Interesting Features at PWN for 12.21.15

News from the PWN Pipeline:

'Early access to professional networks will unclog the diversity pipeline in tech.'

Jessica Pliska, the CEO and Founder of The Opportunity Network, and Christina Lewis Halpern, Founder and Director of All Star Code, penned an article in the Huffington Post that emphasized the use of professional networks for all young engineering and computer science students in order to minimize the diversity gap in these fields. Pliska and Halpern suggest that pursuing connections through LinkedIn, professional blogs and Twitter, particularly at a young age, will increase their professional relationships with more senior tech leaders and their familiarity with building connections to promising opportunities.

'The 5 things your emails need to include to get people to read and respond.'

Aaron Orendorff put together an interesting article posted on Fast Company that proposes 5 crucial yet simple steps that will help ensure that recipients read and respond to your emails instead of ignoring them or worse, deleting them without reading the whole thing. Among his suggestions are offering a single action item per email and mindfully keeping the email brief.

Interesting Features at PWN for 12.14.15

News from the PWN Pipeline: 

'How to be the person who never misses a deadline'

Kelsey Manning, an Advertising and Promotions coordinator at Harper Collins, has written an interesting article describing methods she uses to remedy patterns of 'lateness,' which can mean anything from being late to meet with colleagues to handing in important materials past deadlines. She outlines several key factors in reducing procrastination and missed deadlines, including being honest with yourself about why you're late ("Are you easily distracted from the task at hand?" "Are your deadlines unrealistic?") as well as not underestimating how long tasks will take. The article is a quick read that offers a few great tips to organize work time better in order to hit all deadlines.


Advancement Opportunities:

Postdoctoral position available in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California, Irvine

Excellent opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in Neuroscience, or related area, to conduct research on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine reinforcement and aversion utilizing mouse and rat behavioral models in conjunction with manipulation of neuronal circuit function (e.g. optogenetic/DREADD approaches). The successful candidate will have strong problem-solving, writing and communication skills, as well as background and experience in rodent behavioral models, calcium imaging, in vitro neuronal culture, and/or generation of designer viral constructs.

More details in the link above
Apply: CV | Statement of research experience and interests | Contact info of 3 references
Send to: Dr. Christie Fowler | cdfowler@uci.edu

Interesting Features at PWN for 12.7.15

News from the PWN Pipeline:

'Women... saw not an innocent hair dryer, but a tool of sexist oppression. IBM had wrapped science and engineering in girly girl trappings.'

IBM very recently experienced a public backlash to their Hack a Hair Dryer Campaign, which aimed to encourage young women to get more involved in science and engineering by suggesting they imagine what they could do or build by 'hacking' a hair dryer. IBM posted a video to Twitter to announce the campaign, and the video showed women in lab coats using a hair dryer to push a ping pong ball through elaborate machines. Though many have complained about the obvious sexist undertones of the campaign and are outraged that women should have to 'prove' their ability to do science, an article by Fortune's Stacey Higginbotham suggests that IBM may have succeeded in making the conversation about attracting more women to science and engineering careers more relatable to young girls through the application of a hair dryer and may encourage them to think beyond the practical utility of an everyday household object. Many female engineers and scientists have responded with humor and sarcasm to IBM's campaign with tweets incorporating the hashtag #hackahairdryer.

Head over to Twitter (#hackahairdryer) to read some these tweets or join the conversation!

'A young man doesn't have to overcome a social stigma to be in STEM.'

An interesting article from Heather Cabot on nbcnews.com addresses the issue of encouraging and motivating young women to stay in science and engineering degree programs. Cabot indicates that fear of failure and high expectations for success result in women lagging confidence and being hard on themselves. The article suggests that encouraging women in these STEM programs to find community with like-minded women and to take the focus off of straight A's and immediate success will allow a more harmonious melding of the female identity with the tech identity.