Maria Alexandra Tamayo is a Colombian biomedical engineer, inventor and founder of NanoPro, a device capable of eliminating fungi, viruses, and bacteria in water without affecting its flavour, smell, and colour. Because of her invention, she was selected as one of the winners in the Latin American Innovators Under 35 from the MIT Technology Review LATAM edition. Maria has been selected as one of the top ten speakers for the CELD and Amazon Watch Magazine Women in STEM Symposium. Her speech was inspiring and revealed a simple truth that we often overlook: the relevance of clean, quality water in our development and sustainability on Earth.

By Tanya Maswaure

From migration to agriculture and business, Lucia has made a significant impact with her work in STEM. Her story paves the way for many young girls who do not see a future in tech but want to make a real difference in their societies. Lucia was also one of the speakers at the CELD and Amazon Watch STEM symposium, and as the first speaker of the group, she set the tone to inspire and make a real change.

Educating a woman is one fact that can never be over-emphasised, and it is in this vein that the Faculty for the Future initiative by the Schlumberger Foundation has revealed plans to provide scholarships to women from emerging countries so they can pursue PhD or post-doctoral research in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at top universities across the world.

Dr Modupe Elebute-Odunsi is a Consultant Haemato-oncologist celebrated for building the first comprehensive cancer centre and specialist in Nigeria. Elebute obtained her Bachelor degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the College of Medicine, the University of Lagos, in 1986. She finished her postgraduate education in internal Haemato-Oncology at various centres of excellence in London, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, St George’s Hospital and The Royal Marsden. She obtained a prestigious fellowship from the Leukemia Research Fund and obtained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of London for her outstanding performance. After 30 years of service and practice in the U.K, Dr Elebute finally decided to return home to Nigeria with her wealth of knowledge and experience. She has since been breaking ground in the nation’s health care sector. Being the second child out of four kids, she was inspired by her mum and dad, who are Professors of…