Tapping Into All of Me
Outside the Ministry of Innovation and Technology
Dr. Sossina M. Haile is the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Applied Physics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She is known for her research in sustainable energy materials.
In deciding where and how to volunteer, to spend precious time and energy, I look for opportunities where I can make an outsized impact. This has brought me to Ethiopia Education Initiatives (EEI). I’m a proud member of the board of EEI, and am gratified to support the school we founded, Haile-Manas Academy (HMA), especially in my fields of material science engineering and education. As a person born in Ethiopia and brought up in America, I’m uniquely able to make contributions that support the mission of HMA.
Stateless - that’s what the US State department stamped in our immigration documents in 1976 when we first came to the US as refugees, and for years I thought the word was incredibly romantic. Maybe because I’d had the fortune to immigrate to America, where, it seemed to us back then, the possibilities for who we could be were limited only by our own imagination and capacity for hard work. Maybe it was the healthiest way to process the harsh reality that we were completely severed from all of our family and friends, left behind in Ethiopia or also immigrating to destinations far and wide. Whatever the reason, I chose to understand statelessness to mean that I was a citizen of the world, free to make my destiny without reference or obligation to any one country or identity.
Over the years, I’ve come to see myself a little differently. I’ve learned that the world sees me variously as Ethiopian, or as American, or alternately as Ethiopian-American, and I now embrace all those identities. I still believe in opportunity defined by imagination and hard work, but the constraints and opportunity of identity are undeniable. Turns out I’m not really stateless at all.
With that in mind, it’s not hard to identify certain spheres where I can be uniquely impactful. For example, while I am a mentor to all of my students, I’m especially significant to my minority (and female) students. When I speak at a conference, my presentation matters to everyone interested in energy materials research, and the fact that I’m at the podium matters even more to those who look like me or share my life experiences. My research will, I hope, benefit all of us as our planet moves toward greener energy – but I can readily see who is especially invested in the fact that the science is coming from me.
I’m glad to be bringing all of me to serve HMA and benefit the students who will change Ethiopia. I bring myself as a researcher to collaborations with Head of School, Kari Ostrem, on sustainability initiatives like solar pathway lighting. I brought myself as an educator when I advised a great group of Northwestern University students writing an ultimately successful grant application to design and install custom solar water heaters in two of HMA’s new dorms. I bring myself as an Ethiopian-American to all the relationships I’ve built with Ethiopian and American universities where I can bridge the gap, open doors, and make connections between HMA and global educational and research opportunities. Above all, I hope, I can be a role model and resource for our students as they forge their own destinies, informed by their full selves, their imaginations, and their hard work.