Name: Gladys Mosomtai
Role/Occupation: Geospatial Information Systems and Remote Sensing
Country: Kenya
Initially, Mosomtai wanted to be a doctor and in high school, she started calling herself Dr. Gladys. However after the late Prof. Wangari Maathai won the Nobel prize for her work in protecting the environment, Mosomtai developed an interest in environmental studies and joined Kenyatta University to pursue a degree in Environmental Planning and Management. She developed a particular interest in the use of space technology to solve global environmental challenges.
After graduation, she joined International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and worked on several projects which ranged from understanding the movement patterns of pastoralist in spreading fever disease to mapping vector habitats that cause disease outbreaks to looking at the impact of climate change on species distribution in different scenarios.
At the moment, Mosomtai works on the impact of landscape structure and composition in modifying plot level microclimate that affects pest population and disease incidences in smallholder farms through the extraction of information from satellite images. She also employs the use of various software, programming and data mining techniques to achieve her objectives.
Mosomtai's job and the expertise that come with it, really excite her, "I love my job. I am so passionate about space science and its vast applications to answer research questions in both terrestrial and aquatic biomes and the fact that it requires me to be a savvy in various fields such as data mining techniques, programming etc."
One of the biggest highlights in her career has been her recent L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa award. "This has open many doors of opportunities that has allowed me to inspire more women into science. I have also been able to co-author more than ten publications in peer-reviewed journals and have collaborated with many scientist globally," she elaborates.
Mosomtai feels that women are faced with both external and internal barriers in the STEM space. An external barrier would be the lack of female mentors in STEM, "most of my mentors have been male and that’s a reflection of the reality of women in STEM. Few of them have broken the glass ceiling in their careers, they are inaccessible to most young women for mentorship," she elaborates. Another barrier would be societal perception of women as the primary career givers in their families and the STEM field as not being a family friendly career option; "for women who have opted for these careers, they have to battle with guilt each time they choose their careers [over their families]," she explains.
Internal barriers facing women would be the self doubt and second guessing themselves when it comes to leadership positions and on the opposite end of the spectrum confident women in leadership positions are viewed as being aggressive, strong willed, arrogant and not adhering to the definition of how women should behave. Mosomtai feels that more "women have to be intentional in breaking these internal barriers. More women in leadership positions will translate to change in work environment that is pro women."
Mosomtai feels that the lack of young female interest in STEM is an attitude problem and has very little to do with males being better than females with regards to sciences. She believes that young women should approach the STEM field with complete confidence and the belief that they have what it takes to succeed in those fields; "we [women] need to bring our mark, our perspective and innovations that have women in mind and only women can do that, therefore, there are immense opportunities in STEM awaiting for us out there," she emphasizes.
Mosomtai feels that women in Africa have to overcome many hurdles to be able to take up the opportunities available to them. Efforts to pave the way for women in STEM include increased STEM related opportunities and scholarships that are geared towards promoting women in STEM and the intentional setting up of female quotas for women by funding bodies and employers. Mosomtai feels that, "Africa is making progress, but it feels like a snail pace compared to the western world but still, the future looks promising for a young African woman in STEM."
Read more about passionate Gladys Mosomtai in an inspiring interview below, where you can extract gems of knowledge just as she extracts information from satellite images.
Gladys Mosomtai was interviewed by Dhruti Dheda, the founder of the African Steminist on behalf of Geeky Girl Reality. The full interview can be found here.
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