Geophysicists in Antarctica

The International Polar Year is a scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic that runs through March of 2009. One of the projects is studying the Antarctic's remote Gamburtsev Mountains which are buried under several miles of ice. The American team's leader is Columbia University marine geophysicist Robin Bell.

The project has daunting-seeming logistical issues, from extreme cold to complete isolation. As Bell wrote for Scientific American:

To study these hidden mountains, we will work from two camps. The southern camp is almost 800 miles (1,285 kilometers) from McMurdo, the main U.S. station, more than the distance between New York City and Chicago—only there are no highways, rest areas or gas stations along the way, just miles and miles of ice. Our northern camp is 470 miles (755 kilometers) inland and is closer to the Australian and Chinese bases on the northern edge of the ice sheet. Where we're working, there will be no penguins and no tourists, just ice, scientists, engineers, pilots, medics, cooks and mountaineers.

For several years, we have been puzzling over the logistics. How can a multinational team (of more than 25 scientists and engineers with three aircraft) cram an expedition into the very short time that the weather is warm enough for us to work? "Warm enough" means the temperature is warmer than –58 degrees F (–50 degrees C).

Not only is it very very cold, but the elevation is high enough to cause physical problems. Adrienne Block, a graduate student working on the project blogged about it a few days ago:

Part of my jitteriness the last few days is undoubtedly rooted in the fact I’ll be going to the South Pole on Monday. According to our medical briefing, that means I’ll be perpetually short of breath, having trouble sleeping and going to the bathroom about every 20 minutes for 2 days…. The anticipation is almost too much to hold in! I have been to 10,000ft elevation before but that was after living at 6,500ft above sea level for 5 weeks… and that was in Utah. The transition from sea level here in McMurdo to 10,000ft is such a surprise to the system that everyone is prescribed a medication to help our bodies adjust to the lower oxygen levels. On top of that, we all have to fight off the adrenaline brought on by the fact we’re in Antarctica, at The South Pole, at 10,000ft—no offense to Utah, but it doesn’t compare! Just in case we don’t adjust to the elevation, everyone has been learning tasks outside their specialty. Hopefully, if someone gets sick, we’ll be able to keep the science moving forward, even if at a slower pace.

But the scientists aren't completely isolated from the rest of humanity. You can follow Robin Bell on Twitter or join the XTREME South Facebook group for the latest information about the team's progress.

You can also read the blogs of other women scientists currently working in the Antarctic:

• Andrea Balbas, undergraduate in geology at CUNY, who is collecting data about seafloor sediments
• Adrienne Block, a PhD student at Columbia University who is working on Bell's team
• Beth Burton, geophysicist with the US Geologica Survey
  
• Zoe Courville, a PhD in materials science who works as a research mechanical engineer at Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lap in New Hampshire
  
• Saffia Hossainzadeh, undergraduate in physics at the University of Chicaco, who is studying the motion of ice streams
• Jean Pennycook, high school science teacher and penguin researcher
  

More information

• Video webcast with Robin Bell on EXPLO.TV, Dec. 7, 2008 (scroll down to "Hidden Mountains" or click here: Real 256K )
• Robin E. Bell: "Dispatches from the Bottom of the Earth: An Antarctic Expedition in Search of Lost Mountains Encased in Ice" in Scientific American
• Dispatches From the Bottom of the Earth posts at Scientific American 60-Second Science

Tags: Robin Bell, Antarctic, geoscience

Mothers in the Field

Joan Ramage Macdonald is an Assistant Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Lehigh University. Maura E. Sullivan is a graduate student in ecology. Both of them do their research in the field, rather than in the lab. And both of them had a baby last year. They wrote about their experiences doing fieldwork with their babies for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

They were happy to bring their babies into the field as long as conditions permitted. And they have what seems like a broad definition of acceptible conditions. For example, Macdonald took her baby Iona while she did her research in the Arctic:

When we got to the Yukon in March, the temperatures were well below freezing (-13ºF, -25ºC) but balmy by northern standards, and our baby was just nine weeks old. On the first day of field work, we snowshoed to the research site with Iona strapped on. We had to outfit her for cold weather and protect her from the sun. We had to carry both Iona and our field gear, and learn when and how to change a wet diaper in the deep snow.

Three Lehigh students came to help me with the fieldwork for three weeks, while my husband took care of our baby. I had to pump breast milk far from electricity or the warmth and power of the car, so I modified my pump to make it battery-powered and portable, and fit it into a backpack with the rest of the gear. I pumped on many a snow bank.

As someone who prefers a climate-controlled environment, I find that hard to imagine. But Joan and her family are obviously of hardier stock than me.

Both Joan and Maura are fortunate to have helpful spouses and other family members who share the child care responsibilities so they can focus on their research. They list the lessons they learned while with their babies in the field, and conclude it's good for everyone:

• Fieldwork is good for babies: It teaches them adaptability and a love of the outdoors. Their exposure to students is mutually stimulating and fun, and they benefit from a strong relationship with their caregiver, whether that is a parent, a grandparent, or a nanny.
• Fieldwork is good for mothers: It helps you maintain a field program and your involvement with students. Outdoor time with your baby blends interests. Exercise at this stage is key for your psyche (and physique).

That sounds great.

(via ScienceWoman, who notes it's trickier with a toddler, and Zuska)

Tags: women in science, geoscience, mothers

Blog Roll Update

More women blogging about science and engineering:

Engineering

(Female) Assistant Engineering Professor says:

I'm an assistant Engineering Professor starting down the tenure track road this year (2008). And I'm female. As my life is becoming exponentially hectic, I thought that my experiences might be helpful to others, and other's advice might be helpful to me.

Angineer is written by Angie in Colorado:

A female professional engineer who defines herself by the groups and activities she joins--I am a leader in the Society of Women Engineers, adult Girl Scout volunteer, and proud sorority alumna and adviser.

Physical Sciences

The Musings of a Life Long Scholar: A new blog by geologist Life Long Scholar, which is about "musing about her love of learning and the joys of life in the sciences."

One Astronomer's Noise is the blog of Nicole, "Astronomy grad student, skeptic, atheist, libertarian, and belly dancer."

Life Sciences

The Minority Scientist blog has two goals:

*Share useful information to assist minorities, including women and underrepresented peoples, in science navigate a career in scientific research.
* Explore the world of science through the eyes of a single parent pursuing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences.

A Neotropical Savanna is the blog of Mary Farmer:

The posts in this blog are my own experience working through the learning of plants in the area where I now live. Even though this area happens to be in Panama, the principles I use for learning these plants apply to the learning of all plants. Most interesting may be the mistakes I make! And I make plenty, believe me.

Farmer also runs the web site Learn Plants Now!

Microbiologist XX says she is "finishing my PhD in microbiolgy. This consumes most of my time. I also enjoy listening to music, reading, laughing at my cats and shopping for shoes."

S. of More Than a Permanent Student is in grad school studying ecology.

Tags: women in science, women in engineering, blogs

Ice Stories

The Exploratorium has collected a bunch of blogs under the heading "Ice Stores: Dispatches from Polar Scientists", which showcases scientists working at the poles. Not surprisingly the research is seasonal: scientists work in Antarctica during the Northern Hemisphere's winter (so summer at the South Pole), while research in the Arctic is going on now. A number of women scientists are part of the effort.

In the Arctic:

• Anne Jensen "lives and works in Barrow, Alaska. Anne’s field studies have taken her throughout much of Alaska for the past 25 years. Her research in human adaptation in the Arctic includes a long-term project at the prehistoric village site of Nuvuk, where the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas come together. Historic Nuvuk is also the site of a 1,000-year-old burial ground. Hundreds of gravesites are endangered there by erosion, which sometimes removes 50 feet of coastal frontage in a single storm."
• Amy Breen "has studied the impacts of climate change on Arctic plant communities for nearly a decade. She is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, and a member of a team of circumpolar scientists participating in the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). In July 2008, she’ll begin blogging from the Toolik Field Station, her field site in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in Alaska."
• Laura Thomas "is an archaeologist and full-time resident of Barrow, Alaska. As the Field and Lab Director for the Nuvuk Archaeology Project, Laura devotes her time to the long-term excavation of a 1,000-year-old burial ground significantly threatened by erosion. Born and raised amongst the rich geological history of Ontario, Canada, Laura has held a lifelong interest in prehistory and how past peoples adapted to their environments. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and describes her archaeological work in the Arctic as 'living the dream.'"
• Zoe Courville "studies snow and ice in polar regions. She received her PhD in material science from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College in 2007. She is currently employed as a research mechanical engineer at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, New Hampshire. She loves working in the polar ice caps and sharing her experiences with others."

In the Antarctic:

• Cassandra Brooks "is a graduate student in Marine Science at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) in California who has studied Antarctic marine resources for the last four years both at MLML and with the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program (AMLR). Cassandra’s work focuses on life history and population structure of Antarctic toothfish. Her goal is to provide information on their age, growth, and spatial distribution in order to facilitate sustainable management of this important Antarctic species."
• Christina Riesselman "has traveled to Antarctica three times in pursuit of fossil diatoms that can unlock the secrets of past climate change. She's a Ph.D. student at Stanford University's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences and a member of the international team of scientists working on the ANDRILL sediment coring project."
• Nadine Quintana Krupinski "studies the dynamics of ice sheets and the waterways that exist under glaciers. She's a glaciology Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and enjoys working on isolated glaciers in the world's polar regions."
• Maria Vernet "has been a primary investigator on thirteen research cruises off the Western Antarctic Peninsula, exploring one of the coldest marine ecosystems on earth. She's a marine biologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California. During winter 2008, she studied the ecology of phytoplankton and its role within the marine ecosystem at the Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). From May 31 to June 20, 2008, Maria is on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker in the northwest Weddell Sea, collecting plankton samples from under and around large free-floating icebergs that have broken off from the Antarctic Ice shelf."
• Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis "dreamed of becoming an artist but fell in love with physics in graduate school. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago's Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and pursues questions about the origin and history of the universe on the South Pole Telescope team. She arrived at the South Pole in November 2007 and blogged about her work on the telescope until she left in February 2008."

If you click on the scientists' names, you'll not only get to their blogs, but you can learn more information about the projects they are working on. It's an interesting glimpse into doing scientific research under extreme environmental conditions.

Tags: women in science, Arctic research, Antarctic research, blogs

SheSource.org: Closing the Gender Gap in the Media

Despite their growing ranks as experts in fields ranging from national security and military spending to technology and health care, women continue to be drastically underrepresented in the news media as policy shapers and leading voices of authority on critical issues. We've heard from journalists that say the main reason they do not quote women as experts on a range of topics is simply because they do not know how to find them.

SheSource.org is a site that attempts to "close the gender gap in news coverage" by providing a database of women experts as an easily-searched resource for journalists. While it looks like most of the listed women have expertise in policy, social sciences, or journalism, there are Ph.D. scientists and engineers too. Most of them are involved in policy and politics, though, rather than academic research. A few examples:

• Jane Rigby is a Spitzer Space Telescope postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution. She has a particular interest in demystifying science for the public, and to that end co-founded the first Penn State Astrofest, served on the editorial board of Odyssey, a science magazine for children.
• Lisa Haverty applies her Ph.D. in cognitive science to the tricks of advertising. She works for Arnold Worldwide as their "brain whiz", providing "expertise in how people think and learn provides new and unique insights into how people perceive and remember – or don’t remember - ads."
• Judith Hand is an evolutionary biologist, author, and futurist who has created A Future Without War, a series of essays on strategies for ending war.
  
• Sonja Ebron has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, with special expertise in power systems and utilities. She has been an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Hampton University. She is currently the CEO of blackEnergy, an organizer of energy bying groups that help people use their utility bills to support Black communities.
• Climate scientist Brenda Ekwurzel is a former faculty member in the University of Arizona departments of Hydrology & Water Resources and Geosciences. Currently she leads the Union of Concerned Scientists' climate science education work "aimed at strengthening support for strong federal climate legislation and sound U.S. climate policies."
• Mathematician Cindy Williams is a Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program where she "focuses on U.S. budgets for national security and the policies that surround military personnel in the United States and Europe." Prior to joining M.I.T. she was an Assistant Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
  

If you would like to recommend someone as an expert (including yourself) you should contact SheSource.org.

Tags: women in science, experts, SheSource.org

Lectures on Astronomy and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has made a podcast of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, including several by women scientists:

• Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI Institute): "The Allen Telescope Array: The Newest Pitchfork for Exploring the Cosmic Haystack". Tarter is the "the leader of the main project looking for radio signals from alien civilizations", and the model for Jodie Foster's character in the movie Contact. Listen to the MP3.
• Dr. Janice Voss (NASA Ames Research Center): "A Scientist in Space" and "Searching for Earth-like Planets: NASA's Kepler Mission". Voss is an astronomer and astronaut who has flown on five space missions, and is currently the Science Director of NASA's Kepler Space Observatory. Listen to the MP3.
• Dr. Nathalie Cabrol (SETI Institute): "The Mars Exploration Rover Mission: A Year of Exploration and Discovery" Cabrol is a planetary geologist who specializes in "environments favorable to Life on Mars, their exploration (robotic and human) and the study of terrestrial analogues." Listen to the MP3.
  

(via Bad Astronomy)
Tags: astronomy, podcast, lectures

Blog roll update: supplemental

Thanks to everyone who sent me blog suggestions!

As always, if you'd rather your blog not be listed, drop me a note and I'll remove it from the list. And if you have another suggestion, let me know!

General and Miscellaneous

The Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) has news about meetings and fellowships.

The Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (CWiST) blog has news about Canadian women in, well, you know . . .

Physical Sciences

Christie at the Cape teaches in the geology department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She says "I am pretty new here. This blog is about settling in."

Mel at Ripples in the Sand is "a graduate student in the Rocky Mountain region. My interests include sedimentology, stratigraphy, and diagenesis - with an emphasis on deserts."

Alessia Maggi is a research seismologist in Strasbourg, France who blogs at Sismordia - Seismology at Concordia.

Ordinary High Water Mark is written by Coconino, "a woman geoscientist and I primarily work on conducting wetland/waters jurisdictional determinations in the greater southwest."

Dr. Lisa is an astrophysicist who blogs at Things I Find Important. "I'm a scientist and an educator. And occasionally, I want to say things that I shouldn't say in front of the students. So, here I am."

Louise Riofrio blogs at A Babe in the Universe. She's a "Full-time researcher in cosmology. Before graduating I learned that the speed of light is slowing down and came up with the GM=tc^3 equation, which most physicists still can't explain. More recent work seeks Black Holes in some very unexpected places. I enjoy exploring a strange world and unusual forms of life."

Marni Dee Sheppeard is a physics and astronomy postgrad in New Zealand. Her blog, "Arcadian Functor" has "occasional meanderings in physics' brave new world."


Wayward Elf is an "American expat in Switzerland who, to the horror of everyone she meets, shipped over a spinning wheel and ten (small and liftable) boxes of books. And a lot of knitting needles. All padded with my yarn and fiber stash." She just successfully defended her thesis - congrats Dr. Elf!

Life Sciences

Rock Doctor writes at Life v. 3.0 . She says: "After many bumps, twists, and turns in the life of a military spouse, I have finally reclaimed my own space and place. I am for myself and all the world, a geobiologist."

Adopt a Microbe is the blog of Emma Lurie, a student in Perth, Australia. Each post is a portrait of a bacterium, virus, or other microbe, with a description and cute original illustration. I never thought I'd want to give herpes a hug!

Alethea of Humans in Science suggested several French women science bloggers:

Ingénieur Bioinformaticienne is written by "Evelyne, is a research engineer in bioinformatics and has been actively writing for the last year on her career."

Dr. Caroline Legrand, anthropologist, "has a diverse blog covering her academic specialty, genealogy, searching for origins, and her view of French academic politics."

Dr. Sophie Pène "has been keeping a blog about her research in networking on her university site"

Mathematics and Computer Science

Ivory Tower Tales blogger Science Cog is "a newly appointed tenure-track assistant professor in the mathematical sciences at a large research university in the United States. Cast of characters on this blog include the cog family consisting of spouse with demanding job and several kids."

Jessika at Middle Raged Punk is "a 30-something punk/geek chick living in Oklahoma. I am married with one Baby Grrl, and am still struggling with working full time, doing the home stuff, and rebelling against the system while trying to find time to satisfy the geek in me by playing video and other games." She asks "Where'd all the women in IT go?"

The Women and Mathematics EMS Committee blog has the following description:

The idea to try and provide European women mathematicians with a meeting point between the two EWM meetings, was born at the EWM Cambridge meeting. The European Mathematical Society Committee Women and Mathematics launched the blog on September 12, 2007, with a wish to put this idea into work.

We are doing our best to publish the materials as regularly as possible. Of course, people are more than welcome to leave their comments. (Unfortunately, this opportunity has not been very much exploited.) So far we have published various materials : statistical data, reports on past activities of the Committee, materials about EWM; we have also started a gallery of portraits of living women mathematicians, each of whom is introduced by one of her women colleagues.

Engineering

Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men is written by Janiece Murphy, "a Hot Chick living in Parker, CO with my Smart Man, my family and my Giant Schnauzer. I'm a 17 year veteran of the United States Navy, and I currently work as a Systems Engineer at a major manufacturer of Telecommunications equipment. I'm an amateur skeptic and a fan-girl of science, and I think Neil deGrasse Tyson knows the secret of the Universe. I'm unashamedly liberal. I attend the University of Denver, knit cold weather accessories for various charities, and I'm learning to play bass guitar in an effort to stave off the Mad Cow."

Tags: women in science, blogs

Blog Roll Update

I've been kind of neglecting the list of women science bloggers in the sidebar. If you asked to be included and I'm just now getting around to adding you, I apologize. I've done a bit of spring cleaning, and removed blogs that either have gone dormant (not updated for at least 6 months) or have been deleted completely. I also added the new Blogger widget that shows the most recent post for each blog. I like it, for the most part, but the one drawback is that it can only include blog feeds - blogs without feeds (and there are some out there) aren't included, and there usually aren't separate feeds for individual authors in multi-author blogs.

What's exciting to me is the sheer variety of women science bloggers. Some talk about their personal experiences, while others are purely science. Some bloggers are pseudonymous, others blog under their real names. The authors are undergrads, college students, grad students, post docs, faculty members, scientists in industry, programmers, teachers, science writers, and more. And what are all these blogs good for (other than interesting reading, of course)? Fairer Science's Building Web Communities has some suggestions for "Using Women in Science Blogs to Encourage Girls in Science" (and I'm not just mentioning because they link back here). There's also a good discussion of using "Women in Science" blogs as a recruitment tool at Sciencewomen.

Please let me know if there are blogs you think should be included (I apologize if your blog vanished in the transition to the new widget), I've miscategorized your blog, misspelled your name or you'd rather not be included in the blog roll at all.

So without any more ado, here are the most recently added blogs:

General & Miscellaneous

This category is for blogs that are about science or women in science in general, or it's unclear whether author is a life scientist, physical scientist or other.

Parsnip Parsimony is a "vegan baking and science blog". Her most recent post is about donuts and chemistry. Yummy!

Inside Higher Education's Mama PhD is a group blog by mothers "attempting to balance motherhood and academics", that includes "ABCs and PhDs: Biologists at Home" Liz Stockwell, Dana Campbell, and Susan Bassow, as well as "Math Mom" Della Fenster.

Scientia Matris is "A female post-doc in some field or another. A mother of two divine little creatures who sometimes I refer to as 'career killers' (they are my highest impact productions whose citation rate will long outlive me and possibly also my science!). I work in a big group at present but am about to take the big leap and set up on my own."

Jennie at Just a Girl is "in the last year of my Ph.D. dissertation
and have currently moved from the East Coast to the Midwest for my
husbands job." She turned in her dissertation on June 2 - congrats!

Becky at Sweet Life in Seattle is a "postdoc in science trying to navigate being a full-time working mom and wife and all of the minutia that entails."

Kate's Controversies "is a place for conversation and discussion about controversies in science, technology, engineering, and many other topics. Kate, the blog's owner, will use this blog to publicly ask "WHY?" to controversial topics that catch her eye."

Life Sciences

This is definitely the largest category. I'm not sure if that's because there are more women who blog about the life sciences (which would make sense because there are more women life scientists than physical scientists), or if it's because I'm most interested in biological science topics.

Neurotic Physiology is a blog by "SciCurious", who is "a graduate student struggling through the vagaries of a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology at a southeastern university. She tried to stay focused on her work, but she can’t help it, she’s sci-curious. In her free time, she is a nerd, a geek, and also a dork. And every once in a while, she talks about herself in the third person. "

R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H.E.R.S is a co-ed blog by postdocs Dr. A and Dr. J. What their blog is about:

Dr J and I used to work on the same floor in the institute where I did my Ph.D. and where J came for a postdoctoral position from across the pond. The last year for me, and the first for him were very busy times but we helped each other through by providing counseling over a pint or 5, a bottle of shiraz, chocolate and sushi. These sessions were instrumental in getting me through the hardest year of my life and now that I have moved for my own postdoctoral work, and we are unable to chat, bitch, wine, or cry in person - why not start a blog!

Scientist Mother is pursuing a PhD at "a university in Western Canada". She's an indo-Canadian, and, as the title of her blog indicates, a mother. Her latest post is on the Validity of Leaving Academia.

The About.com biology blog is written by Regina Baily, who is "active in the development of biology and science related content for a Web content development firm. She has written the forward for a book from the well known Complete Idiot's Guide series: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Cloning." Her goal "make biology meaningful and fun, and to provide you with fresh, up-to-date information that will make you wonder why all of those science courses were so boring."

Biotech Brazil is written by Luciana di Ciero, "an Agronomic Engineer with a Masters Degree in Agronomy and Doctorate Degree in Science."

Tina at Raising Scientists is 'Full time post-doc. Part-time teacher. Mother of two. And sleep deprived."

Julie R at In My (Not So) Abundant Spare Time . . . is "Postdoc by day. Wife and mother of twins by night."

WomanScientist is a graduate student "Trying to figure out what it means to be a woman and a scientist. Trying to figure out how this career fits into real life. Trying to convince myself that I can do this.

Physical Sciences

This category includes physics, chemistry, geosciences, astronomy, and related sciences.

Magma Cum Laude is written by Jessica, a soon-to-be graduate student in volcanology.

Science writer Jennifer Ouellette, who blogs at Cocktail Party Physics, has a second blog at discovery.com called Twisted Physics.

Physicality of Words is a blog by postdoc Åka, who writes about "physics, about going abroad for postdoc, about literature and ideas, and about fandom and Sweden and related things that I find interesting."

Dr. RMC, Non-Fiction Scientist is written by "a female postdoc in the general area of env. chem."

Nerd-land is a blog (in English) by Darwi, a Bosnian scientist now working in the UK. Read about her experience as a woman in science.

A Wallflower Physicist's Perspective is written by "a female undergraduate about to begin the stressful journey of applying to and then trying to survive graduate school in physics. If all goes as planned, I will earn my Ph.D. sometime within the next decade and go on to enjoy a life of research and unabashed nerdiness."

Nancy Atkinson @ Universe Today is freelance writer and journalist who writes about space exploration and science. She's also a NASA Solar System Ambassador.

Emily Lakdawalla pens (keys?) the Planetary Society Weblog.

Feminist Chemists have a manifesto (my term, not theirs):

Feminist Chemists believe that all women are created equal too.

Our site is a central repository of information that will educate and inspire and likely infuriate.

We are astonished that there is still a debate about the existence of discrimination against women in chemistry. If anyone still doubts this fact, our site provides irrefutable proof from diverse credible sources.

As Feminist Chemists we are opening chemistry to all people.

We are challenging the status quo of the androcentric field of chemistry and demanding that the conscious and subconscious gender bias operating within the field be acknowledged, addressed and stopped!

We emphatically believe that ending gender bias in chemistry is of the utmost importance to our national interest and the realization of our species’ potential.

This is a call to action.

Silver Fox at Looking for Detachment is a "fifty-something exploration
geologist working here and there in the West, mostly. Geologist,
exploration- ist, artist. Former pool player, Austin Rules (no slop,
bank the 8)."


Mathematics and Computer Science

For those of you who want to make suggestions for this category, note that "computer science" doesn't include blogs that focus on gaming or technogadgets.

Isobel Lugo - a "third-year PhD student in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania" - blogs at God Plays Dice, "A random walk through mathematics -- mostly through the random part."

Girly Geekdom is a group blog associated with Girl Geek Dinners.

Geek Girl Blogs is an aggregate of blogs by and for Women in IT.

We know that there are many amazing women working in the IT industry, across all areas, countries and backgrounds. Many of these amazing women have decided to keep blogs that give insight into their daily life: some purely technical, some social, others cover dealing with the constraints of working in this so called mans world, balancing work with family and achieving amazing personal & career goals, while others are just damned entertaining.

The Haxr Chick Blog is "a hacker chick's thoughts on life and software" written by Abby Fichtner, who is a "writer, runner, cyclist, boxer/kickboxer, book worm, couch potato, food lover, perpetual dieter, hacker, software engineer, ScrumMaster extraordinaire".

The about.com Math blog is written by Deb Russell "an experienced teacher having taught both elementary, middle and high school students. Deb has presented math implementation and math exemplar inservices to hundreds of teachers throughout her school board and educational jurisdiction. " She says:

I love teaching and learning all about Mathematical concepts. As an educator, parent and math enthusiast, I'm committed to providing you with the best mathematical resources. A solid foundation in Mathematics can pave the way to success and is an important factor in many careers. The problem solving strategies required in math help prepare us for today's complex, information age. After all, it's the wealth of rich resources used appropriately that improves mathematical understanding.

Rivikah at Life and Then Some is a mathematician.

Engineering

This is currently the smallest category, so more links to women engineers who blog would be appreciated.

Also Worth Reading

Educated Woman is a series of articles Science Minority Scientists Network about the "grad school adventures" of the pseudonymous Micella Phoenix Dewhyse. I'm kind of late to the game, since the series started in 2002 and is on its next-to-last installment, but it's definitely worth reading.

The PBS Wired Science Correlations blog has a few women bloggers (but no individual feeds), including antarctic meteorologist Tasmin Gray (who also blogs at Melted Cheese), biologist Tara Smith (of Aetiology), and marine biologist Sheril Kirshenbaum (who also blogs at The Intersection).

Tags: women in science, blogs

Minority Women in Science

Karin Koch of Accidental Twins Productions sent me a link to a video she produced last year, "Minority Women in Science". According to the ATP blog, the inspiration for the film came from seeing women she knew struggle in their science careers:

The idea for the film Minority Women In Science developed from observing the obstacles and frustrations experienced by my sister and some friends of mine, as women academics in the United States. Most are struggling to be considered for tenure or tenure-track positions in their university departments.
[. . .]
On one occasion, I remember asking my sister: Why is there still a gender gap problem? I thought universities were research institutions where objectivity prevails and people, irrespective of gender or race, are hired and promoted based on merit, where everybody is competing on equal terms, at least in theory.
Little did I know how far reality diverges from theory.

Read her whole post for more background.

The video shows a roundtable discussion of four women scientists who were all born outside the United States, talking about their experiences as women scientists. The participants were:

• Saeqa Vrtilek, Senior Astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Irene Bosch, Assistant Professor of Medicine at theUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
• Magaly Koch, Research Associate Professor,Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University
  
• Sucharita Gopal, Professor, Geography and Environment, Boston University.

The video premiered at last year's Cambridge Science Festival.



Tags: Minority Women in Science, Accidental Twins Productions, video

Carolyn Porco: Leader of the Cassini Imaging Team

Carolyn Porco received her PhD from CalTech in 1983 from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, then joined the faculty of the University of Arizona and was made a member of the Voyager Imaging Team. In 1990 she was selected as the Imaging Team leader for the Cassini-Huygens mission, which is ongoing, and Director of the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS (CICLOPS). She is also currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In 1991 Porco talked to Natalie Angier at the New York Times for an article about the lack of women in scientific leadership positions:

"Scientists can be like schoolyard toughs," said Dr. Caroline Porco, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson who has been appointed head of NASA's Cassini spacecraft mission, scheduled to fly past Saturn in the early 21st century. "I grew up as the only girl with four brothers, but still I wasn't prepared for what I encountered at Stanford when I went there in 1974, as a graduate student. You'd present your results, and somebody would say, 'How did you get here? Why are you wasting my time? If you had half a brain you could have done that calculation.' "

What is more, said Dr. Porco, if she had had the inclination to respond in kind, "the guys would probably say, 'She's a pushy bitch.' "

And Porco does apparently have a reputation for aggressiveness (at least according to this 2004 article).

Peter Goldreich, who directed Porco's doctoral studies at Caltech, said she always had a "nose for discovery" and learned early on that, in a large enterprise such as the Voyager missions "men would tend to be much more aggressive than women" in speaking up at meetings. "She became much more determined to succeed and assert herself," he said.

Goldreich said Porco is not a good politician. "She tends to have a rocky relationship with quite a few people, even on the team," he said. "On the other hand, she gets things done. ... She's quite a presence."

"Carolyn defends the imaging team," said Andrew Ingersoll, a planetary scientist at Caltech. "She defends her instrument. You have to be a little abrasive."

Jonathan Lunine, a University of Arizona planetary scientist who was at Caltech as a graduate student with Porco, recalled that she managed to get access to Voyager data at a time when it was not widely available. "She was in a very intense and stressful position," he said, with "people who were more senior than her who really wanted their chance" at the data first. "Many grad students would fold up and go away," Lunine said.

I don't know if Porco is really "abrasive" or whether her assertiveness is interpreted negatively because she is woman*. In any case, she appears to be quite successful in her career, and does a lot of public presentations about her work. This is a talk she gave at TED in 2007 about landing on Titan and the ice jets of Enceladus:


And her work is her life**. As she told Wired News:

WN: What do you do in your free time that has least to do with astrophysics?

Porco: (Laughs) What free time? My work is my life. If I had more free time I would have learned to play the piano by now.

I did play the guitar and sing; I was in a band called The Estrogens: three females and one very brave guy. But really, Cassini has been so inspiring, I get so much fulfillment from that. I do wish I could go on vacation, though.

At least when she goes to work she knows the scenery will be gorgeous.

More Carolyn Porco Links:

• Exclusive Interview With Carolyn Porco - Star Trek's New Science Adviser (Feb. 2008)
• Beyond Belief: Carolyn Porco on Science & Religion: part 1, part 2, part 3 (YouTube Video)
• Edge: The Third Culture: Carolyn Porco
  

* see, for example, Science Daily on "People Accept Anger in Men, But Women Seen As Less Competent" and Female Science Professor's Post about "Aggressive Women"

** It seems like many of the scientists I've profiled are single-mindedly focused on their science. I don't know if it's really true that the most high profile scientists don't have lives outside of their work, if it's partially a cultural issue - scientists feel like they are expected to say that they have few other significant interests, or it's a reporting issue - profiles of scientists are written with the assumption that stereotype is true. All of those factors may come into play.

Tags: Carolyn Porco, women in science, planetary science

Added to the Blogroll

Women blogging about science who have been recently added to the blog roll:

• The Afro Scientress is a science student in Australia. I especially like this post.
• Kate Seip, PhD student in neuroscience and former blogger at the Anterior Commissure ("The science of sex and mating, gender and attraction, pregnancy and parental behavior.") now blogs at Pure Pedantry
• Julia Heathcote's blog is the The Ethical Paleontologist, which focuses on earth sciences and paleontology.
• Talia Page blogs at Talking Science Abroad ("we're a new non-profit that's dedicated to bringing the latest discoveries, innovations, controversies and cures out of the lab and to the public. Our first stop: India.")
• Anne Marie Helmenstine, PhD, writes about chemistry for About.com at Anne Marie's Chemistry Blog, written for a non-technical audience.
• Kim Hannula is a "forty-something tenure geology professor at a public college in the Rockies" who blogs at "All of My Faults Are Stress Related"

Tags: women in science, blogs

Interviews with Australian scientists

In 1993 the Australian Academy of Science started interviewing Australian scientists about "their early life, development of interest in science, mentors, research work, and other aspects of their careers." The resulting interviews are available (as transcripts) at Iinterviews with Australian scientists. Thirty-six women scientists are included, and their careers span most of the 20th century, from marine biologist Isobel Bennett (1909-2008) to biomedical scientist Sabine Piller (1970- ). The biological sciences are heavily represented, but there are also physicists, chemists, and geologists.

What I especially like about the interviews are the glimpses of growing up in Australia along with memories of studying science and working as a scientist. The interviews are ongoing, with Professor Dorothy Hill ("a career in geology and a trailblazer for women in science") scheduled to be added soon. The current list of interviews:

• Dr Yvonne Aitken (1911-2004), Agricultural scientist
• Dr Leanne Armand (1968- ), Micropalaeontologist
• Dr Isobel Bennett (1909-2008), Marine biologist
• Professor Marcela Bilek (1968- ), Physicist
• Dr Natashia Boland (1967- ), Operations researcher
• Dr Kristen Bremmell (1970- ), Chemical engineer
• Professor Julie Campbell (1946- ), Vascular biologist
• Dr Tracy Dawes-Gromadzki (1972- ), Ecologist
• Dr Liz Dennis (1943- ), Plant biologist
• Miss Margaret Dick (1918- ), Food microbiologist
• Professor Jenny Graves (1941- ), Geneticist
• Natasha Henrick (1972- ), Geophysicist
• Professor Mollie Holman (1930- ), Physiologist
• Dr Shirley Jeffrey (1930- ), Marine biologist
• Professor Priscilla Kincaid-Smith (1926- ), Nephrologist
• Dr Jean Laby (1915- ), Physicist
• Professor Elspeth McLachlan (1942- ), Physiologist
• Professor Helene Marsh (1945- ), Environmental scientist
• Professor Nancy Millis (1922- ), Microbiologist
• Professor Beryl Nashar (1923- ), Geologist
• Dr Moira O'Bryan (1966- ), Medical scientist
• Dr June Olley (1924- ), Fish technologist
• Dr Sabine Piller (1970- ), Medical research scientist
• Professor Cheryl Praeger (1948- ), Mathematician
• Professor Marilyn Renfree (1947- ), Physiologist
• Professor Pamela Rickard (1928-2002), Biochemist
• Professor Lesley Rogers (1943- ), Neurobiologist
• Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos (1951- ), Chemical engineer
• Professor Fiona Stanley (1946- ), Epidemiologist
• Dr Sally Stewart-Wade (1969- ), Plant pathologist
• Dr Liz Truswell (1941- ), Geologist
• Dr Gretna Weste (1917- ), Botanist
• Professor Ann Woolcock (1937-2001), Medical scientist
• Dr Patricia Woolley (1932- ), Zoologist
• Dr Jane Wright (1954- ), Entomologist
• Dr Jean Youatt (1925- ), Chemist
  

For biographical information, click the "Teachers Notes" link that accompanies each article.

Tags: women in science, Australia

Women in Science News Roundup: North America 08-20-07

Here is some of the news about women in science from around the US and Canada from the past week or so:

Profiles of Young Women in Science

At A Blog Around The Clock, Coturnix has a video of a talk by 17-year-old molecular biology prodigy Eva Vertes. From her TED profile:

Her discovery, at age 17, of a compound that stops fruit-fly brain cells from dying was regarded as a step toward curing Alzheimer's. Now she aims to find better ways to treat -- and avoid -- cancer.

Wow, when I was 17, I was still learning the basics .

The Intel ISEF blog has video of New Mexico contestant Kristina Dahm explaining her project about hot springs.

Closing the Gender Gap

Zuska writes about the disparity in bathroom facilities for men and women in old science buildings. It makes me feel like I need to pee just reading about it.

The Wall Street Journal asks "With Labor Crunch in IT on the Horizon, Why are Careers Failing to Lure Women?" Unfortunately it's behind a subscription/pay wall, so I don't know the answer they came up with.

Pat at Fairer Science points to the American Physical Society's Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP)'s project: Female Friendly Physics Graduate Programs survey. Department chairs were asked to answer the following questions:

1. How many tenure-track or tenured faculty -- male/female?
2. How many graduate students ? -- male/female?
3. Is there a family leave policy for graduate students? If so, describe.
4. Is there family health insurance available for graduate students? Is it included in the stipend?
5. In a paragraph, please describe why someone applying to graduate school who is interested in a female-friendly department should choose your institution.

Check out your department or the University you are interested in attending.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Harvard University has made little progress in increasing the proportion of women and minorities in tenure-track faculty positions.

Including the affiliates, women make up less than 25 percent of tenured professors in 10 of 13 faculty groups, according to the report, issued last month. Minorities hold fewer than 15 percent of tenured spots on 11 of 13 faculties.

You can read the full end of 2007 report yourself (pdf).

The Edmonton Journal reports that women are underrepresented in engineering and computer science at the University of Alberta. They have developed a summer program for high school students - WISEST - to "encourage women to enter non-traditional science fields."

"They have the interest, but often they don't see other women in science and engineering because it's seen as a non-traditional career for women," Powley said.

But there is hope for a change, Ennis said.

WISEST had the highest number of applications in its history, with more than 180 Grade 11 students applying from across Canada this year. The program also accepted more out-of-province students than ever, making up about half of the 60 students taking part in the initiative.

At a Spoonful of Medicine Apoorva Mandavilli reports on a new program at University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to recruit and retain female faculty members.

I must say it all sounds promising. I particularly like Travis' comments that all past efforts focused on helping women navigate the system. Rather than "fixing the women," she says, "we need to focus on fixing the academic environment instead."

Geoscience Academics in the Northeast (GAIN) is a program co-founded by geoscientist Suzanne O'Connell, inspired, in part by a meeting she attended last year at which she was the only woman.

From July 29 to Aug. 3, 18 women from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and even Illinois, gathered for the first GAIN writing retreat near Boston, which offered camaraderie and a focused environment for writing. The women were offered professional writing guidance from Anne Greene, director of writing programs at Wesleyan. They also shared feedback and left with a paper or grant proposal ready for submission.

“Our goal is to help women from all academic levels take part in a community that stresses professional development in the geosciences,” O’Connell explains. “Through GAIN, we hope to increase the retention of women in geosciences programs here in New England, and eventually spread throughout the country.”

The Pasadena Star News editorializes about the record number of women set to enroll at Caltech.

While the new numbers show clear and welcome progress for women in the sciences, why has it been so hard to achieve parity? Because, perhaps, women's brains are wired differently and the delicate flowers can't quite figure out this particular algorithm?

Nonsense. That's the kind of muddy, unscientific thinking that quite properly got a Harvard president forced out from his post.

No, at a place like Caltech, part of the problem has been that "the ratio," as students have for years referred to the situation, actually feeds on itself.

A young woman with the grades, test scores and savvy to get into Caltech can also choose to attend Harvey Mudd in Claremont, MIT or any one of the handful of colleges with similar excellence in engineering and science.

When she pays a campus visit and sees that women have been so much in the minority that they can be a kind of oddity, some have simply chosen to go where it's more comfortable.

The MidWeek News reported that Northern Illinois University geography professor Leslie Rigg recently spoke about the factors that turn women away from science, including lack of childcare, lack of female role models and stereotypes about scientists.

Rigg said several female college students do not view themselves as becoming scientists. She said, during one of her classes, she asked the students to describe what they feel a scientist should look like. She said most of the students described a scientist as an older, white male. Rigg said 35 out of the 50 students in the class were women.

“Half of them are science majors, yet they still don't see themselves as scientists,” Rigg said. “When they hear scientist, they picture some guy with bubbly test tubes.”

Microsoft runs an annual DigiGirlz camp, a week-long technology camp for girls.

The Maui News writes about the Hawaiian Telecom Women in Technology internship mentor Sheri-Ann Tihada and her mentee (if that's a word) Audrey Chihara.

At Providence College in Rhode Island, Chihara said she did not encounter the kind of stereotyping Tihada experienced. Then she said she completed a physics class that turned into an eye-opening revelatory experience.

“It’s math in the world,” Chihara said. “It just really explains a lot for me. How a ball bounces. Why it bounces high.”

She said people shouldn’t think it’s so uncommon for girls to get into science and technology. In her college, engineering and technology studies are “more popular with guys,” but she also encourages more women to consider careers in science and engineering.

The Orange County Register reports on local girls who attended Tech Camp at the University of California, San Diego.

"(At Tech Camp) we lived in suite that I shared with six other girls and one dorm mom," Gillian said. "I chose physiology as my core subject. We studied organ systems and we learned our blood type. Mine is O positive. We did a lot of dissections, a sheep's heart and brain and a small shark, but we didn't have to study all the time. We had tons of fun."
[. . .]
Gillian said that professional women were invited to talk to the girls in the evenings. "Every woman said she loves her job and she wouldn't change it," she said. "A female family doctor was one of the speakers who visited us. In all the different science things I've done, that interested me. I might want to be a family doctor.

The Earth Times has an article about the 10-week summer program at Williams College to introduce undergraduate students to hands-on research.

The program adds another dimension as well; an opportunity to work with female instructors within an academic arena once dominated by male professors. As a University of Washington graduate student, Hutson didn't encounter women role models to emulate within the sciences.

"There were no female faculty members in my department," she said. "It really was an old boys network at that time."

The Williams biology department currently hosts a faculty that is about 50 percent women, said Hutson. Mutual respect among instructors and students is an important factor during the academic cultivation of future scientists, she said. Hands-on research coupled with dedicated instructor mentoring may be just the formula for an invigorated interest in scientific pursuits.

Tags: Eva Vertes, Kristina Dahm, women in science, women in IT, gender gap, science camp

Women in Science Weekly News Roundup

There weren't many news items this past week. Perhaps everyone is on their summer holiday?

Professor Lynne Frostick was elected President of the Geological Society of London, the world's oldest society of earth scientists. Frostick is the second woman to hold the position. The first was Professor Janet Watson, who held the position in the 1980s.

Professor Frostick said, "This is a great honour, but also a challenge in to ensure the Society goes from strength to strength. It also makes me very happy to be following in Janet Watson's footsteps- I wish she were still alive to share it with me."

UPI Energy Watch writes about "Diversifying Energy's Laborers."

Renewable energy may be, in ways, more appealing to women part because of the novelty and because it is more on the liberal side of the engineering work world, Forsyth said.
[. . .]
"As the only woman on the American Wind Energy Association board of directors, I certainly would like to see more women," said Karen Conover, president and chief executive officer of Global Energy Concepts, Inc. "Part of the purpose of Women of Wind Energy is to provide women with a networking forum."

The group provides networking forums in addition to sponsoring women who want to attend AWEA's annual wind power conference. So far, Conover said, the group has been successful. More than 150 attended June's WoWE luncheon. In the last two years, at least nine of the women sponsored are actively working in the industry. Ten more were sponsored at June's conference as well.

Conover knew at a very young age her career would be in engineering.

"In the fourth grade I attended an environmental fair with my father and saw an exhibit on solar energy and even though I didn't understand the economics, from then on out it was science projects and renewable energy and I choose engineering because I wanted to get into the renewable energy field," she said, adding "providing role models for women increases their sense of confidence."

The Associated Press reports on science camp for middle-school girls hosted by the chemical engineering department of the University of Missouri-Rolla.

"What we try to do is portray how engineers (and scientists) help people, and are part of the caring professions - even if you're designing a microchip," said Cecilia Elmore, camp coordinator and director of the university's Women's Leadership Institute.

The weeklong program for ninth- and 10th-graders was so popular that Elmore and her colleagues created the three-day "It's A Girl's Thing" camp for younger students. Now in its second year, the camp will likely expand into a weeklong program next summer, she said.

Tags: Lynne Frostick, Geological Society of London, Karen Conover, Women of Wind Energy, summer camp, science for girls, University of Missouri-Rolla

Women in Science Friday Link Roundup

First off, Post Doc Carnival #5 is up at On Being a Scientist and a Woman.

On my other blog, I interview Canadian ecologist and science fiction writer Nina Munteanu about science, writing and science fiction.

Mindhacks takes a look at the neuropsychology research that Natalie Herschlag (aka Natalie Portman) published when she took a hiatus from acting to study psychology at Harvard.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair blog interviews Hadeel Masoudi of Amman, Jordan about her project on shark antibodies.

This week's "Citation Classic" at The Evilutionary Biologist is the so-called "Blender Experiment" of Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase that demonstrated that DNA (and not protein) is the genetic material.

Skepchick Rebecca has a report from her friend Evelyn who is on a research vessel on the Indian Ocean studying undersea volcanoes.

Zuska posts a report from this year's Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network (WEPAN) conference. She also links to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (behind a paywall unfortunately) about Harvey Mudd College president Maria Klawe, who commutes to work via skateboard.

Fortune & CNN Money columnist Anne Fisher responds in her "Ask Annie" column to a young women who asks whether women have a hard time getting promoted in IT. Annie suggests asking about and talking to women at job interviews, and seeking out a mentor.

The Austin American-Statesman writes about Project IT Girl, administered by Girlstart, a program for high school girls that "seeks to correct the low percentages of women in tech-related jobs."

Displaying a self-awareness impressive for her 15 years, Kelley Stidolph said, "I'm weird. I don't like dressing up or makeup or skirts or shopping."

What does she like? Math and science. This astonishes her classmates.

They are sometimes pressured — by teachers, by group projects — to accept her into their fold "even though I'm just so different and not at all like them," Stidolph says. "That pressure may cause them to exaggerate in their minds how different I am."

"I've always been good at math, and science has always just interested me," [Alexi] Ramsey said. "So many of my friends will complain about it, boys and girls. They say, 'Science sucks. When am I gonna use this?' I have to, like, cough and say, 'Uh, every day?' "

The father of one of the girls is a programmer at Symantec who claims to have met only two female engineers in his 20-year career. It sounds like he needs to step away from his computer more often.

stuff.co.nz reports that there is a "Man drought hitting universities" in New Zealand. According to the article woman make up 59.3% of domestic graduates and 55.6% of international graduates. Only 33.2% of masters degrees and 42.4% of doctorates go to men.

Men still dominate in some subject areas with three times more than females in engineering, and maths and information science. However, there are significantly more women in biological sciences, commerce, health, humanities, social and behavioural science at bachelor orhonours degree level.

The Queensland (Australia) Business Review notes that nominations for the Smart Women- Smart State award for women in science, engineering or information technology close on June 29.

"Winning the Award was the highlight of my secondary schooling and clearly helped my application for a place in the competitive sphere of medicine at university," says 2006 Secondary School Students award winner, Zoe Brown.

2006 Research Scientist Award winner Professor Melissa Little agrees.

"Being a professional woman and a mother is a tough juggle but, when you get recognition for your efforts, it all seems worth it," Melissa says.

The Manila Bulletin Online reports on a speech by Dr. Amelia Ancog, "former Department of Science and Technology (DoST) undersecretary and now module director of the National Defense College of the Philippines" at the recent Gender Awareness Seminar for Women in Meteorology. Ancog noted the lack of female meteorologists at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), and pointed out that the department used to be dominated by women, most of who either went abroad or were transfered to other departments.

An article in the ThomasNet Industrial Market Trends reports on the "mirage of professional gender equity." It focuses on the pay gap between women and men in technical careers in the United States and Canada.


The Marietta Times reports on the Women in Sciences camp at Marietta college for middle school girls who primarily come from West Virginia and Ohio.

“We’ve already learned about astronomy, microbiology, digital photography and fun with math,” said Rictoria Schaad, 13, an eighth-grader at Marietta Middle School, while working on a chromatography project, learning about chemical separation by solvents. “And it’s really fun to meet all the other girls.”
[. . .]
“I got to see all the constellations I’ve never seen before,” said Elly Nau, an eighth-grader at St. Mary’s School. “I’m excited about everything. Science is one of my favorite subjects. There are always so many fascinating things.”

The Arizona Daily Star writes about the IBM Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering (EXITE) Camp for middle school girls last week in Tuscon.

""I like technology," said Sara, who is in seventh grade. "It's interesting to see how complicated it is and how many things you can do with it."

Katie Dreeland, 18, was in the first group of students to attend the IBM camp.

"EXITE did change my life," she said. "It introduced me to the world of engineering."

The recent Cienega High School graduate, who attended the camp when she was a student at Old Vail Middle School, will enroll at Arizona State University in the fall and major in molecular biosciences and biotechnology.

The Hamilton Mountain (Ontario) News writes about the McMaster University "All Science Challenge" and "Let's Talk Science" program for local middle school students.

"We wanted to do something interactive to show kids that science is fun," said Diana Dregoesc, the McMaster coordinator for Let's Talk Science.

She is a graduate student in biology who helped organize the event along with 60 other undergraduate and graduate science students. "We also wanted to break the stereotypes that all scientists are grey-haired with a beard. They're men and women of all races. Science
is for everyone."

Tags: gender gap, women in science, science camp, Natalie Portman, Martha Chase, Intel ISEF, stereotypes, women in IT

Elizabeth Sulzman, Rest in Peace

ScienceWoman reflects on the sad news of the death of Dr. Elizabeth Sulzman, an apparent suicide (Go read the post and comments. I'll wait.). Sulzman was an Associate Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Science at Oregon State University. Her faculty web page is now a tribute to her.

"Elizabeth brought soil science to life for her students," said Russ Karow, head of OSU Crop and Soil Sciences Department. "Her collegiality, dynamic personality, and infectious enthusiasm for active learning and scientific inquiry were her hallmarks."

From a childhood of tumbling rocks in the basement and dreaming of becoming "Jaquette Cousteau," Sulzman had always been in love with the outdoors. She worked for a time with the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic, helping villagers build a dam.

"It was quite a challenge," Sulzman recalled. "I had no knowledge of the local trade language and the people I worked with had little knowledge of engineering or hydrology." Yet, by the end of her stay, Sulzman and the villagers had completed 80 ponds to provide a source of protein for the people in the area.

And her science:

Elizabeth is described by those who worked with her as "possessing an astonishing level of curiosity", a "hands-on person", and "one who has leaned the fundamentals of 19th Century Soil Science and can apply it with biogeochemistry, isotope chemistry, and atmospheric sciences to solve the problems of the 20th Century."

What a sad loss for her family, her students, and science.

More: KGW News report

Edited to Add: Last Sunday (June 17) The Oregonian ran a long article about Sulzman's life and death.

I've noticed the arrival of lot of visitors searching for information on Elizabeth Sulzman. Please feel free to leave a comment if you knew Elizabeth (or even if you didn't)!

Tags: Elizabeth Sulzman

2007 L'Oreal USA Fellowships

As reported in Genetic Engineering & Technology News, the 2007 recipients of the L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women in Science have been announced. The winners all received their Ph.D.s within the last couple of years. Here are the winners, with research descriptions from the press release (I've added information about their current position if I could find it):

-- Dr. Jaime D. Barnes University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico - earth scientist and geochemist, analyzing chlorine isotope ratios of rocks, minerals and volcanic gas to determine the source of chlorine emitted from active volcanoes. Dr. Barnes is identifying sources of chlorine in two very different subduction zones, and has recognized important isotopic fractionation processes between hydrochloric acid solutions and vapor, which have implications for the fundamental dissociation of hydrochlorine in aqueous solutions. Her work may hold the key to how volcanic eruptions occur and thus help scientists to predict future eruptions.

Barnes is currently a postdoc in the lab of Zachary Sharp.

-- Dr. Sarah Clinton - Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan - neuroscientist, studying the roles that nature and nurture play in shaping emotionality and emotionally-driven behaviors in rats. She is breeding two types of rats with differences in emotional behavior and comparing the impact of mothering-styles on their offspring's behavior and neural stress-circuitry. When complete, this body of work should yield a greater understanding of how genetic and environmental factors interact to shape inborn differences in emotionality which may, in turn, put certain individuals at risk for developing stress-induced psychiatric disorders.

It looks like she is currently working in the lab of Huda Akil.

-- Dr. Julie Huber - Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts -oceanographer, researching the microbial ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Dr. Huber is using large insert DNA libraries to understand the metabolic capacity, genomic context and phylogenetic relationships of subseafloor communities. Her project applies a combined molecular diversity, metagenomic, and geochemical approach to provide a window into the microbial world. Dr. Huber's work will help researchers better understand how microbial populations function in and regulate the world's oceans.

Huber is currently a Research Associate at MBL. Her research is associated with NASA's Astrobiology Institute.

-- Dr. Maria Krisch - University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California - physical chemist, researching fundamental properties of the surfaces of liquid solutions. Dr. Krisch's area of focus is understanding liquid-vapor interfaces at the molecular level, which has been examined extensively with water-based solutions but not non-aqueous solutions. Her research focuses on liquid solutions of electrolytes, which are important in studying atmospheric chemistry. Her findings will have several practical applications, including bringing a much needed quantitative and physical picture to the role that aerosol particles play in pollution and climate change.

Krisch is a postdoc in John Hemminger's research group at Irvine.

-- Dr. Kim Woodrow - Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut - biomedical engineer, developing new drug delivery strategies and diagnostic tools for the monitoring and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. Dr. Woodrow's research is doing this by using various bioactive peptides to engineer multifunctional nanoparticles. In particular, she is interested in designing biodegradable nanoparticles that will be efficiently delivered intracellularly once at a target site. This combination of molecular biology strategy and nanotechnology will likely translate into new technology for imaging and treating diseases.

Woodrow is a postdoc in the Yale biomedical engineering department, probably in the lab of W. Mark Saltzman.

Astronaut and physicist Sally Ride was presented the Women in Science Role Model Award "for her role in helping to shape the image of women in science." Ride currently is CEO of Sally Ride Science, which runs programs to encourage girls in science and technology.

A key part of our corporate mission is to make a difference in girls' lives, and in society's perceptions of their roles in technical fields. Our publications and out-of-school programs bring science to life and show kids that science is creative, collaborative, fascinating and fun.

The non-USA divisions of L'Oreal also award women science fellowships. For example, The Star online recently reported on the L’Oreal Malaysia For Women in Science Fellowships. The fellowships are for Malaysian female PhDs under the age of 35 working in materials science-related fields. Last year the winners were "Munirah Sha’ban, 26, for researching tissue engineering and regenerative medicine at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Crystale Lim Siew Ying, 24 for researching molecular genetics at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Dr Latifah Saiful Yazan, 35, researching a plant extract as a potential cancer-curing agent at UPM."

Also, in conjunction with UNESCO, L'Oreal awards fellowships to women scientists all over the world. The 2007 UNESCO-L'OREAL International Fellows are:

AFRICA:
Mestawet Taye Asfaw, food science, Ethiopia
Khady Nani Drame, plant biotechnology, Senegal
Christine Ouinsavi, forest biology, Benin

ARAB STATES:
Fatima Abbas, plant molecular biology, Sudan
Sarrah Ben M'Barek, plant biotechnology, Tunisia
Rhimou Bouhlal, marine biology, Morocco

ASIA PACIFIC
Fenny Dwivany, molecular biology, Indonesia
Barno Sultanova, biotechnology, Uzbekistan
Chawanee Thongpanchang, medicinal chemistry, Thailand

EUROPE/NORTH AMERICA
Irene Chiolo, biomedicine, Italy
Gisella Cruz Garcia, conservation biology, Netherlands
Petra Klepac, epidemiology, Croatia

LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN
Venetia Briggs, behavioral ecology, Belize
Nancy Chandia, organic chemistry, Chile
Laura Echarte, crop physiology, Argentina

The application deadline for the 2008 awards is September 14, 2007.

As an aside: the L'Oreal web site is all in (mostly superfluous) flash. It makes Firefox run very s-l-o-w-l-y and they even have a multistep flash interface for subscribing to their RSS feed. Very annoying!
Tags: L'Oreal Fellowships, women in science