The MEEP project aims to build inclusive communities. Diversity is an added value for the team in order to work effectively in synergy. Consequently, a 'Women in STEM' series of interviews has been created to feature all the amazing female scientists who work in MEEP and their paths into science.
Angela Salom is a Leading Research Engineer at BSC. In this interview, Angela talks about her experience as a woman in STEM and as a member of the MEEP team.
How did you become interested in engineering and HPC? What was your motivation to choose your career path?
I have always been interested in knowing how things work and when I started studying electronics, this interest became something else. For me, electronics is like magic. Seriously, I mean it, something very close to what Harry Potter does in Howarts. Think about it. Everyday we press buttons in elevators, and we suddenly go to another floor. When we walk in the street, traffic lights tell us when to walk and when to wait. What about phones and computers? Don’t you think it is amazing all you can do with these devices and how technology makes our life easier? It is like magic! Wouldn’t you like to know how these things work so you can learn how to do your own “spells”? Sure, it is challenging, it takes work and there are many things to learn every day, but that is part of the fun too. In other words, what motivated me to study and work on electronics? curiosity and willingness to have fun.
Where and how do you see MEEP technology been developed in 5 years from now?
In 5 years from now, MEEP infrastructure would be completely in place. I hope we will keep developing new features and technologies, but mostly I hope we will help others to accelerate the development of their own computing processors.
What impact do you believe MEEP technology will have from an economical, societal, environmental and industrial innovation perspective?
The design, development, prototyping and final production of processor chips is a very expensive process that unfortunately only very big companies like Intel, AMD, Motorola, etc. can afford. Besides, all these companies are in America and Asia. Having a platform like MEEP in Europe would not only speed up the design phase of processors, but it will also reduce significantly the prototyping costs. Also, another important goal of MEEP is to develop a processor based in open source hardware, reducing even further the exploitation costs of the resulting designs. Last, everybody knows the continuous demand increase for faster data processing and more powerful computing machines. It is no secret that computer processors are a rising market. By reducing its development and exploitation costs, we hope to help European industries to get introduced in this very competitive sector, with all the societal, environment and economical impacts that this would imply. And last, MEEP project is firmly committed to contribute to the Open Source Hardware community. Every development done by BSC inside the MEEP project will be available for everybody.
Do you have any advice or message for young girls and women pursuing a career in STEM?
Sure! If you are a curious person and you like challenges, you will not get bored studying STEM. Like everything that is good, it will take some effort but worth it, that is for sure.