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2022 Women's History Month Spotlight: Isidora Jankov

March 21, 2022

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Isidora Jankov camping

Meet Isidora Jankov, a Physical Scientist with GSL and the Advanced Technology Division, and High-Performance Computing Branch chief.

What was your career path to get here?

I am originally from Serbia, former Yugoslavia. I come from a family with multiple meteorologists including my father, uncle, brother, and myself. After I graduated from college at Belgrade University, I started work at Yugoslavia’s Federal Hydrometeorological Institute. Within a year or two, a friend and a colleague contacted me and told me “Hey you like to go to school, a professor at Iowa State needs somebody who knows the Eta model, it would be a great fit for you”. Eta model, later known as NAM, was developed in Belgrade by two Serbian scientists, and I knew a lot about it because I used it to prepare numerical simulations for my final thesis at Belgrade U. I contacted Prof. Bill Gallus at Iowa State University and three months later, in June of 2000, I was in Ames, Iowa. At Iowa State, I first pursued the MS, and then a Ph.D. in meteorology. During graduate school, every summer, Bill Gallus and I would spend time in Boulder, CO with either FSL, at the time (now GSL), or with NCAR and Developmental Testbed Center. Naturally, after my graduation, I started as a CIRA post-doctoral scientist at what is now Global Systems Laboratory. A year and a half later I was hired as Research Scientist and I have been with GSL since. One exception was the year 2012 when I had my “sabbatical” with private industry. Needless to say how much I. love GSL.

What am I most proud of?

Hmmmm I guess, I am personally and professionally proud of taking the leap into the life/career adventure by leaving Serbia and coming to the United States. The first months of being in the U.S. were the most challenging and intimidating! With no prior English language experience, I prepared for and passed the TOEFL and GRE in less than 3 months. This was a feat that built confidence and momentum. Since then, I have come a long way in my career and I love my life as a card-carrying citizen of the U.S.A.!!! I am most proud of the relationships that I have developed and have maintained with my family, friends, colleagues, and canines!!! The photos are Isidora and her "ladies" in one of her favorite places in Colorado.