Interview with Women in Science: Meet Clara Cohen
This International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we interviewed six women in science from the United States Agency for International Development to discover their journeys in this field. Meet Clara Cohen and learn more about her experience and advice for the next generation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
I am serving as Chief of the Division for Human and Institutional Capacity Development in the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau for Food Security. My interests focus on how to develop high-performing agricultural research, education, and innovation in our partner countries. I’m also the Executive Director of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, an advisory committee to USAID on food and agricultural issues that also engages closely with the U.S. higher education community. My training is in agricultural science, and I earned a doctoral degree in plant physiology from Cornell University.
Q: How did you get into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and your line of work specifically?
A: My father was a physicist who spent part of his career conducting research in Latin America, and my grandfather was a surgeon who worked in China in the 1920s and 1930s. They both worked to strengthen local scientific and medical capacity as part of their work. Their experiences inspired me to pursue both science and international development in my own career. I was always interested in science, and in high school and college I found summer jobs working in laboratories at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. I had wonderful mentors there who encouraged me. A college history course on food and famine motivated my interest in agriculture and food security issues, and after graduation volunteered for U.S. Peace Corps service in Guatemala, working as a freshwater fisheries extensionist with smallholder farmers. I pursued agricultural science as a graduate student and worked at USAID through a science diplomacy fellowship awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Later, I worked at the National Academy of Sciences, first leading advisory studies on agricultural research investments and later helping to strengthen the capacity of sister science academies in the African region to provide policy advice to their governments. I eventually returned to USAID, where I was fortunate to become involved in agricultural research and innovation capacity development efforts when the Feed the Future initiative was first established.
Q: What are some of the most exciting opportunities for your field right now?
A: There is great dynamism in the agricultural sector that presents opportunities for scientists to get involved: changing market access, new consumer preferences, growing inclusiveness, high levels of private sector investment in developing countries, more openness to transformational policy change, and breakthrough scientific innovations that have application in agriculture. Challenges in climate variability, resource scarcity, and armed conflict remain, however — these are complex problems for which solutions will require bringing different fields of science together in new ways.
Q: Where do you see your career heading in the next 5–10 years?
A: I’m most passionate about working on the big questions of our time, including food insecurity, so I’m hoping to stay in that area. I enjoyed doing laboratory research, but I have always been interested in the broader questions that lie at the intersection of science and decision making. For example, we hosted a meeting recently to look at the relationship between conflict and agriculture. It was exciting to gather scientists from different disciplines who don’t usually work together to provide perspectives on the interdependent parts of a common challenge and hopefully get us closer to solutions.
Q: What advice do you have for young girls pursuing STEM?
A: It’s important to seek out people you admire and who can encourage you. Don’t hesitate to ask people about what they do to learn more about possible careers, including non-traditional pathways. A female scientist I contacted as an undergraduate suggested several leads that resulted in a summer internship. A science career might also take you in different directions; mine certainly did not have a linear trajectory! If you can, seek practical experience in experimental science or spend time in the field. Stay curious, ask questions, and enjoy life-long learning.
Q: What would you like to see universities, schools and organizations do to increase female involvement?
A: Empowering girls won’t happen on its own. Schools need to enable girls not only to imagine themselves as scientists but also to do experimental science by developing and testing questions. Girls should experience science through hands-on inquiry of real-world problems. Schools need to be aware of and reduce the implicit biases that start during school and should encourage a growth mindset — that intelligence is not something innate but can grow through effort and persistence. As a graduate student, I participated in a program to support pre-teen girls in science and learned that at ages 11 and 12, some girls begin to lose self-confidence and drop out of science and math. This is an important time to support them and boost their confidence. Something as simple as saying “You are good at this. Have you thought about engineering or science as a career?” might mean so much to a girl. Organizations can also be proactive and committed about involving women. They can start by keeping track of the numbers of women they are hiring and retaining. As a mother of two school-age daughters, I know that juggling families and full-time work presents many challenges — for men as well as for women — and it’s important for organizations to offer work–life balance programs that give employees resources and flexibility to succeed in managing their time and energy between work and other important areas of their lives.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the interviewees and do not reflect the official policy or position of the initiative.
