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 We've heard from journalists that say the main reason they do not quote women as experts on a range of topics is simply because they do not know how to find them.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

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

The Compass Project @ UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley physics graduate student Joel Corbo has a guest post at Cosmic Variance, where he talks about the attitude within his department that discourages grad students from pursuing an interest in teaching. Not surprisingly, this ends up negatively affecting the undergraduates who want to pursue a physics major. Corbo believes the atmosphere can end up diminishing their "passion for physics" in several ways:

1. Because they don’t have the skills necessary to problem-solve, model-build, and generally think like physicists, these students actually don’t know how to effectively learn physics as it is typically presented in a large lecture-based class. This doesn’t mean that these students are stupid, or somehow not worth teaching. It simply means that there are things they need to be taught other than “the material” in order to help them become better learners. Unfortunately, many of them come away feeling like they don’t have what it takes to be physicists (as though there is some intrinsic “physicsness” that they are lacking) and so they leave the field.
2. The typical introductory physics sequence, at least at Berkeley, is very isolating for potential physics majors. The vast majority of people in those classes are engineering students who are there because their departments require that they take physics; they have largely no interest in physics for its own sake. This makes it very difficult for potential physics majors to identify each other — they are like needles in an apathetic haystack. [. . . ] However, an important part of the excitement of physics is the collaboration with peers, the shared goal of building knowledge through interaction and discussion and asking “What if”. Without that, it’s incredibly difficult to paint physics as an interesting field, to really sell the idea of being physicists to these students beyond the level that NOVA can, and so they leave the field.
3. The problems of interaction and perceived lack of “physicsness” are magnified for a certain set of students: women and underrepresented minorities. [. . .] For this discussion, the important point to note is that in addition to the issues that their well-represented peers also face, they have to face majoring in a field where they don’t see people like themselves. They arrive at the seemingly logical but erroneous conclusion that success in physics is unattainable unless you are a white male, and so they leave the field.

Realizing those problems, he and three other grad students and created a program called The Compass Project. The Compass Project "supports diversity [especially women and minorities] in the physical sciences by bringing together undergraduate and graduate students through exceptional teaching and learning experiences." They run a two-week intensive summer program for incoming freshmen which both introduces them to the campus, and allows them to work closely with graduate students and professors to "learn what 'doing science' really means." Year-round the Compass Project offers mentoring, office hours and lectures aimed at undergraduates.

So, how can you help support this fantastic program? As I alluded to earlier, Compass was founded quite recently (our second summer program is happening this August!), and is entirely run by physics grad students. Right now, the main problem that Compass is facing at Berkeley is a lack of financial support (apparently times are tough in Sacramento as well as in DC), so we are trying to get the word out about our existence and the good work we are trying to do. So, if you think our program is worth supporting, spread the word! Tell your friends in important places about us, let us know if you are interested in hearing more or helping out, and, if you are able, donate some money to Compass. Every bit of help we can get is vital to keep this program going.

And if you happen to be a grad student at some school, and you happen to feel frustrated about these issues too, don’t despair. Consider starting a program similar to Compass at your school (and by all means, tell us about it). You’d be surprised how many good things your frustration can create.

(read the whole post)

Tags: physics, education, Compass Project