International Women's Day: In Conversation with Ohemaa Adjei Andoh

In the lead-up to International Women's Day 2022, AZoM spoke to Ohemaa Adjei Andoh, founder of Girls in Science and Technology (GIST) and the PM STEAM Educational Center in Ghana. Ohemaa is a successful engineer who is now looking to encourage young people, and girls in particular, to pursue careers in STEM.

请您介绍自己以及您在科学生涯中扮演的角色吗？

My name is Ohemaa Adjei Andoh. I am the founder of PM STEAM Educational Center and Girls in Science and Technology (GIST). Previous to these positions, I was a Cementing and Stimulations Engineer with Schlumberger, an Oil and Gas Service providing company. There I worked on projects in Ghana, Nigeria and supported projects on the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mauritania.

是什么首先吸引了您进入科学，什么促使您继续从事欧洲杯线上买球STEM的职业？

I was advised to study Science by a teacher from my Basic School. He was my Integrated Science teacher and he believed studying Science would be a challenge worth taking on, I am glad I listened to him. What inspired me to remain in this field was how I could relate this field to everything around me and could apply skills learned to everything I do.

During your studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) you were the Women in Engineering President/Women’s Commissioner for the College of Engineering. How do societies and positions such as these encourage female students to engage with STEM subjects?

在我担任工程/工程妇女工程学院妇女专员的期间，我有机会与一些公司合作，为我的某些同事提供奖学金和实习。我相信，我能够做我现在正在做的事情的角色：率领项目以鼓励女孩从事STEM职业。

You are the founder ofGirls in Science and Technology (GIST)in Ghana. What inspired you to create this initiative and what are its goals?

在我在现场担任水泥和刺激工程师的期间，我意识到自己领域缺乏女性。在尼日利亚曾经有一段时间，我是钻机上唯一有150多人的女士。这激起了我与STEM空间中其他领域进行检查的兴趣，我意识到很少有人在STEM职业中找到很少的女士。我做了一项调查，意识到这不仅是缺乏兴趣，而且主要是缺乏代表性。

Most ladies didn’t have role models and figures to look up to. This is why I started Girls in Science and Technology. Also, I realized the need to introduce the young ones to STEM/STEAM at an early age, so I startedPM Steam Academy，旨在培养年轻人的思想，以对他们所做的一切中的蒸汽心态进行建模。

Could you tell us more about some of the work of GIST and the PM STEAM Academy and what they hope to achieve?

PM STEAM Educational Center is working on a project called STEAMFest, where about 15 organizations in the STEAM space are coming together to provide over 30 hands-on STEAM activities for kids and to explain the STEAM concept to parents. The theme for this year is “Embracing the STEAM concept”.

GIST has launched a university chapter at the University of Mines and Technology, and will be launching one at KNUST later in the year. This is to help us better train our members and equip them with all the skills they need.

Image Credit: GIST

您对希望从事STEM职业的年轻妇女或女孩有任何建议吗？

我对希望从事STEM职业的年轻妇女或女孩的建议是敢于与众不同 - 就这样做！有些人正在这样做，因此是可能的，即使还没有人做到这一点，也要铺平道路，并始终记得在这样做的同时发光。

女孩在科学中拥有榜样有多重要？欧洲杯线上买球你有你自己吗？

I believe it’s easier for someone to be or do what they see - it’s easier to model what you see. Fortunately, people are paving the way and this makes it easier for those coming up to build on it. With this, more ground can be covered and new ones discovered, hence the need to show representation. I had mentors from afar, people I would look up to from afar, but thankfully now I have one in my corner.

加纳的STEM领域如何发展，您希望在未来十年中看到什么？

There is a lot of talk around STEM education now in Ghana and I believe we are moving in the right direction as a country. Starting at our Basic school level will help us raise a generation that will model the STEM mindset and hence promote economic growth in the country.

Finally, it is a hard question, but can you think of your favorite memory of being a scientist?

Throughout my career, I will say the most rewarding memory will be the look on my students’ faces every time we try new experiments. The joy it gives to them and how they cannot wait for the next session!

读者在哪里可以找到更多信息？

横幅学分：Melitas＆M.Style / Shutterstock

GIST:www.gist-ghana.com

PM Steam Academy：www.pmsteameducationalcenter.com

Articles:

• https://www.gna.org.gh/1.21364253
• https://kuulpeeps.com/2021/09/07/ohemaa-adjei-andoh-the-knust-alum-championing-stem-and-helping-people-become-the-best-version-of-themselves/people
• https://edwardasare.com/ohemaa-adjei-andoh-young-lady-engineer-graduates-as-the-best-female-student-in-geological-engineering-and-now-educates-girls-in-science-tech-engineering-math/amp/

关于Ohemaa Adjei Andoh

Ohemaa Adjei Andoh的职业生涯始于尼日利亚和加纳的Schlumberger的水泥和刺激工程师，并在塞内加尔，象牙海岸，毛里塔尼亚和安哥拉支持了项目。她在石油和天然气服务行业工作了六年。

During her time with the company, she realized how few women took on Engineering jobs in her field and decided to check with other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields and realized the story was not any different there.

As her interest peaked in this, she founded Girls in Science and Technology (GIST) @gistgh, a foundation that introduces young females to various careers in STEM and also provides mentorship and training会议以及其他项目。GIST在2020年的Gowa 2020奖项上获得了加纳杰出女子社会社区奖，并获得了全球人道主义奖的2021年成就证书。