Sarah, R&D engineer

Are women underrepresented in scientific research?

Whenever I attended conferences as part of my thesis on composite materials, there were on average 20-25% women in attendance. It does vary from one field to another. In the field of materials and composites in particular, they tend to be in the minority; however, there’s now a genuine evolution among young people taking up the science baccalaureate. This is actually what a female speaker pointed out this morning at the Olympiades, noting that in the Terminale S final high school year, 47% of the students are female.

Clearly, your interest in chemistry as a high school student has not waned!

Quite the opposite! Even if my path has not necessarily been clear-cut.

So, tell us your story...

After embarking on the “high road”, namely the preparatory course, I lost my bearings somewhat in the second year. I had been thrust into the limelight with my success at the Olympiades and very good baccalaureate grades, and I felt a great deal of pressure.

Maybe people expected a little too much of me. So, I chose a different path. For three years, I travelled, took on odd jobs, and in 2011 I devoted myself to scientific mediation with an association to promote chemistry among school and college students.

A great experience. This “initiatory journey” over a few years gradually drove me back to studying, which I resumed in 2013 but this time at university, in my hometown of Limoges. After my bachelor’s degree in general chemistry, I obtained a master's degree in Lille where I specialized in polymer chemistry, and I followed this up with a PhD at the University of Louvain in Belgium.

Why did you choose polymers? 

Because when studying for my bachelor's degree, I had an introductory course that fascinated me. In particular, I realized that around us, in nature, that’s all there is, polymers, with cellulose, starch, glycogen, proteins... Every molecule we are made of is a polymer. Everyday materials, plastics, resins are polymers too. And their properties are incredible. From the same chemical pattern, you have countless combinations, not unlike a bead necklace. I was thrilled with this building kit aspect.

What was the subject of your thesis?

I worked on the application of Arkema's Elium^® thermoplastic liquid resin for the manufacture of thick composite parts. Composites rarely are like that. They are mostly thin sheets or plates. However, in wind power, in order for the rotor to be able to support the full weight of the blade, you need very thick composites, in this case made by infusion of Elium resin^®, which means solving problems associated with the stress of large and very thick parts.

Why a thesis with Arkema on Elium^® resin?

It’s all down to serendipity. In 2016, Christian COLLETTE contacted me while I was still a student to offer me the opportunity to defend my thesis at Arkema. When I read his email, the first thing I did was to go on the internet and find out who he was, and then I realized he was the head of Arkema's R&D! I still remember it: I was on the Villeneuve-d'Ascq campus and I almost fell off my chair. We talked about it and he let me venture in a direction I was interested in, composite materials, by offering me various themes on the subject. A dream come true!

How did he hear about you?

Armand LATTES, professor emeritus of chemistry at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, an absolutely fascinating researcher, happened to have told him about me! You know, a journey is often the result of a series of encounters. For me, human qualities count just as much, if not more than intellectual qualities, because someone who is technically very good but doesn’t know how to communicate will have a lot of trouble working with others. Top grades aren’t enough. Personality matters a lot.

And how did your initial encounter with Arkema go?

I first came across Arkema through the 2009 Olympiades, because at the time Arkema had given a presentation of its activities. They talked about Pebax^® materials and I remember the example of ski boots! What's great is that for the celebration of this 40th anniversary of the Olympiades, this morning, someone from Arkema brought a fully recyclable running shoe (Cloudneo).

Another shoe of the future with Arkema polymers! As a scientist, I have acquired a certain working method that enables me to get to the bottom of things. As an R&D engineer, we have different imperatives. We have to drive developments forward, find customers, make it all work... I find it exciting to be able to go back and forth between development studies, business issues, and science.

I’m hoping to be able to keep agile enough to make progress on any given subject for Arkema. I have to say that one thing in particular motivates me: environmental sustainability. The Elium^® thermoplastic resins, which I was particularly interested in when researching my thesis, were designed to be depolymerized, in other words deconstructed, exactly as if you were removing the beads from a necklace to make another one.

So, Elium^® resin is recyclable and I’m very proud to be able to work on a material like this. Especially since some of its applications concern the production and storage of renewable energy. It's doubly motivating.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve been seconded by Arkema as an R&D engineer to the university laboratory where I did research for my thesis, at the UC Louvain university in Belgium. This enables us to reach out across the very rich ecosystem that is the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), this region being particularly active in the development and production of advanced materials, including polymers, resins, and specialty chemicals. The idea is to remain at the forefront of mainly composite projects, including Elium^® resin as well as other polymer types.

I’d like to take the opportunity of this piece to stress the extent to which I have gone through times of doubt along the way, and I’d be happy if my story could show young people that anything is always possible. Since the day Christian Collette got in touch with me, my career and my life have been turned upside down. I now have a chance to live my passion.

Or, as a speaker at the Olympiades ceremony said so eloquently this morning, a chance not to feel as if I'm working a single day of my life! I was lucky enough to be able to choose my thesis subject, choose the place where I could do my research work, and then join Arkema. Everyone I have met in the company has won me over with their attitude - easy-going, approachable, enthusiastic.

You can have your own ideas, be yourself, aided by a unique career path or profile, and that’s not necessarily the case in other companies. I think that this is invaluable, and, in turn, I hope to be able to make my own contribution. Competition between companies is fierce, but there are plenty of visionary people here. For me, this is one of Arkema's great strengths: knowing how to see things before others.