Tell me where you’re from, what you’ve studied and some about yourself

- I am from Mexico, particularly from Mexico City which has twice the population of all of Sweden! I studied my BSc in Mexico, in Food Technology. Then I worked for 6 years in industry and decided to continue my studies by starting an MSc in Food Science at the University of Leeds, UK. I stayed further for my PhD in the crystallisation of cocoa butter after which I joined SU and changed my area completely.
Besides doing research, I very much enjoy practising yoga, reading fantasy books, listening to music, and attending classical music and opera concerts. But what I do the most is going for walks both in nature and the city.

When did you come to Fysikum and for how long will you be a postdoc?

- I arrived in March 2019 to SU to start my postdoc working on amorphous ice and supercooled water and I will stay for at least another year, but now as a researcher.

What are your results from the research of amorphous ice and its transitions, including to crystalline ice?

- The results from our work have shown how water exists as two different density liquids which interconvert depending on the conditions. Importantly, they are related to the two different density amorphous solids in the low-temperature regime of the phase diagram.
Regarding crystalline ice, we have found further evidence of how at ambient pressure, though the most stable phase is hexagonal ice, the initial crystalline form has stacking disorder with some cubic layers.

In what materials have you used phase transitions and the application of X-ray methods and what are your results?

- I have mostly worked on cocoa butter (the fat in chocolate) and water (liquid and solid). In most cases I have worked with metastable phases that show coexistence, and X-ray scattering and diffraction “fingerprints” prove incredibly helpful to identify the phases present and how the transitions between them occur.

Tell me about your contribution to Research Nights?

- I really enjoy Science Communication, which is why in collaboration with Mariia Filianina, we made a short presentation about our research, followed by a short video showing the labs in which we work in.

What are your future plans and visions?

- I would very much like to continue as a researcher, so hopefully this year I will get a grant so I can start as a PI. I would really like to be able to combine my current water-related research with my Food Science background.

What is your vision as a member of the Young Faculty:

- Through the Young Faculty we aim to promote transparency, provide information and support to postdocs and researchers. We also work to promote diversity and innovation across the campus, through research and by enhancing the interpersonal skills of the SU-YF members through the organization of workshops, for example.
As a representative, specifically of Physics, I want to showcase all the ECRs in Fysikum (postdocs, researchers, and assistant professors) using Fysikum’s Instagram account so that people can get an idea of the wide breadth of research that is being done in our department. I really want to give more visibility to the ECRs and give them an opportunity to showcase their work and interests. However, this is not content that I can generate, so I need voluntaries to provide me with the pictures and text that they would like to share. Therefore, I invite everyone interested to contact Gunilla and myself.

More information

• Contact Marjorie Ladd Parada
• Courses for doctoral studies
• Fysikum's Instagram
• Fysikum's Young Faculty

Marjorie Ladd Parada's papers

• Global small-angle X-ray scattering data analysis of triacylglycerols in the molten state (part I)
  A Sadeghpour, M Ladd-Parada, J Vieira, M Povey, M Rappolt
• Global Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering Data Analysis of Triacylglycerols in the α-Phase (Part II)
  M Ladd Parada, A Sadeghpour, J Vieira, M.J.W. Povey
• Fast field cycling NMR relaxometry studies of molten and cooled cocoa butter
  M Ladd-Parada, MJ Povey, J Vieira, ME Ries
• Early stages of fat crystallisation evaluated by low‐field NMR and small‐angle X‐ray scattering
  M Ladd Parada, MJW Povey, J Vieira, M Rappolt, ME Ries
• Heterogeneous Ice Growth in Micron-Sized Water Droplets Due to Spontaneous Freezing
  N Esmaeildoost, et al.
• Anomalous temperature dependence of the experimental x-ray structure factor of supercooled water
  N Esmaeildoost, et al.
• Long-Range Structures of Amorphous Solid Water
  H Li, A Karina, M Ladd-Parada, A Späh, F Perakis, C Benmore, K. Amann-Winkel

Science Communication videos

• Research Nights
• The Science talk
• Pint of Science