Janhavi Giri - 2019 SPIE Women in Optics Planner
Data Scientist
Intel Corporation, USA
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Country of Birth: India
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My inspiration to pursue a career in science and engineering comes from my family. Both my parents are PhDs in sciences and had successful careers. Their dedication, hard work, and perseverance motivated me to explore opportunities in science and engineering.
I am part of the Intel NVM (Non Volatile Memory) Process Technology Development group, which is responsible for developing state of the art technologies like 3D-NAND and 3D-Xpoint. My focus areas are in computational lithography and photomask manufacturing. As a R&D engineer I am responsible for developing, coding, and maintaining mask and OPC (Optical Proxmity Correction) algorithms for Intel’s current and future NVM technologies.
The biggest challenge that I faced in my career was transitioning from academia to industry. The culture shift was huge. It was overwhelming and at times scary. However, with great support from my family, friends, and my mentors at work I was able to successfully navigate the challenges.
When you are first starting out it is very important to have a mentor who can guide and help you through the initial challenges one faces. I wish I would have known that earlier on.
For young girls and women who are considering a career in STEM I would highly encourage them to go for it. I would strongly advise them to not get bogged down by the stereotypical gender-biased opinions, but continue to believe in their credentials and abilities.