Dana Bartošová
Dr Dana Bartošová is an assistant professor in mathematics at the University of Florida (US) and a mother of two boys, ages 3 and 5. She is also an advocate for academic parents and founder of Math Parents Coffee, a growing network that aims to identify and tackle challenges faced by parents in mathematics. In an interview with our team, Dana shares her career achievements and also her struggles juggling her academic career and motherhood with little institutional support. She advises other academic moms to “Find your village, do not be afraid to ask for help and to say no.”
1. Please describe your job in one sentence.
In my research, I study relationships between topological dynamics, set theory, model theory, and combinatorics. I teach three courses per year, and advise graduate and undergraduate students. I am also a founder of Math Parents Coffee and UF Math Circle.
2. What do you aspire to accomplish in your career and why?
As a teacher, I want students to apply mathematical logic to think critically and independently. In my research, I aim to discover connections between different parts of mathematics, and thus bring various communities together. Through the Math Circle outreach, I would like every child to have access to the beauty of mathematics. In our Math Parents Coffee we identify and tackle obstacles that parents in mathematics face and we are working on changing the environment that will not force primary caretakers to choose between family and academia. I feel the need to persevere in academia as a role model and to better conditions for future parents.
3. What do you consider to be your most important career achievement or milestone?
I have developed a set-theoretic approach to dynamical systems that leads to generalizations, new results, and sets up a frame for developing a general theory, which I have been awarded an NSF CAREER grant for.
4. What career obstacles have you faced as a mother in STEMM? How did you overcome them?
My first child was born when I was a postdoc and I was not eligible for any paid maternity leave. With my salary, as a single mother at the time, I could only afford very little childcare, which had an enormous impact on my productivity. Looking backwards, the lack of sleep and split attention between baby and work were the largest obstacles. I fortunately had very understanding colleagues and great results with great collaborators prior to having a baby that carried me over this difficult period.
5. What was the best professional or personal advice you’ve ever received?
To take things with a sense of humour.
6. How did MiS help you professionally and/or personally?
Having a community and knowing that my struggles are a norm, rather than a failure makes a big difference. Moreover, MiS are making efforts to change this norm for the better by creating a network, raising awareness, collecting and analysing data, and much more. They have been extremely supportive of our Math Parents movement and I am enthusiastic about our future collaboration.
7. What advice would you give to a mother in STEMM?
Find your village, do not be afraid to ask for help and to say no. Even if you feel like failing, you are likely over achieving. It is the conditions that should change, not you. Although we are parents forever, the extreme hardship is only temporary and it gets better.