Every year, beautiful women are increasingly leading departments and faculties at the Belarusian National Technical University, and more and more girls are studying in specialties with disciplines in nuclear physics and robotics. The heroine of the new column material is Svetlana Kachan, head of the Department of Technical Physics, Candidate of Physico—Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor, who is sure that formulas and calculations do not need gender. She also shared how physics has become her way of reading the "reality code", why a female supervisor is a conductor, not a captain, and what is most important in working with students.
According to Svetlana Mikhailovna, the choice in favor of physics was formed gradually, but exact sciences fascinated her from early school years.
— Interest in physics was formed gradually and consistently. Since childhood, I have liked exact sciences, and I graduated from a school with a mathematical bias, where Alexander Markovich Feldman, a recognized and beloved master for many generations, taught the "queen of sciences". The choice of what to do: physics, mathematics or programming was made already in the senior year. Mathematics attracted me not as a game with abstract symbols, but as a tool for reading the "code" of reality — understanding those phenomena that truly create the world around them.
The associate professor called her love of physics and her technical streak a legacy from her father, the honored inventor of the BSSR Mikhail Melguy. That is why, when it comes to a time machine, she dreams not of meeting a great scientist, but of having a heart-to-heart conversation with her dearest person.
— I would really like to see my dad over a cup of strong coffee. My technical streak, my love of physics, is from him. His father, Mikhail Alexandrovich Melguy, was an honored inventor of the BSSR, created his laboratory at the Institute of Applied Physics, and made a huge contribution to the development of magnetic methods of non—destructive testing, technologies in demand both at home, in the USSR, and abroad. The years of my youth fell on the period when the USSR collapsed, and a difficult period came in science — my father was immersed in these problems and never brought them out on the family, kept them to himself. I would really like to go back to the past, have a heart-to-heart talk and just hug.
— When you were a student, were there fewer women in technical fields? Did you feel any pressure?
— Less is an understatement. There were no more than 10% of girls in the production department of the BSU Faculty of Physics. This figure has been growing over the years, but there are still significantly more guys in this field. I have never felt pressure, neither when I was a student, nor later when I was in graduate school and after that I worked at the Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Probably, modern physics is a field of activity where intelligence, intelligence and an objective assessment of people based on the results of their work prevail. In my scientific career, gender issues that are so popularized in modern society have never arisen.
Svetlana Kachan noted that there is a female leadership style. In her opinion, the difference is that the man is the captain of the ship, and the woman is the conductor of the orchestra.
— The female leadership style consists in the absence of "military straightforwardness." Male managers often act like ship captains.: "I said do it." A female leader in physics is the conductor of an orchestra, where each employee is a virtuoso with his own character. I convince more often, I look for a compromise, I forgive weaknesses, but not hack work.
The head of the department also explained that she tries to see the student as a person first, and then as a student. According to the associate professor, everyone has their own fatigue, their own "did not get enough sleep" and "did not pass on time because of part-time work." If this is not recognized, there will be no contact, so she listens and does not devalue their problems — this is about respect, but not forgiveness. The main secret, she says, is not to demand the impossible, but also not to let it go with the flow. She tries to show where their efforts will lead to a real result. Her approach sounds like this: "I hear you, I'm on your side, but I won't let you be lazy. Let's work together, but with your hands." And students appreciate this, because they are expected not to perform miracles, but to make honest efforts.
But there are real things behind every style and approach. The Government scholarship, the first Stepanov Readings Prize, the creation of a new laboratory for the nuclear industry, and the BNTU Honor board are all links in the same chain. The history of the associate professor's professional path is as follows:
— Investing in work to the maximum is my life credo. While still a graduate student at the Academy of Sciences, in 2000 I became a scholarship holder of the Government of the Republic of Belarus for graduate students. Later, in 2008, our joint contribution with the scientific supervisor, Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences Alina Nikolaevna Ponyavina, was awarded the first Prize of the Stepanov Readings 2008 competition of the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for the best cycle of scientific papers. In 2009, after the decision was made to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the country's universities opened specialties for training personnel for the nuclear industry, I was invited to work at the Department of Technical Physics at BNTU and was tasked with developing four special courses in the field of nuclear physics and radiation safety, as well as creating and filling a new laboratory with the appropriate the profile. Now it is one of the most modern laboratories of the university, and the results of this great and important work were appreciated by being included in the BNTU Honor Roll in 2020. In general, I think it was this ability to achieve results, using both scientific and organizational skills, that served as the springboard that led me to my current position.
According to her observations, the Year of the Belarusian Woman has really given an impetus: more thematic projects have appeared at the university, and women leaders have become more actively celebrated. But the main changes are not in the calendar, but in the generation.
— It is noticeable that the university is launching new thematic social and cultural projects. The professional achievements of the female part of the team are actively celebrated with diplomas and commendations from the Rector's Office, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and other related departments, which began at the end of last year during the celebration of the 105th anniversary of BNTU. However, the key changes are taking place not because of the announced year, but because a new generation of active young women is joining the faculties. They do their job well and do not expect any slack. Just look at the leadership of our Faculty of Information Technology and Robotics: young women — the dean and deputy dean — work there and achieve excellent results.
— Is the ratio of girls and boys in engineering specialties changing?
— Yes, it is noticeable. There are more girls, and the girls themselves are becoming bolder. Previously, girls went to "safe" specialties, but now they are rushing into nuclear technology and robotics. They are not afraid of working with their hands, they are interested in creating new things. This is a trend, and it pleases.
For Svetlana Mikhailovna, intuition is not mysticism, but the brain's ability to notice patterns without logical inference. And without it, no real discoveries are made in science.
— Intuition is the brain's ability to notice patterns without logical inference. The brain, without even voicing it, compares the current situation with millions of previously accumulated fragments of experience, catches subtle coincidences and gives a ready-made answer: "something is wrong here" or "it's worth going here." In science, real discoveries are not made without intuition. Logic is needed to test a hypothesis, but to put it forward requires a leap, an epiphany that cannot be deduced from mere premises. It is important not to contrast intuition with logic, but to learn how to combine them.
The assistant professor formulated her advice to girls who are just making their way into engineering or are already studying for an engineering degree as follows:
— For those who still choose: ask yourself: "Am I interested in understanding how it works?". If so, feel free to go. If not, don't, and it's not about gender. Engineering thinking has no gender. For those who are already studying: look for a project job as early as possible. Laboratory classes are good, but your student project or startup will give you more than five years of perfect study. At the same time, the project will not replace the university — you will get theory, foundation, consistency only in the classrooms. But it is the project that will turn abstract formulas into living tasks, teach you how to stumble and get up, and show you where your knowledge is failing. Studying provides a framework, a project provides muscles and the skill to apply them. Together they make you an engineer.
Svetlana Kachan considers the most important thing to be the ability not to stop and to believe that the best is yet to come. With his story, the associate professor proves that engineering thinking has no gender, and real change begins with people who do their job honestly and passionately every day. Svetlana Mikhailovna is not just the head of the department, she is an example of the fact that intuition in science is born from experience and behind every discovery there is patience and a desire to understand even the most minor mistakes.
