Ultrafast lasers to DEI: a 40-year journey with Dr. Ursula Keller
Becky Bosco, Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Optica
With a distinguished history as the industry's leading event on laser science, the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) is the premier international forum for scientific and technical optics, uniting the fields of lasers and opto-electronics by bringing together all aspects of laser technology, from basic research to industry applications.
Dr. Ursula Keller, ETH Zurich, took to the plenary stage to share her 40-year career journey as a woman in ultrafast lasers. From ETH Zurich to Stanford, Bell Labs and now back at ETH Zurich, Keller experienced both academia and industrial research in ultrafast lasers. Despite her impressive career path, Keller still faced challenges along the way, the largest being her pursuit of motherhood and a career.
Based on her experience, Keller offered guidance to listeners in the audience and explained how she coaches the careers of her female students. Below she provides ideas to support gender equality in the optical sciences - because with gender equality, everyone wins.
It’s not about you
So, when you experience gender discrimination in the workplace, remember: it is not about you. You are not speaking up for yourself so much as speaking up for the well-being of the organization and the larger society as a whole. It is often finding it hard to stick up oneself when issues of gender discrimination arise. When supporting equity in the workplace, it is often about the performance and productivity of the organization. We cannot change the culture alone and therefore it is important to join a women network and support senior women to drive a culture change with better governance.
Take up more space
Reflecting on times I have experienced gender discrimination in my career, I realize that the man at issue almost always felt threatened in some way and was, as a result, behaving defensively and emotionally, rather than rationally. The discrimination is more likely to kick in at a subconscious level, often as a response to stress or fear. This realization can help women learn to “take up more space” – that is, to put ourselves forward, to share openly and freely our skills and talents, to ask directly for the resources we need to be successful, and not to hang back until we have figured out the “perfect” solution – even in difficult situations when we are not entirely sure what to do. Look around and support other senior women who seem to take up more space in your organization.
Never pass up a chance to help another woman
Early in my career, I worked with a few female researchers at Bell Labs. Several were supportive of my work. Others operated under the classic “scarcity” mentality where they believe in an unsupportive power structure. And so, when faced with gender discrimination, I made a promise to myself that I would never pass up the chance to help another woman if possible. At this point in my career, I work to use my hard-won status to help propel others over the wall, and I encourage others to do the same.
Find role models from anywhere in the world
Optica and photonics is an international community. Attendance at professional conferences is an opportunity to meet with senior female researchers at other institutions and companies. Don’t be afraid to connect with them and learn more about their personal career journey. Ask who their allies have been along the way and connect with them. Attend diversity events and look for opportunities to network with others who want to see gender parity in STEMM. Allies for gender parity are there, even if they are not within the boundaries of our organization.
In her concluding remarks at the CLEO plenary, Keller urged attendees to work together for gender parity in the community.
● Continue to recruit more women: goal >30%
● Stronger efforts on retention, performance, promotion, and culture change
● Real incentives for both men and women to engage on these issues and establish better governance with transparency, accountability and equal access to power, resources and privileges.
About Keller’s Research
Ursula Keller was born in 1959 in Zug, Switzerland, and studied physics at ETH Zurich. She went on to complete her master’s degree and PhD in Applied Physics at Stanford University, USA. From 1989 onwards she worked at AT&T Bell Labs in New Jersey. She was appointed associate professor in 1993 at ETH Zurich and Full Professor of Quantum Electronics in 1997. From 2010 to 2022 Ursula Keller was Director of the interdisciplinary research program NCCR MUST (Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology) launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2012 she also founded the ETH Women Professors Forum, which she chaired up to 2016. Ursula Keller is the recipient of numerous awards for her research, including the prestigious European Inventor Award – the first woman to receive the award from the European Patent Office for her lifetime achievement. In 2021 she was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA. In 2022, Keller was awarded the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist for her pioneering work in ultrafast lasers.
Keller remarked, “This award is very special to me. My appointment as the first female professor of physics at ETH Zurich, coming straight from the USA, was partly thanks to a policy of recruiting more female scientists to leadership roles. That’s why I am particularly glad to see this award confirm that such initiatives really do help promote integration andinclusive excellence.”
