Wednesday, February 27, 2019

History of Women in STEM, Science Moms, and More!

History of Women in STEM

Women contributed to building the field of computer programming. In fact, in the 1960s, women specifically were thought to have the kind of mind needed to be a good computer programmer. But now fewer than 20% of people graduating with computer science degrees are women. Check out this New York Times article to learn more about why the gender disparity in computer programming has worsened over the last several decades.

Some of these female programmers of the 1960s/1970s went on to make important contributions to genetics research--but were not acknowledged as authors of the published work. This article shows how women have always been contributing to science -- you might just have to look at the footnotes rather than the authors to find them!

Losing Moms in STEM

A new report (summarized here) indicates that 40% of full time women working in science leave their jobs after having a child. This is compared to only 23% of men. It's suspected that this could be due to the fact that STEM professionals, especially women, are not expected to have a personal life, making it harder for parents to make enough time for their children while maintaining their work responsibilities.

Opportunities

HBO is looking for women's stories! Read more and find out how to submit yours here.

Check out the American Association of Women in Science Annual Summit and Awards Dinner, to be held in Washington DC in April.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

This week's picks!

If you're in the mood for some non-stop reading action, you're in luck! February 11th was Women in STEM day, so we've got an extra dose of articles for you to peruse. Additionally, are you on Twitter? What a coincidence, so are we! Follow us! @pwnWomenInSTEM

First, have you considered the gender bias that persists when it comes to conference speaker lineups?
This article in Science delves into this issue, and reminds us of 500 Women Scientists, a database listing women scientists by their respective fields (it's super cool and you should sign up!). This way, there is never an excuse that a woman scientist couldn't be found as a conference speaker.

For all the intellectual feats that we face being in STEM, you would think that those at the top in leadership positions would be knowledgeable and sensitive to sexual harassment, particularly in the midst of the #MeToo movement. However, more and more evidence is piling up that this is not the case. There is the misguided notion that sexual harassment only occurs in the bedroom and is an explicitly physical, sexual action. It's not! There is so much more that needs to be taken into account. Read on here about what we need to know, and what needs to be done. Sexual harassment is not biased to any particular discipline; we experience it in STEM, too. This is also a contributing factor to why women in STEM face huge disadvantages. Meet the neuroscientist who is combating sexual harassment and "harassholes" while having her own job at risk.

Another story, by the San Francisco Chronicle, brings up an issue we've discussed in previous updates: female scientists not being given the credit they're owed. Read more about what women scientists of the past have actually contributed, and how we can tackle this subject moving forward.

Here, we have an encouraging question: Is This the Year Of Women in Science? With more and more women enrolling in STEM majors, we have a lot of great things to look forward to. This dataset from the EU reflects the proportional increase of women in STEM highlighted in countries like Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Latvia.

Do you remember Jess Wade, the physicist who took to Wikipedia and wrote 500 biographies of female scientists? Here is an update written by her on why she felt compelled to author those hundreds of entries.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Our picks for Feb 9th, 2019

This week we would like to highlight a great podcast episode from the Harvard Business Review recommended to us by a member of the PWN community. In the episode, the host Sarah Green Carmichael discusses the benefits and techniques of how men can mentor women. Associate professor of sociology at the U.S. Naval War College David Smith and professor of psychology at the United States Naval Academy Brad Johnson, authors of "Athena rising: How and why men should mentor women", join the discussion.

In this article published by Inside Higher Ed, author Nick Roll dissects the results of a recent paper published by Georgetown University researchers on factors explaining the low number of women in STEM. They found that it is only the combination of bad grades and environment that drive women who entered a STEM major away from science, not these factors by themselves. 

Stay tuned for our next selection!


Monday, February 4, 2019

Our Picks for February 4th

Network Like a Woman

We all know that being part of PWN is fun and informative -- and a new study in PNAS suggests that it's also excellent for our career development. The authors assessed the post-graduate placement of students in both STEM and non-STEM graduate programs. They found that for women (but not men), students got better jobs when they had networks that included other women. The authors attribute this to women with strong women-containing networks having "simultaneous access to gender-related tacit information important for women’s success as well as diverse job-market data needed for successful job search and negotiations."

In a Washington Post article about this study, a researcher who was not involved in the study noted, “Women’s networks you haven't necessarily thought of as strategic are strategic.” So if you haven't realized already, your membership in PWN is strategic! Want to strengthen those connections? Come hang out with us on Slack (click here to join!).

Thanks to Kasia Bieszczad for sharing the Washington Post article! If you have articles you want to share, feel free to e-mail us or post them on Slack!

Other Articles of Interest 

"Diversity without inclusion is an empty gesture."

In an insightful article in Nature this week, David Asai argues that managers (i.e., PIs in academia) need training on how to be more inclusive of those from minoritized backgrounds. It's not enough to just hire people from diverse backgrounds, we must also insure that everyone feels included in the scientific community -- otherwise we'll be stuck with the same "leaky pipeline" we have now. The sad reality is that most of the people in charge are from a very narrow set of backgrounds and may never have thought about the ways in which they are not being inclusive. Thus, training in inclusion is essential to build a scientific community that looks like the global community.

Co-First Author Bias

A study published in eLife this week suggested bias in co-first authorship. Specifically, it suggests that in co-first author situations that include both an man and a woman, the man is more often listed first. As the first co-first author often gets more credit for the work, this raises concern about such bias impacting women's careers.

Job Posting: Postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital

Post-doctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Ksenia Kastanenka at Massachusetts General Hospital an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The laboratory is part of a larger multi-disciplinary group, the scientific effort of which is geared toward understanding the etiology and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The laboratory is focused on studying circuit disruptions during the disease progression and understanding mechanisms of action of therapeutics aimed at reversing the disease. To that end state-of-the-art technology, such as in vivo imaging with multiphoton microscopy, is used to monitor circuit dynamics. Additionally, optogenetics is used to modulate circuit activity. For more information, visit https://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/research/researchlab.aspx?id=1803

Desired qualifications:
We seek a self-motivated individual with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience or related biomedical discipline with a strong intellectual commitment to understanding mechanisms of disease using murine models and an enthusiasm for multidisciplinary research. Evidence of prior productivity is required evidenced by high-quality research publications. Good inter-personal and communication skills are a must.

To apply, please email your CV and a cover letter summarizing your experience, along with the contact information of three references to kkastanenka@mgh.harvard.edu addressed to Dr. Ksenia Kastanenka.