To Motivate Young Women, France Names Assam's Priyanka Das Ambassador For 'Girls And Science'

Not long ago, we got acquainted with Priyanka Das, an Assamese girl who is pursuing her Ph.D. and working in the Navigation Systems division of Safran in France. She has also worked for the satellite navigation wing of Rafale Fighter Jets of France.

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Now, Das has a new feather in her cap. She has been appointed as the ambassador of ¡°For Girls and Science¡±, an initiative launched in 2014 that will now see her encouraging girls to take up scientific careers and pursue it to higher education levels.

The initiative was introduced with an aim to promote more scientific vocations among young people, especially girls, and inspire them to become scientists of tomorrow. It is supported by the Ministry of National Education of France and the L'Oreal Foundation.

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Also read: Indian Girl In France Developed Navigation System For Rafale Jets That IAF Will Induct In 2019

"As part of the programme, we meet middle school and high school students, and through talks and presentations, we try to clear the misconceptions about scientists and women in science," said the 26-year-old.

The initiative is linked to the L'Oreal Women in Science programme that awards five women scientists every year in collaboration with UNESCO.

Talking about her work at Safran, Das told PTI, "I'm working on a very specific matter on how to make positioning more robust and precise. It can have applications as one of the many sensor information used by autonomous systems like a self-driving car for self-localisation."

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She added, "I had the chance of visiting Safran when I was a first-year student at Polytechnique. It was a visit organised by ISAE Supaero, an aerospace engineering school in the south of France. I was very impressed with the work they did at Safran and dreamt of working there one day."

Two years later, she was selected at Supaero for masters in Aerospace Engineering. "While a student there, I was chosen for a Ph.D. financed by Safran, with collaboration of the SCAN lab at ISAE Supaero," she said.

Also read: Meet Aashna Narula - The Delhi Girl Who Was Among 350 Students At Apple's WWDC Event

What an incredible journey Das has had and she is so young! It's very inspiring not only because she's Indian but because she is a girl who is not giving up on her dreams.