The magazine of the european research area European Commission Copenhagen, a missed chance?

Alain Michel

Communication strategy consultant 

(nuclear field)

YOUNG RESEARCHERS 

Amoolya: ‘developing my own voice’ 

I work at Emory University 

in Atlanta (US). After earning 

a doctorate at UC Berkeley (US), 

I obtained a post-doctoral bursary 

at Embo (European Molecular 

Biology Laboratory) in Heidelberg, 

Germany. My research focuses 

on characterizing the mecha-

nisms of evolution of bacterial 

stress responses, which play 

a particularly important role 

in human disease and the bio-

degradation of toxic wastes.  

Although I love what I do, my 

journey in science has not been 

entirely straightforward. Growing 

up as the daughter of two bio-

logists, I was encouraged to ask 

questions and explore nature. 

I was also deeply drawn to music, 

and studied voice and instru-

ments since early childhood. 

At the end of my secondary 

studies in India, it was a difficult 

choice between a career as 

singer or scientist. But then I won 

a scholarship to study science 

in the United States, which 

impelled my journey westwards. 

The possibility of playing music 

in the new surroundings helped 

me cope with the culture shock 

and make new friends. I look 

back on my doctoral studies as 

a period of joy and creativity.

My three years in Europe were 

another wonderful time of 

transition.  For the second time 

in my life, I moved continents, 

and had to start over again. 

It is always frightening to move 

thousands of kilometres away, 

but having done it once, I was 

prepared for the culture shock.  

To my surprise, I experienced 

the opposite – as an older culture 

with a long history, Europe 

some how felt closer to India, 

and I experienced a sense of 

homecoming in the town plazas 

and pedestrian streets. I noticed 

that my European colleagues 

were just as productive as 

the American ones, and also 

managed to maintain a balance 

between work and family, and 

take healthy vacations each year. 

This balance reaffirmed my desire 

to get married and start a family, 

which, in the productivist Ameri-

can culture, I had been avoiding.  

Now that I am back in the US, 

I realize that this transition was 

(to borrow from a metaphor in 

music) the process of developing 

my own voice.  Although main-

taining one’s voice in the cacoph-

ony of professional pressures 

can be difficult, it is perhaps 

the truest and most beautiful 

reason to keep singing, or doing 

research.