Winding Paths to Success

8Curiosity

Some of us are born under a lucky star. It is tempting to believe that Noriko Osumi, vice president at Tohoku University, is indeed such a person—both of her parents are accomplished scientists, and she herself had a series of successes in her 38‐year‐long research career in science, most notably the discovery of the relationship between the PAX6 gene and autism. At age 57, she was appointed as vice president of Tohoku University, one of the prestigious national universities in Japan.

Luck alone does not tell the entire story, however. Underlying Osumi's career is her zeal to uncover new and hidden themes, themes perhaps overlooked by others but that quietly speak to her of their worth. Discovering and framing an appropriate problem statement based on such a diamond in the rough can be the first step of successful academic research.

It is this intellectual curiosity that led to another lifelong project of hers: correcting the gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Osumi firmly believes that a lack of women in STEM is a national loss. And mature economies like Japan desperately need more STEM researchers, male and female, as explored in my column, “Japan Needs More STEM Research, Not Tours, to Revive Innovation.”

It is a solvable dilemma, and everyone would be the better for it—scholarship in academia would benefit from increased diversity. For example, the increased presence of busy women researchers with better time ...