Published 16 January 2025 by Ulrike Böhm
Women in Research #LINO24: Saskia Plura
Saskia from Germany is a Ph.D. student at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
She has two PhD projects: At DarkMESA, an upcoming beam dump experiment for Dark Matter searches at the MESA accelerator in Mainz, she develops a GEANT4 simulation to study the detector sensitivity and detection efficiency for different Dark Matter models and mass configurations to optimize their experiment. At BESIII, a collider experiment at the BEPCII accelerator in Beijing, she studies the decay of J/ψ→pp ̅e^+ e^- to set an upper limit on its branching ratio (originally, the goal was to measure the timelike proton form factor in the unphysical region through this process) and study the X(1835) transition form factor.
Saskia participated in the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.
Enjoy the interview with Saskia and get inspired:
What inspired you to pursue a career in science / in your discipline?
I have always been curious about our world and how it works! When I was still in elementary school, you could often find me sitting on the couch, reading an encyclopedia. I wanted to learn absolutely everything – volcanoes, computers, electricity, and especially the universe became interesting. When starting secondary school, I was excited to attend “real science classes” for the first time. My school also had an afternoon programme where they opened all science labs for students to work on their own ideas and experiments. If we wanted to, we could even compete in science competitions like “Jugend forscht,” which I participated in five times and even made it to the national level. I absolutely thrived there.
My interest in physics first came from outside of school actually – I used to watch a lot of science fiction shows like “Star Trek” or “Babylon 5” together with my father, and we’d often discuss news articles about astronomical discoveries, alien life or space travel together when he was dropping me off at school or picking me up afterward. This got me very interested in the field, and during 8th grade, I attended a science camp on astrophysics, which was amazing! Shortly after that, in 10th grade, I noticed the announcement for an astroparticle physics camp at DESY, which was my first contact with particle physics. Not knowing what astroparticle physics entailed, I applied, and it was a blast. I absolutely loved learning about elementary particle physics and even did a student research project on particle detectors at school. In 12th grade, I got the chance to visit CERN on a student internship for two weeks and work on my own research project. The atmosphere there solidified my decision to study physics and led me to specialize in particle physics and pursue an academic career. I am very thankful for that experience!
Who are your role models?
I honestly think it’s hard to mention just one name. I met Reinhard Genzel, Saul Perlmutter, Rainer Weiss, and David J. Gross during the 2021 Online Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where I was selected as a panelist. It was an incredible experience – they went out of their way to make me feel very comfortable, encouraged me, and talked to me at eye level, even though I was just starting my scientific career at that point. It was nice to see how the Greatest in our fields listen and value the opinions of the next generation, and I look up to them a lot.
Aside from the very big names, I also have some very personal role models in my life. My parents, of course, have always encouraged me to follow my own path and be open to new ideas. My PhD supervisor, Achim Denig, has been my role model for quite some time. Also, I’d like to mention Concettina Sfienti, who is the vice-director of my institute – she’s a very strong and inspiring woman and a brilliant researcher. Then there is Frank Fiedler, the professor who supervised my CERN internship and who has been my mentor ever since. And Paola Gianotti, a scientist from INFN Frascati, has been a great example to me, and always shares great advice for my future career. Lastly, my chemistry and physics teachers in school as they always encouraged me to go further! There are definitely a lot of people that I can look up to.
How did you get to where you are in your career path?
I attended a very STEM-focused high school, which encouraged us to work on our own science projects and participate in STEM competitions like “Jugend forscht” or attend science camps, which is how I eventually wound up at CERN for my student internship. As my internship was supervised by a professor from the University of Mainz, I decided to enroll for my Bachelor’s degree in physics at the JGU Mainz. The first year was quite tough, to be honest – university was completely different from high school, and I definitely noticed that by the time exams came around, but the encouragement from my family and my mentor helped me to continue. I also started to get involved in science communication and got my first position as a student research assistant, working on ATLAS data analysis and also on the production of the New Small Wheel detector panels for its upgrade. While I was continuing with my Bachelor’s, I also enrolled in the “Studienprogramm Q+,” an interdisciplinary extracurricular program during its trial run. While this programme was not connected to my current field, it shaped me a lot – working with people from all disciplines gave me new ideas and inspirations and helped me communicate my science.
I did my Bachelor’s thesis in the group of Achim Denig. I did a hardware-based project where I tested a detector prototype called cZDD (crystal Zero Degree Detector) for the BESIII experiment. At that point, I was very frustrated by theoretical physics and had the belief that I was only cut out for experimental work after struggling with Theoretical Quantum Mechanics, even though I loved the topic. I was set on continuing in a more “applied physics” direction until I moved to Sweden in 2019 for a year of ERASMUS+ studies at Lund University. I got a new perspective on theoretical physics and mainly took theory courses there. I was thriving, but then the pandemic happened – upon returning from Sweden, I had to start my Master’s thesis all while working from home. I continued in the same research group but wanted to try something different from hardware-related work. My Master’s thesis, which was previously only supposed to be a data analysis, suddenly required me to construct my own Monte Carlo Generator, which also meant calculating the relevant Feynman Diagrams myself. I worked with Henryk Czyż from the University of Silesia, an expert on Monte Carlo techniques who taught me everything I know about this topic. The learning curve was quite tough, especially since there was no one to talk to directly, but it all worked out in the end, and I graduated with my Master’s degree with distinction!
I am currently doing my PhD in the group of Achim Denig, where I’m continuing to work on the BESIII experiment while also joining the DarkMESA experiment – this way, I get to continue my research from my Master’s thesis and see it through to the end, and also experience a new experiment and new challenges there. I am very honored that I managed to not only obtain a fellowship from the “Mainz Physics Academy” (MPA) but I also got accepted into the “Gutenberg Academy Fellow Program” and even got elected as the current acting spokesperson for the junior members. I’m now in my 3rd year and am really looking forward to the next few years, especially for what lies beyond my PhD!
What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?
I really loved developing my own Monte Carlo Generator during my Master’s thesis. I had to develop my own generator as Dark Matter models were not included in our existing generators. Going all the way from theoretical calculations to constructing a simulation that will tell you how the signal will look like and how many signal events you are predicting was a wonderful experience. I loved how I got to combine both theoretical and experimental physics – this is the reason why I love phenomenology so much!
What’s a time you felt immense pride in yourself / your work?
I was very proud of my work when I defended my Master’s thesis – getting recognized for the hard work I put in to develop my generator felt really great. It also felt really special when my advisor nominated me for the Lindau Meeting as he was very impressed by my work in science communication – getting the acceptance notification from Lindau a few months later made me feel really proud of myself. And just recently, I was part of the presentation team for a CRC grant we applied for at my institute. When we learned that our application was accepted, I was extremely grateful that I was able to contribute to such a massive feat – that made me very happy!
What is a “day in the life” of you like?
I usually wake up around 7 am and head to the office around 9 am. Depending on the day, I have to attend group meetings or take care of my students – part of my duties is to be a Teaching Assistant, so I have to grade hand-ins and discuss the weekly exercises with my students. We usually have lunch with my whole research group around 12:30 pm, where we discuss sports, movies, or anything else, sometimes also a paper that was just published. Most of the time, we get coffee together after lunch before returning to work. I am sharing my office with four other colleagues (three PhD students and a PostDoc), so we discuss open questions or challenges that arise from our work and help each other out – a bit of friendly banter is also included. I leave my office around 5-6 pm and often have some evening activity lined up like sports, volunteering or social events, although I do like a quiet evening every once in a while.
What are you seeking to accomplish in your career?
I aim for an academic career – there’s only so much particle physics you can do outside academia. I am really curious about the big questions: “How does our universe work? Why do we only understand about 5% of it? What’s going on with the other 95%?”. To tackle these questions, the search for answers beyond what our current models know, which we refer to as “New Physics” searches, and precise knowledge and testing of the aforementioned models are important. I want to continue to contribute and help solve these questions so we can eventually find out what Dark Matter actually is and what more there is that we don’t understand – yet.
What do you like to do when you’re not doing research?
I have a lot of different interests! I am heavily involved in outreach through the “Netzwerk Teilchenwelt” and our local offerings. I was the spokesperson for the student groups in the Netzwerk Teilchenwelt for a few years and am leading the regional student group in Mainz. Together, we offer masterclasses for high school students, mentor younger students, and visit labs together. I also started figure skating as an adult and am currently working on single jumps – it’s a great way to clear your mind after a long day. I’m also involved in university politics as I’m the acting student representative for my institute and the Gutenberg Academy Fellow Program. Beyond that, I volunteer in the IT group of my dormitory, hang out with friends, or do some creative work: I like writing stories, painting, music, photography, or crocheting. I also love to travel! Last year, I went to Japan with my younger sister, and I also join in on the annual sailing trip my research group does. This year, we went to Croatia. I always need to do something!
What advice do you have for other women interested in science / in your discipline?
Don’t let anyone tell you that physics is not for women! Sadly, a lot of people still think that science, especially physics, is only for men, which is reflected by the gender imbalance. Sometimes, it’s tough to deal with stereotypes and sexism displayed by others, so it’s always great to find a female peer group to support each other. This is especially useful when the impostor syndrome creeps in – sometimes, being a woman in physics puts you under a huge spotlight, and you’ll feel pressured or like you have to be twice as good to be seen as equal to your male colleagues. Talking about this with some female friends going through similar life stages helps a lot and boosts your confidence.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions or show your interest in a specific topic – science needs a multitude of different views and experiences to advance. New and fresh ideas are always welcome! Even if a hypothesis turns out to be wrong, you’ve still learned something from it, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. We need more women in physics!
In your opinion, what will be the next great breakthrough in science / in your discipline?
Particle physics is in for an exciting time – many unsolved mysteries are currently the focus of research. I think the (g-2)_μ puzzle, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, will give us some answers in the future: Right now, there‘s a discrepancy of more than 5σ between the experimental value and the “conventional“ theory value, which was obtained by data-driven calculations. However, theorists developed a new method to calculate (g-2)_μ by using Lattice QCD, which does not rely on experimental input, which surprisingly turned out to be very close to the measured value of (g-2)_μ. Understanding why we obtain two very different values will probably clarify current research! On the other hand, we have the search for New Physics, specifically the search for Dark Matter. There are a lot of experiments designed for Dark Matter searches outside the LHC energy regime that start operation now or are about to start. This is really exciting – we might soon learn what Dark Matter is or find an issue with our current theories. I think solving this problem – or at least making such a huge effort on it as is being done right now – will definitely lead to some breakthroughs in particle physics.
What should be done to increase the number of female scientists and professors?
I think there are two major problems: First, the public perception of physics generally does not include female physicists, even though we have plenty of brilliant female physicists – think of Marie Skłodowska Curie, Andrea Ghez, Donna Strickland, and Anne L’Huillier, for example! We need to have more female role models and representation – not just at events for the public, but also in the media, i.e., interviews, movies, TV shows or documentaries, or when visiting high schools to talk about our work. We also actively need to work against gender biases and sexism both in academia and the public – a lot of people are not aware of their unconscious biases.
It should also be noted here that women in physics often face a “hidden workload” by being expected to act as role models at public outreach events or serve on committees, which takes time away from research – these contributions should be valued by hiring panels instead of only looking at the number of papers published.
Secondly, a big problem in academia is the leaky pipeline. There are relatively many female students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, but as soon as one looks at PostDoc positions and beyond, the number of female scientists drops rapidly. This is in no small part due to the lack of long-term contracts and permanent positions – having to move a lot or not knowing whether you’ll still have a job in half a year are detrimental to any family planning, which already burdens women. In addition, working hours in academia often do not make for a good work-life-balance, which again interferes with family planning. Improving the conditions there would probably sway a lot more female scientists to stay in academia.