of developing models, addressing open questions and coding. Every day she uses tools and learns to extract new science for each of the cases she’s working on. In essence, being a part of a productive scientific community is stimulating.

As a young girl, Ayesha absolutely adored and fell in love with Mathematics and Physics. She chose electrical engineering as she had a passion for discovering things at a fundamental level, such as how machines worked and what made them tick. She has been lucky enough to transform her passion into pure science and programming and has a clear picture of the kind of problems she wants to solve. Surely life is unpredictable; if someone had told her younger self that she would be a programmer someday, she would have laughed! So if you’re confused about what to pursue as a field of choice, life may surprise you too. She has put in the hard work to be where she is; overjoyed to finally be at this stage of her academic career with multidimensionality in her background. It has let her explore different dimensions of herself and develop her skills as a quick independent learner and a problem solver.

Her top tip for overcoming failure is to believe that the secret of living a successful life lies in tackling obstacles as opportunities and getting rid of the fear of failure. We couldn’t agree more; while we put in the hard work to succeed, more often than not, we’re faced with challenges. Having a positive mindset towards these bumps in the road can make a difference in your life by not only helping you overcome the situation but learn a thing or two along the way.

She has been fortunate enough not to suffer from imposter syndrome, and she credits this to her perspective and self-awareness, experience, positive reinforcement and supportive environment. She’s very right in pointing out that the role of environment and surroundings in the building feels like those that are symptomatic of imposter syndrome. If you’re suffering from imposter syndrome, it might be a good idea to look at your surroundings and identify your triggers. You can then move on to draft a plan to remedy the situation.

Ayesha believes both nature and nurture play a role in shaping confidence. Everyone can acquire and strengthen their confidence via life experiences, personal growth, and skill-building, even though some people may naturally be more confident than others. These wise words are a pick me up for all those who may not be naturally confident but are willing to put in the work and develop skills to help them feel more confident.

So for a super scientist like Ayesha, what does a dream day look like? Her perfect day includes making significant progress on her research and sharing it with the scientific community, and learning about new trends and scientific advancements. This makes her feel inspired and fulfilled. But it’s not all work; practicing meditation and playing with her kid completes her dream day. A great balance between work and life.

Her key piece of advice to her younger self, “I wish younger me would have known that you must never doubt yourself. You don’t need to achieve conventional thinking to fit into society. Without any fear, follow the path of innovative problem solving and evaluate the thought process that you enjoy.” This is for all those young women who are figuring out their educational or career paths. There is no one mould that fits all, you define your own path, and then you must follow it through determination and hard work.

Ayesha was part of the LMF mentoring program as a mentor, and she recommends this program to other people who are looking to build their careers and confidence. Ayesha encourages people to spend time thinking about where their strengths lie and pursue the things that make them happy and that they feel enthusiastic about. She says whatever path you ultimately follow, you will have the power not just to succeed but to make life interesting. Any training can bring innovation to your work. Never be afraid to apply techniques in unconventional ways.

She believes International Women’s Day is a call to action to increase gender equality and empower women and girls around the world. “We make the world fairer for everyone by advocating for gender equality.” She wishes women around the world a Happy International Women’s Day! She says this day is an opportunity for us to honour the worldwide contributions and accomplishments of women. Her message is to keep collaborating to build a society where every woman and girl may prosper and realize their full potential. Amen to that!

This blog contribution was made by Aleena Ahmad.

Aleena is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and currently working as a Product Manager. She loves to
read books; is obsessed with political non-fiction, finds baking therapeutic, and likes to start her day
with yoga. Aleena believes writing is the best way to articulate one’s thoughts and start a conversation.
She feels passionately about women empowerment initiatives and is always looking for opportunities to
contribute.

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