“The variety of backgrounds in my classroom is to everyone's benefit”

It’s no exaggeration to say that Julia Schmale is accustomed to extreme environments. “But I don’t consider that to include my EPFL classrooms!” says Schmale, who was named best teacher in the environmental science and engineering section for 2023. A tenure-track assistant professor heading EPFL’s Extreme Environments Research Laboratory (EERL) and a specialist in atmospheric chemistry, Schmale is happy to point out that “the front-row seats in my class are always full.”

She became interested in nature and sustainability at a very young age. “I spent a lot of time outdoors when I was a child in northwestern Germany,” she says. “Then when recycling was introduced in the 1990s, that opened my eyes to how important it is to take proactive steps to protect the environment.” Even before she graduated from high school, Schmale knew that she’d devote her career to the collective effort to fight global warming.

Classroom teaching didn’t come into her life until recently – in the spring of 2021. But that doesn’t mean she’d never had an educational role. “When I was a postdoc, I worked actively with NGOs and decision-makers to link scientific research to actual practice out in the field,” she explains. What she particularly enjoyed was interacting with people beyond her circle of peers, engaging in dialogue with various stakeholders and learning from them as much as possible. “And now I’ve found that again with my students,” she says.

A meeting of equals

“The young women and men who take my classes come from a variety of educational backgrounds: biology, chemistry, engineering, economics and more,” says Schmale. “I try to leverage this diversity for everyone’s benefit.” Depending on the topic being studied, some students may be asked to lead the class discussion. “We also spend a lot of time exploring environmental issues, including the subject of international climate talks,” she says. Schmale appreciates this collegial atmosphere and the fact that everyone contributes on an equal footing. If her class evaluations are anything to go by, her students appreciate this approach.

“When you’ve invested years of your life in your education, it’s both normal and rewarding to pass your knowledge on to the next generation,” says Schmale. “And it’s a win-win situation, since the questions my students ask are generally insightful and inspiring. They feed into my research, as do the projects they work on.”

Schmale strives to give students the teaching they expect while taking full advantage of the specific skills they bring to the table. That’s why she adapts her class every year based on the individuals who have signed up. “I hold a survey at the start of each semester to get a feel for where the students are,” she says. “When my lectures are well aligned with their level of knowledge, we can dig a lot deeper into the material and in a targeted manner.” She admits that this way of teaching takes up considerably more time. “But it’s so much more interesting! And in any case, whenever you deal with climate issues, you’ve got to constantly stay on top of things since it’s a fast-moving field.”

Lightweight equipment and heavy gloves

Schmale has no intention of settling into a routine in her career – she’ll save that for her golden years. She moves from one project to the next with a sense of purpose, taking her cues from a fast-warming planet. Her avid interest in polar regions led her to take part in the international MOSAiC expedition in 2020 to observe climate phenomena in the Arctic over the course of a full year. In October 2023, she and her research group embarked on a five-year program to study the Antarctic. “But we’ll keep taking measurements in the Arctic as well, because it will be very instructive to compare data from the two poles.”

Schmale’s research may be fascinating, but it also comes with its share of challenges. “The biggest one for me is finding time to conduct field studies. It’s not feasible for me right now to go on an expedition every year.”

Working in extreme environments requires scientists to have the right tools and equipment for those difficult weather conditions. That relates not only to their measurement instruments – “our research on aerosols is mainly experimental and conducted on site” – but also to logistical matters. “On every expedition, we have to solve practical problems on the fly,” says Schmale. “For example, we need to wear heavy gloves in polar regions – but we also have to manipulate lightweight and small equipment! These kinds of challenges force us to be creative.” Fortunately, EPFL is home to sharp individuals with complementary skillsets who Schmale calls on as needed. One way she does this is by inviting students from other majors like materials science and microengineering to conduct semester projects in her lab.