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"I grew up in a village in Hunan province in China and when I was little, I loved to go to the fields with my mother who would name the plants around us. There were many wild flowers in the spring and it was beautiful. In the summer, we would go to the river to catch shrimp and fish with the villagers. My parents encouraged me as much as my brother to take control of my life. It is very important to value a high level of education for all, to broaden one's view of the world and to make better life choices - especially for girls who are still devalued by some men. We may have physical differences but we have the same ability to use our intelligence to do the same things as boys. We should make sure that the responsibility for children is equally shared between women and men and that they receive an equal education at a young age!

I am doing research on microalgae in the LGPM laboratory of CentraleSupélec where I am doing my thesis. These are different species of microorganisms that have applications in many fields: biofuels, wastewater treatment, medicine, food, cosmetics. The growth of these aquatic microorganisms is fast - they double in numbers in 24 hours - but when cultivated in suspension, their productivity remains low. I am testing the cultivation of microalgae in the form of rotating biofilms, which allows us to control the light fraction and periodicity of the alternating light/dark regimes. The processed lipids from microalgae biomass could become the source of 3rd generation biofuels, without taking up agricultural land. The needs will be immense in the face of fossil fuel scarcity. The research on these microalgae is promising, I am also interested in their modeling and I hope to deepen my research by doing a postdoc on these issues."

Yan Gao,
PhD student in bioengineering, LGPM laboratory of CentraleSupélec - University of Paris-Saclay

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