Minerva’s Daughters are determined early

Jolina Keßler’s path from her first glimpse into gas chromatography

In a group photo from Girls’ Day in 2016, Jolina Keßler smiles happily into the camera alongside around 20 other girls. At the time, the fourteen-year-old had just completed her first taster day in basic chemical research—and she had really enjoyed it. So much so that in 2020 she began her training as a chemical laboratory technician at the Kohlenforschung. During her training, in addition to gas chromatography, Jolina mainly worked in Michael Felderhoff’s group hydrogen storage. Today, at 23, she is a full-time lab technician in Philipp Schulze’s group and is attending evening school to qualify as a state-certified technician. In this Minerva’s Daughters interview, she tells us why she gives up her free time for studying and what her responsibilities are as chair of the Youth and Trainee Representation (JAV).

What brought you here? Tell us about your path to the Kohlenforschung!
Jolina Keßler: I’ve actually always been interested in research, and in friends’ autograph books I used to regularly write “inventor” as my dream job (laughs). In middle school, we could sign up with a company for Girls’ Day, and I went to the MPI. The day in precision mechanics and the teaching lab was great, and afterwards it was pretty clear to me that I wanted to work in a lab. And I wanted to do an apprenticeship, not go to university. I wanted something hands-on, like in my advanced chemistry project course in high school, where I designed my own small research project focusing on titration. That mix of theory and practice is what I still love about my job today.

What are your tasks in chromatography, and what does a typical workday look like?
Jolina: In gas chromatography, I develop methods for different separation problems. In practice, this means we receive samples from researchers and first clarify the analysis request. Most of the time, we perform chiral measurements and determine the enantiomeric ratio of the samples. We also conduct purity and conversion analyses. That way, we can tell the researchers how well their reactions have worked.

What do you especially like about working as a lab technician?
Jolina: My work is a combination of routine workflows with ever-new questions, and I really enjoy that. I like working precisely, and on top of that, I have a very nice team in my department.

What influenced your career choice? Did/do you have role models?
Jolina: Not really. I’ve always enjoyed chemistry. But I did have a very good chemistry teacher who managed to get the whole class excited about the subject.

What are your plans for the future?
Jolina: Right now, I go to vocational school three evenings a week to study for the technician degree. My personal interests—sports and friends—take a bit of a back seat. Sometimes I try to combine meeting friends with doing sports. So, my plan is, of course, to finish the technician degree, and then we’ll see in three years.

As chair of the Youth Council (JAV,) you have additional responsibilities—what are they?
Jolina: As chair of the JAV, I basically have the same tasks as my colleagues Anna-Lena Lenders and Hinrich Kludig. We’re mainly the first point of contact for questions and problems relating to training. We also organize events such as the apprentice trip, a Christmas party, or waffle baking. We also take part in the interviews for new apprentices. Those are coming up again soon. I’m curious to see how things go this year.

Is gender equality balanced among our young staff members?
Jolina: In my opinion, the young staff at the institute work on an equal footing, since there are no distinctions made between female and male trainees. Many apprentices have been offered permanent positions after completing their training, and because of that, collaboration—regardless of gender—might be a bit easier here than in other places. When it comes to recruitment, we don’t explicitly focus on gender or aim for a specific gender ratio. We mainly look at commitment, personality, and suitability. But of course, we’re happy when there’s a balanced ratio of men and women among the trainees. A good mix is definitely enriching for teamwork.