21st Century Women Technologists: Sara Cela

This time, we introduce you to our colleague Sara. On the point of finishing her studies in Telecommunications Technology Engineering degree, this woman from Lugo is doing her professional internship in Multimodal Information area at Gradiant. In addition to technology, Sara has aptitude for music – she plays piano since she was five – she loves movies, playing volleyball and going out with her friends of course.

What did you want to do when you were younger?

When I was very young, I believed I had a duty to protect animals, so I wanted to be a veterinarian. I was also an activist and organized marches.

Why did you choose technology for your future?

Because my father is passionate about technology and since I was a little girl I had no idea how much fun it could be to ‘catch’ a broken music player or open a modem to see what was inside it.

What are you currently working on?

Currently, I am very proud to be a trainee at Gradiant, where I am working on the development of a detection and classification module based on deep learning techniques for video analysis, which will serve to automate logistics in port access control. Besides, I’m doing my end-of-degree work in this company.

What do you like most about your job?

Challenges never cease to be presented. Technology is growing and advancing exponentially and, therefore, it forces you to keep learning new things.

Who is your female reference in the world of technology?

Do you know the typical Easter time tv movie ‘Samson and Delilah’? Well, she, Delilah, is my point of reference. Not the character, who is too passionate in my opinion.  I like woman behind the character; the beautiful Hedy Lamar. Considered the “most beautiful woman in the history of cinema”, this actress was none other than the inventor of the communications system known as “wide-spectrum transmission technique”, on which many of today’s wireless technologies are based.

How do you imagine your career in technology? What would you like to get at?

I would like to finish my postgraduate studies and, who knows, maybe my PhD later. Besides, it would not be a bad idea to work in a technology center that would allow me to do research work in the field of computer vision, as is done here at Gradiant.

What would you say to the technologists of the future?

That we continue to discover new technologies, and if we can give this progress a social impact, then so much the better. “Don’t give up!”