Spark the Future: From the kitchen to the lab, Royal Canin Global R&D Research Director shares how discovery led to a career in STEM
By Silvia Miret Catalan, Royal Canin Global R&D Research Director
Like many children, I loved being in the kitchen with my mother, grandmother and aunts. Of course, I enjoyed spending time with them and was honored to be tasked with mixing ingredients, but I was also fascinated by the process itself. It amazed me that I could follow a set of steps and a specific method to create something that was completely different from what the original ingredients looked like. As time went on, I began looking in books for new recipes to try and checked in with relatives for their ideas and expertise.
Only when I was at university did I realize that my passion for cooking was similar to my passion for lab work. Just as in the kitchen, I was mixing ingredients – chemicals – together to discover or create something that was different from the starting point. My discussions with colleagues about their ideas and hypotheses were the same as my conversations with my mother, grandmother and aunts. I loved lab work (and I still do) because it is at the heart of discovery, of finding something new.
Fast forward to my work at Mars, and I am fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with scientists who specialize in many disciplines. Whether working with chemists to study flavors, with veterinarians and biologists to explore pet and human health, or with food scientists to design the best formulations, we bring our talents together to create the world we want tomorrow. It is at this intersection of scientific disciplines where the magic really happens.
It's never too early – or late – to spark your own interest in science. At Mars, you can learn from scientists across a wide variety of disciplines, discover what is at the edge of one discipline or at the intersection of multiple disciplines, evaluate different perspectives and continuously expand your mind to go further. There is always something new and exciting to learn! All of us should invest in the next generation of scientists, whether it’s younger women on your team or in your organization or a child who is showing a spark for the scientific part of cooking, like I did. Help them build confidence in themselves and encourage a passion for continuous learning.
