Twenty-four and a half years

For the past 24 years and a half, I have worked at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (National Institute of Agricultural Technology), INTA, Argentina. I have conducted a wide array of research, teaching, and extension activities while managing a motivated team of scientists.

I became a scientist starting as Research Software Engineer (although I didn’t know the job had that name). I then began to have management roles such as Head of Division/Group/Area, Regional/Thematic Advisor, Coordinator (PI) of projects and strategic knowledge networks, and the first woman member of the Board of Directors of the Natural Resources Research Center.

During this time, I was able to make meaningful contributions to the development of public policies, strategies, training material, and tools related to digital agriculture and data science applied to the agricultural sector.

My team and I obtained nine software patents and several awards and recognitions for the results of our developments and research.

AgroInformatics Award (2000), CIALP Technological Innovation Award (2001), AgroHackaton (2014), National e-Government Award (2015 and 2016), and Declaration of Legislative and Scientific Interest by the Chamber of Deputies of La Pampa (2018) for projects related to remote sensing, open data and software, and climate change.

I led and contributed to the development and implementation of fifty scientific projects, of which forty percent were joint work with other institutions and the private sector.

This has resulted in 447 publications of different types. The largest number of items are popular science articles (38%), and I wrote the largest amount during 2022 (14%). The detail by type and by year is shown in the heat map plot. The lines shows events that marked my life during these 24 years.

Additionally, as part of my extension activities, I have been actively involved in teaching programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels. I taught at 124 events (35%), and I directed the internship program at INTA La Pampa, in partnership with local computer science majors. The detail by rol and by year is shown in the heat map plot.

I was also instrumental in organizing and participating in events for training farmers, private agricultural advisors, teachers, and government officials, totalizing 346 events of different types. I was an speaker in 169 events (48%) and an organizer in 53 (15%). The heat map shows the detail by type and by year. The last three years (2020 to 2022) were the ones in which I participated in the most events, with 57 events in each year.

Deciding to leave a long-standing job of 24+ years was an incredibly difficult and bittersweet decision for me. While I had a great deal of love for the job and the people I worked with, I also had a growing desire to explore a job that challenged me and allowed me to have a greater impact while fitting better with my personal life. With this in mind, I decided to pursue a new path for my career. It is the only way for me to fully reach my own potential and see where my talents could take me.

The nicest thing was the reaction of my colleagues when I told them the news. That same bittersweet feeling that I have: sadness because I will no longer be with them sharing the day to day but joy for me and my professional development.

Forever grateful to INTA and its people. It was a privilege to be part of it.

And I am sure we will continue to meet and do things together.