I do not know what the future holds, but I know that science is part of my soul."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Dr Sri Fatmawati, an Indonesian biologist, has bagged the Elsevier Foundation Award for Career Women Scientists in the Developing World.

"I want to thank my husband, parents, children, supervisor, and also my students. Because this award is not for me, this is for us, this is our work, and this is our research," Fatmawati stated after receiving the award during the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., on Feb. 13.

Born in Sampang, Madura, and having received her Ph.D from the University of Kyushu, Fukuoka, Japan, Sri Fatmawati works as an assistant professor at the Laboratory of Natural Product and Chemical Synthesis, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), Surabaya, East Java Province.

"I do not know what the future holds, but I know that science is part of my soul. I hope more people from the younger generation will dedicate their lives to science for creating a better world," she remarked during the AAAS award ceremony.

The Madurese woman researched the medical potential of natural substances from plants and fungi, such as Jamu, a traditional Indonesian herbal medicine given to her as a child.

Fatmawati and four other women researchers were awarded for their commitment to research and the potential to impact health and economies in developing nations, the AAAS published on its official website (www.aaas.org).

The four other winning Elsevier scholars are Dr Ghanya Naji Mohammed from Yemen, Dr Magaly Blas from Peru, Dr Sushila Maharjan from Nepal, and Dr Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu from Uganda.

Each winner received a cash prize of US$ five thousand and an all-expenses paid trip to attend the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., granting them the opportunity to network and attend mentoring and science communication workshops.

An award in the form of additional US$2.5 thousand was announced at breakfast, donated by retired Boeing executive Martha Darling and her husband Gil Omenn, former president of AAAS.

This year, the five winners were recognized for their accomplishments in the fields of nutrition, psychiatry, biotechnology, womens health, bioenvironmental sciences, and epidemiology, according to the Elsevier Foundation.

The award also celebrates mentoring young women scientists who are pursuing careers in agriculture, biology, and medicine.

The winners are dedicated women scientists who achieved excellence in their research fields, despite often having limited resources, poor equipment, and dispiriting working conditions, stated Tonya Blowers, program coordinator for the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), which launched the awards in 2012 along with the Elsevier Foundation and the World Academy of Sciences.

"This award is an important recognition for the difficult choices they made and will encourage other women from challenging backgrounds to follow their own scientific dreams," Blowers affirmed.

Fatmawati had earlier won the Early Chemist Award 2015 in Honolulu, the United States, and the prestigious Fellowship International LOr al-UNESCO for Women in Science, presented in France in 2013, for research conducted to analyze substances from sponges that may lead to treatments for malaria, cancer, and Alzheimers disease.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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