Dr. Castelani, winner of the Leadership in Industry category of the 2024 Latin American Women in Chemistry Awards, shares insights into her career journey, current research projects, and inspiring vision for the future of chemistry.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Latin American Federation of Chemical Associations (FLAQ) are thrilled to announce Dr. Priscila Castelani as the winner of the Leadership in Industry category of the 2024 Latin American Women in Chemistry Awards. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding women in the chemical, pharmaceutical, or biotechnological industries for their innovative contributions to commercial success and societal impact.
With a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, Dr. Castelani has made significant contributions to the industry through her work in research and development. Her leadership roles at various international companies are a testament to her exceptional abilities and dedication.
To celebrate her achievement, we had the opportunity to interview Dr. Castelani just before the award ceremony at the 2024 Congreso Latinoamericano de Química (CLAQ) in Panama City, Panama. During the conversation, she shared insights into her career journey, current research projects, and inspiring vision for the future of chemistry.
In the interview, Dr. Castelani emphasized the importance of authenticity. She encourages young woman scientists to embrace their individuality and pursue their passions without conforming to societal expectations.
Watch our interview to join the inspiring conversation with Dr. Castelani, a brilliant chemist with a warm personality, or read the transcript below the video.
Stay tuned for more updates on the other winners of the 2024 Latin American Women in Chemistry Awards!
Transcript
Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
I'm Priscilla Castellani. Now I'm the Director of Marketing and R&D for Crop Solutions and Energy and Resources at Indorama Ventures. I'm a chemist as a background, and I have a Ph.D. in organic synthesis.
So, I graduated in chemistry, and I took a Ph.D. in organic synthesis. And then after that, I just started working in the industry. And in the industry, I worked for coatings industries—always in R&D, so formulations. In agriculture, formulations as well, and also now in energy and resources, which is oil and gas. So, a lot of different R&D activities, always developing new products.
We have several projects now for the agrochemical markets, and a big trend in this market is sustainability. And sustainable products, you know, more and cleaner products, better for the environment, for the farmers. So, the majority of our projects now are to develop new solutions that are more efficacious in the field for the farmers. So several projects in this field.
How does it feel to be recognized with the award?
It's a very well-known award in the industry. So, I'm super happy to have this honor of receiving this prize. And, I’ve been thrilled all these days, a lot of comments in the company and within the industry congratulating. So it's been a great experience. I think it's the recognition of years and years of work in this field. So, yes, it's been great.
What advice would you give to young scientists, especially female scientists?
One of the things that I will say, I always pursue what I like. So, I think that's my great advice. Go for what you like. You know, I think the opportunities will come with hard work and dedication. The opportunities will come.
So, believe in yourself, be yourself. That's another thing. So, I think that sometimes (as) women, we try to be somebody else to be a leader in the industry, but it's not needed. I think, with our hard work, we can be a great leader and great chemists. And you can make a difference in our business, for sure.
What change in the scientific community would you like to see within the next 5 years?
We women made a great advance in this field already, but I think there's still room for more women in the leadership in the chemical industry. It is a traditional, very manly industry. But I think with the years, things are getting better. And it's very nice that we have been seeing a lot of women in high positions and even young people, you know, that's another thing that's very interesting. It's a big trend, I think, to have young people, young scientists coming to the field. I think there's a lot of things to be done in innovation, in the chemistry business. So I think this is what I hope for the next year. More innovation and more people coming.
How would you rate your overall impression of ACS journals and why?
ACS journals are known as one of the best journals that are in the market for sure. Since my Ph.D. studies, it was always a dream to publish in any American Chemical Society journals. For me, from organic synthesis, the JOC, as we call it, The Journal of Organic (Chemistry). Very known. Also, of course, JACS is also—so the journals are super known for us.
And I think they make a great difference because the publications are always very good and very inspiring. I think, the publications are the main tool that we use to publish the results and to keep the research going on. So the more reliable the journal, the more reliable the research, the better it is, better results because research is something that you build up on the top of others, so one person publishes one thing, and then if it's reliable, somebody else publishes another thing on the top of that. And then that's how science is built.
So I think publications are the basics of science, like to keep it going. If the publications are good, the results are good, and it's a reliable journal, what's being written there, so you can go on further from that point. And so that's very important to have reliable data.
Do you trust the content published in ACS journals?
Oh, yes. Yes, for sure. I always use this a reference, ACS journals, and we really rely on everything that is published in there.
How do the scientists at your company perceive the quality of ACS journals?
They think it's a very reliable source of papers, for sure. We use it a lot. So we subscribe and we use for all the projects that we have. So all scientists use all the papers. So it's very much reliable.
Do you find the content published in ACS journals useful and relevant to what you do?
So, for the research that we do in agriculture, ACS (Publications) has very interesting journals for, for that field of application of agriculture.
When we first start a project, one of the first things that we do is go back to the ACS journals to see what we have in that field. So in agriculture or in energy. So yes, they are always the primary resource of knowledge and of information for a new project. The basics of the chemistry that are in the journals from ACS are very much used by us for that as well, you know. So yes, we use it a lot, for our research projects.