Aziz Sancar was born in Turkey in
a small town called Savur in 1946, same year as this previous speaker.
He moved to United States after having been a medical doctor in Turkey.
He went to United States and got his PhD at University of Texas at Dallas.
And he's now Sarah Graham Kenan professor of biochemistry and biophysics at
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Welcome to the stage, Professor.
[Music] [Applause] I wanted to be a soccer star,
and that was really my goal. I want to be
a goalkeeper of the Turkish national team. That's what I wanted to be. [Music] As I mentioned, this journey all
started with our first degree in 1972. At that time we did not have a hooding ceremony.
We did not have well established traditions. We didn't even have colors
at that point of the school. At that time, our first doctoral recipient Dr. Jose Longoria-Trevino simply accepted a diploma from one of our administrators.
Today, we have been granted an opportunity to correct that.
And are we
're pleased to have Dr. Longoria-Trevino our very first
doctoral student graduate here with us. [Applause] We're talking about, you know, I
published that paper back in 1985. But in geology, every time that
you try to move ahead the science, there's a lot of resistance.
Lots of resistance. So today it's my privilege to
introduce the distinguished speaker for today's doctoral hooding
ceremony, Dr. Allie Kennedy Thurmond. Dr. Thurmond is a respected leader in the energy
industry with over 25
years of experience. She earned her BS, MS, and PhD degrees
here at UT Dallas in geoscience. Today, she brings a wealth of knowledge
from a remarkable career to date. If you ask the people, "Okay,
who owns the decisions?" And you ask them to raise their hand,
it's a lot less diversity in those hands. So I think, you know, if we really want to see
all the amazing things that the diverse brains, knowledge, women, different ethnicities, diversity
of thought bring to the production of knowled
ge, you have to unlock how that knowledge
is being transmitted to the world. So who are the decision makers?
Who makes those decisions? Who makes that call?
And a lot of times, that's not a diverse group of people. [Music] Three graduates of the school of Natural Sciences
and Mathematics at the University of Texas at Dallas are now world-renowned scientists
and leaders in the fields of biochemistry, geology and energy exploration leadership.
In this short documentary, we want to tell their st
ories.
Our scientists were asked about their inspiration as well as their time at the university.
They were asked about their approach to success and about struggles they
face throughout their journey. I used to live on Melrose.
I don't know if you know what Melrose is. It's a few blocks from here.
I used to ride my my bicycle here, and coming here this time of the year, you would
see both Bluebonnets and Indian blankets, etc. all over around UTD.
But they're all gone. I first came to to UTD w
hen it was the SCAS:
The Southwest Center for Advanced Studies. Basically, I was following my major
professor, professor Emile Pessagno. He was the the expert on that particular group of
microfossils that I wanted to become an expert on. So I came with him, and I was in '68 I
I can remember that was a summer of '68. For me, the geoscience department it
kind of felt like a home, you know. I moved around a lot, but then that was home.
So I think once I got here, it was just really hard for th
em to get rid of me.
So it got to a point, you know, especially in the, you know, the industry at
the time, I guess this was in the late '90s. It was kind of cheaper to stay in
school than it was to try to get a job. So it's just that right time and so I continued
on with my masters, and then, you know, just being in that environment with a
lot of postdocs around other graduate students in our department.
It was really seamless. I mean the undergraduates and graduates,
you know, they just c
o-mingled. So you didn't have impostor syndrome, right,
because you're sitting next to these people who are working on their PhDs, and
you're like "Yeah, I can do that." And they were always quite, you know,
welcoming with advice and all of that. So it never struck me as something I couldn't do. These remarkable individuals found themselves
ignited by their teachers and professors. These mentors not only imparted
knowledge, but also instilled a profound sense of inspiration and motivation.
Their guidance laid the foundation for their unwavering pursuit of their scientific passions.
Their stories stand as a testament to the profound impact that educators can have on shaping
the trajectory of aspiring scientists. So I was in this biology class, you know, lots
of students all taking their required biology course, and there was this professor who was...it's
funny cuz, you know, think of her this little old lady. She's probably younger than I am now. At that
moment she was this lit
tle old lady to me. Tiny, spunky, just all this energy. And she didn't
make me love biology, 'cause it's still, you know, it's still tough for me. But she made me love learning.
She just really got me excited, and all of a sudden, I'm like "Oh my God. She's
a girl. She's doing this, right?" In high school, I had a very good chemistry
teacher. And that really got me very excited about chemistry. And so I wanted to become a
chemist. And maybe you've read it in my biography, too. But that medic
al, sorry, chemistry professor
really was the one who turned me on science. And then in medical school year two,
for the first time, I heard about DNA. And that's when I said "That's what I'm going
to study. I'm not going to practice medicine." So I could have gone to, for example,
to France or to Switzerland. And for me as a very young person. Because I
was very young at that time, going to Europe was more appealing than just coming to Texas.
But however, you know, I really knew how to val
ue my education.
So I really wanted to come here because he was here.
If he would have been, I don't know, somewhere else, I would have ended there.
He was an excellent researcher. Then I heard there is DNA repair, which was
discovered by Dr. Rupert. Then I came after him. But the DNA is not stable, it can
be damaged, and it can be repaired. That was Dr. Rupert's discovery. And that was
the message I tried to give to the Swedes. So I went and talked to her. And she
took the time, and she tal
ked to me. And she started to pull out of me, and it
pulled out meteorology as an interest. And she's like, "Well go do it."
And I said, "Okay, where do I go do that?" And it turns out there aren't any meteorology
programs, at least not then I don't know about now in this area.
And I needed to stay in this area for some family reasons.
So she says, "What about geoscience?" After completing their education at UTD, Dr. Sancar and Dr. Longoria continued their
path in academia, while Dr. Thurmond
chose to enter the corporate world as a leader
between the United States and Norway. We asked them if they have faced any
challenges, and to our surprise... 30 years ago, a woman wearing
hijab, meaning head cover, could not enter a university building,
could not go into an official building. And I handed the physics professor, a man.
I said, "Hi, I'm new in your class." And he looked at me and goes, "you must be in the
wrong place." And I said, "No, I don't think so." And I handed him my sc
hedule, and he looks at the schedule and he goes [heavy sigh] and he says, "Okay, you see those two boys over there? Those are your lab partners. And they're going
to make sure you don't hurt anyone." And that's when I looked and realized
there were no girls in the class. Unfortunately. I think it's very sad. Nobody wants
to talk about that. No one wants to talk about that. And they fought this for 30 years. And
now they can, and they still, some people look down upon those kind of people. A
nd
some of them are the best scientists in in Turkey actually. I have one of them here
in my lab. I have three Turks in my lab. All of them are female. Two don't cover
their head. One covers their head. It's fine, you know? It's just whatever you do. As
long as you do your science, that's fine. Where I do think that we continue to struggle
is what girls do with that education. And are they able to reach the
heights that they want to reach? And can they do it without conforming to what is c
onsidered the norms of
corporate world or academia? So I think that's a long way
that we still have to go. We can see, you know, I mean only you
know certain funnel that comes in and then people choose between their aspirations
and their abilities to move up that ladder. I think that if we can get to a point
where it is actually abilities and aspirations that drive the funnel and
not other glass or concrete ceilings. And concrete ceilings are the ones
that you know women of color face. I'
m from Mexico. I studied in Mexico.
We have always been thought how the main cordillera and the mountain belt that crosses
Mexico from the border with United States to the border of Guatemala, and we were given this idea
of how the mountain chain got to be, or was formed. And then for one reason of
another, I was very critical. And because they always ask us to be critical. Critical thinking, independent thinking,
they always...even in the term papers. This problem of mixing science and
pol
itics and religion is hurting Turkey. I know that and I say it. But...other than that I really don't know what I can say, but that is a big problem. So then I start challenging the idea. Back in 1985, I published a paper bringing a new
theory on how that huge mountain range had formed. You can imagine. Lots of resistance.
A lot of resistance. "Has anything, you know, come of that, or?" I published that paper back in 1985. But in
geology, every time that you try to move ahead the science, there
's a lot of resistance.
Lots of resistance. We sought the wisdom of our accomplished
scientists as they offer guidance to current students and those aspiring to
embark on their own scientific journeys. Their words of insight and encouragement serve as a beacon of light for those navigating the
intricate path of scientific exploration. Let's now listen closely to the
invaluable advice they share. I think some of the best
advice that I can give is... One, I think it is important to know who y
ou are. I think if you can really unlock as early
as you can. I've gone through this exercise more later in in my journey.
I wish I had done this so much earlier, between working with good coaches, good mentors.
Get them as early as you can. Really get to know who you are. Because once you know who you are,
I promise you will have so much more confidence. You will be less likely to be dragged by the nose by somebody else's opinions
of who they think you should be. So that just takes a lot o
f work. And then I think you can be
more true to who you are. You can fight for what you need you can
be your own advocate in a better way. And then you don't let things...you know, when I
think about some of the things that probably stood in my way, like a physics teacher sighing, you know,
when he thought of a female being in his class. I think if I knew, had a better appreciation of who I was, I'd have ripped the page out of his hand and I'd
picked my own damn seat. And my own lab partne
rs. So I mean that's of course easy to say with
you know a lot more gray hair and wisdom, but I think the more that we spend getting to know
ourselves, and the way to do that is reach out, get good coaches, get good mentors.
They are out there, and that's what they love to do. They love giving advice, with
mentors, but coaches are those people who can really pull out of you who you are, what do you
want to do? I would do that so much earlier. The first advice is the one you showed me: do
no
t do science to get the Nobel Prize. Find something that you find interesting, and
and pursuit it. and focus, and work hard. Science also is not done in vacuum. You need
to know what is going on around you. You need to go and, you know, what is happening not just in
your field. In general, in related fields, in technology. You have to know what
what's happening. I tell my students, "I follow these scientific journals,
and I know what day of the week they come out." I said, "Read them, at le
ast
go through the content every week." My first suggestion or advice is:
broaden your horizons. Don't go tunnel vision. Because tunnel
vision will take you nowhere. Even when I was a professor here, because I
became a professor of the geosciences program here at UTD for 15 years, I always educate my
students to do (yeah my PhD students) to do multidisciplinary studies. Don't
do just on this little rock or... Put it in the in the right context.
And at that time were using the concept of "
holistic," to see the
unit. Whatever you are doing here has an impact somewhere else in the
world, because that's geology. My breakthrough that really eventually got me
the Nobel Prize was cloning a gene here at UTD. And the reason was, again I was like
that here. I knew when Nature was coming, when Science was coming, when
PNAS was coming to the library. I would go and go through them, and
so I see a paper. They're talking about gene cloning, and so wow...I was struggling to purify this e
nzyme, photolyase. And I said, "I can use gene cloning to get this enzyme."
And I went to my professor, Dr. Rupert. I said, "That's what I want to do. May his
soul rest in peace. He was my hero. He was very open-minded. He says, "Sir,
go ahead." And so I cloned the gene, and it turned out, it was the first time anyone
east of the Rockies that was cloning a gene. It was always all done at Stanford. As soon as I
learned it, I jumped on it. I cloned it, and then I could clone genes, and from th
ere I took off.
And that tells you the importance of knowing what's going on in the overall scientific world.
I wasn't working on DNA. I was working on protein, etc., but when I saw that I could make the
connection, and I think it's important to be aware of the science, of the technology that
is going on around you, and work very hard. I used to work 18 hours. I used to sleep in the
lab many days. And so there is no shortcuts.
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