Like the other AMSEN students attending the network's annual meeting in March 2012, Naomi Shifeta of the University of Namibia (UNAM) was asked to give a brief PowerPoint presentation about her research topic. She was expected to defend her choice of topic, its value to society, and her proposed research methodology.
At dinner the night before her talk, she was so nervous she could speak only in whispers and barely touched her food. As one of the newest and youngest AMSEN students, and only the second woman to be accepted into the program, she had little experience speaking in public; nor did she know any of the senior faculty members from four countries who had assembled for the meeting. Two of her own advisors and traveling companions, Erold Naomab and Diina Shuuluka, were also new to the program. They kept her company at dinner, and tried to ease her anxiety. They knew she had heard tough questions tossed by faculty members at some of the more advanced students, and they tried to play that down.
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